Steve and Jenny Valentine

Almost two months ago now, we crossed the one year mark of living in Poland. I've wanted to write an update about where we are at (emotionally) as we passed this one year mark of living cross culturally and so many thoughts have gone through my head that I just haven't been able to sort through them all; the memories, emotions and lessons learned into one pretty little blog post. All these things just keep swirling around in my mind. So I have attempted to do my best at narrowing it down to blog post length and not a novel-because believe me, we could probably write a novel at this point about our experience in the first year here! So here are some things we would say... We have learned a lot . A LOT! About Poland, the people who live here, the language (oh the language), about ourselves and mostly about how much God loves and cares for people. We find that it's important for our family to keep some type of routine in traditions (ie. family movie night each week, etc...

August 6 - Sometimes we have a hard time sleeping and on occasion will find ourselves surfing the web and we enjoy catching up on what are friends are doing around the world. We can't help but giggle at this meme and please pass the XL coffee!  August 7 - Have we mentioned our amazing neighbor who brings us treats? Haha, yes I think we have. He is from Belgium and always brings back the most tasty treats. This, my friends, tasted much like the chocolate covered donuts we used to eat as kids. Delish! August 8 - I got this picture in a text from Steve that said, "moving in Poland is different!" haha! He was helping some friends move from one flat to the other and this is how they transported the big items. And then carried up several flights of stairs...quite the work out! August 9 - This isn't the best picture, but meet Roma. She is a blessing from God to me and I'm excited that God brought her to Poland for studies (and to be our fri...

July 23 - We often find our children sleeping in odd positions...Isaac the most. I guess if you're gonna move to the floor, take your blanket with you to keep warm. Don't worry we moved him back to the bed after taking this picture! July 24 - Karis has taken an interest in learning how to play the piano. She will often ask mommy how to play something or she will listen to songs and then come find us to play what she learned by just listening to the song. She even creates her own "music" to remember the notes that she heard from the song (like pictured here). It's pretty cool to see her get excited about music. July 25 - Steve had a kid date at the park today. July 26 - View from a bridge where Steve runs. This is a favorite place of his where he finds moments to clear his mind and connect with our Creator God. July 27 - This is what happens when you let kids run wild on a hot summer day, haha! JULY 28 - It was bound to happen at l...