All Because Two People Fell In Love

This is our last week of the 
Celebrate Love Series. 

Although I'm sad to see it come to an end, 
I am so thankful for all the ladies 
who were a part of it. 

They each shared such unique and inspiring 
stories of their love. 

Today I am honored to introduce 
Tiffany aka Mrs. Tee 
as the blogging world knows her 

from MrsTeeLoveLifeLaughter

Tiffany and I recently met through our blogs and 
she has quickly become a trusted supporter and friend. 

She definitely has a gift of sharing love to others and today 

she is sharing her personal love story.

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In love there are many levels of commitment and determination to make it despite whatever odds may come against you. So why is it that when someone says they are in love they describe it as falling as if they are not willing participants? I have learned that at times because of past scars, wounds and experiences being found by love is not always voluntary...at least not at first. 


When I met my Husband I was at a place in my life where I felt that love was simply not something meant to be for me. I assumed that I wasn't ready and this was the reason why I had not 'found' (even though now I know that it wasn't for me to find but instead to be found...Proverbs 18:22) what I considered to be my true love. It is funny to say that my Husband had reached the same point in his life. We both had been through different levels of hurt and disappointment and were simply spent by the trying of it all. 

Yet this is still where God brought us together. He allowed us to meet when we were both at our emotional 'wits end'. We began as friends and slowly our feelings, commitment and devotion to each other developed in more than the love you share with a friend. Our love was developing into an unconditional, emotional, physical and spiritual love. The kind where the desire of your heart is to simply aid in achieving the desires of the others. We began to realize that despite our better efforts to avoid it we had in fact 'fallen' in love.

                          


 Now don't get me wrong. Our love didn't happen by accident. We made a very clear decision to choose each other especially since we both had children and did not want to put them through any undo stress. Still I say we 'fell' in love because our love developed almost in spite of ourselves. No matter how much we tried to deny our feelings for fear of being hurt or opening old scars we still kept coming back to the truth that our love was there. That we needed to be 2 parts of a whole. 

It took prayer, time and a willingness to release past hurts but we soon realized that it was because of our individual pasts that we were able to support each other's coming future both as distinct individuals, as a couple and family. 

When I look back over the past 10+ years of our relationship and marriage I look back with gratefulness and recognition that without God's intervention and healing neither one of us would have submitted to the 'fall'. 

So despite some of the stereotypical thoughts towards 'falling' in love I am so glad that I was blessed to fall into the arms of a man I count as my biggest support, protector and provider. A man who without his love I don't believe I would have become the woman I am today. He is truly my mate and promised covering and I hope to believe that I am the same to him. This isn't to say our life together is perfection for it is life after all. Still with our love and God as the foundation it is the together of it that truly matters.

By Tiffany(Mrs.Tee)

Tiffany a/k/a MrsTee is the owner/writer for MrsTeeLoveLifeLaughter.com where she shares her experiences as a Woman of Faith, Wife, Momma to her Team (4 beautiful kiddies and 2 handsome stepsons) and Friend.  She believes that Love, Life and Laughter are a part of every life in some way.  She enjoys sharing the stories of her Journey including her Love of God, the Life she is blessed to have with her Hubby and Kiddies as well as the Laughter she enjoys along the way.  MrsTeeLoveLifeLaughter is a place where Love, Life and Laughter collide to make a collage of unexpected happiness and you are invited to follow along and share in the fun.

Motherhood:How It Changed Me

Today is week three of the Celebrate Love Series 

and I wanted to do something a little different. 

I wanted to share a little bit of my personal story. 
The love of becoming a mother I will forever celebrate.

I had the honor of guest posting at Pending Perfection. 

In this post I share how becoming a mother changed my life. 

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In my family order I am the youngest of three.  I have an older sister who is thirteen years older than me, and my brother is eleven years older.  They both are married with kids, so I have a total of six nieces and nephews that I love to death.

Before I had children of my own I always remember thinking “I don’t want any children.  I have enough nieces and nephews that I can play with, and the best part is I can send them back home when I’m done.”

You can imagine the surprise when fast forward a few years and at twenty two and unmarried I was announcing “I’m having a baby!”

 To read more of my story please visit  

Pending Perfection 

If you have not had a chance to keep up with the series 

please read week one "Giving It All Up To Get It All" here

and week two "Being Raised And Loved By A Step-parent:

My Reflection As An Adult here

Being Raised and Loved by a Step-parent: My reflection as an adult

Welcome! Today is week 2 of the guest bloggers 

Celebrate Love Series.

Today I am honored to introduce you to 

Jackie.

Jackie blogs at Best Life At Home.

Read her encouraging story of love.

My parents got divorced when I was very young. I still remember the day my mom packed up all our belongings into a moving truck. She buckled my three siblings and me into our seats, and we headed up the road to a town three hours north. I remember thinking the whole family was moving, not realizing that my dad wasn’t coming with us.

I was in kindergarten, just five years old, and oblivious to the ramifications of divorce for most families. I had no idea how terrifying this decision was for my mom, especially since our family was large by today’s standards. There were four of us kids, each two years apart (which meant my younger brother was 3 and my baby sister was 1).

Since this blog post is about love, I wanted to bring special attention to the man who married my mom and raised us as his own: my step-dad, Gene. His love for my mother must’ve been over the moon, considering we were a package deal: her + all four of us kids, ages 8 and under!

The first years weren’t easy. Looking back, I can’t believe my mom and step-dad were so understanding and patient with us as we fought to accept Gene into the family (or not accept him, as it often was early on). Gene is an educated and loving man, though, and he believed in boundaries for kids in a way that I didn’t understand at the time. Now that my husband, Mitch, and I are raising three kids of our own, I admire them so much more for sticking to their guns and being firm when we tried to push in every direction.

Being a child of divorced parents is hard, confusing, and leaves a gaping hole in your heart. Step-parents don’t have an easy path to navigate as they try to love and fill the holes, while respecting ex-spouses and children’s feelings. My dad moved seven hours away, a distance that seemed to grow further and further every year, as we saw less and less of him. He also re-married and started a new family.

My step-dad, Gene, raised us as his own. He was there for us to teach us things like hunting and fishing (yes, I grew up in small-town Minnesota, where girls do these things!), and he sat through hundreds of hours of basketball and volleyball games. He handed out $20 bills when we desperately needed money to go out to movies or dinner with our friends, and he was even there when we were teenagers and the cops brought us home (just once or twice!).

When God brings two people together in a second- or third-marriage and there are kids involved, you know He has a big plan to overcome the obstacles. My parents’ marriage has been tested so many times by the actions of their kids, but somehow they have remained strong and bonded through an amazing love and remarkable ability to forgive.

I’m forever blessed to have had a loving father in my life. One who cared enough about me to put up with my early days of wanting him to go away so I could have my “real dad” back, my adolescent troubles and craziness, and my ever present need for parents to love me.

Gene now has 10 grandchildren, and another on the way (my sister is expecting), and has been the most loving and caring “Grandpa Geno” any child could ever as for.

If you’re reading this and have a step-parent, or are re-married and are raising someone else’s children (or they are helping to raise yours), I pray that you understand the importance that a step-parent’s devoted love and attention can have on a child. And I’d like to say thank you, Gene, for always loving us and being there all these years.

By Jackie Johnson

Celebrate Love Giveaway

  Okay Ladies I am going to try this again

Second time is a charm!

Today I am announcing the...

You all have been so good to me and such a blessing to this blog that I would 

love to give back. 

Just my little way to say thank you!  

What better time then for Valentine's Day. This FREE giveaway 

is my gift to one special winner. 

I just love this beautiful 24 inch purple iridescent shell necklace, and I 

just know you will too. 

This necklace is just the piece that can add a little extra 

pop of color to your outfit. 

It's unique enough to catch the eye of others. 

This giveaway will run from February 9th-February 14th

Important Rules:

This giveaway is offered for US citizens only

Void where prohibited

The giveaway winner will be chosen and notified on February 14th. They will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner will be chosen. 

Please enter below

Giving It All Up To Get It All

Welcome! Today is the first day of the "Celebrate Love" 

guest bloggers series. 

Today I would like to introduce you to our first blogger 

Elisabeth. 

You can visit her at her blogs

Coffice Girl and Adventures In A Hallway. 

Read her love story below.

Seven months ago, I did something crazy. I gave up my high-paying job, my house and the community I’d lived in for 12 years to move into a 300-square-foot RV with my husband, two dogs and a cat. Permanently.

Mike has been traveling nearly every week for his business as a technical trainer since we began dating.  Before the motorhome, he was gone during the week, back on the weekends, while I worked at my day job, took care of the household, and did freelance writing and taught painting classes on the side.  The lifestyle got old, so we decided to buy an RV and travel as a family to Mike’s gigs.

It sounds romantic: two lovebirds and their fur babies traveling the country, working side-by-side during the day and walking hand-in-hand at night. Despite that rosy image, it wasn’t easy for me to make the leap. Part of me felt like I was giving it all up. Giving up everything I’d worked for, my friends, my beloved community. 

Would it be worth it? Would Mike and I survive being together all the time when we’d hardly spent more than a week together for our entire relationship? And doing it all in a hallway on wheels??

It’s totally been worth it! We’ve had amazing adventures: visiting far-flung family and friends, seeing the gorgeous landscapes of this beautiful nation, waking up and falling asleep next to each other seven days a week. If that wasn’t enough, my freelance business as the Coffice Girl has been growing steadily since we hit the road.

The constant togetherness isn’t always stress-free, but we’ve found ways to ensure that we stay strong as a couple.

We don’t just love each other; we like each other and respect each other’s gifts and talents. That’s critical for success in any marriage but particularly one in such close quarters.

We talk a lot. We listen even more. Listening to each other and acknowledging what’s been said are essential for soothing hurt feelings, overcoming miscommunication, and arriving at a consensus.

We celebrate the journey, even the hard parts. When it’s five degrees out and the water pump breaks, we deal with it together – and then we thank each other. We try never to take the other person’s efforts for granted.

We may not live in a hallway on wheels forever, but making this change for my man and his career, however long it lasts, has given me more than I ever dreamed.

By Elisabeth Daniels(Coffice Girl)