Steve and Jenny Valentine

So today was way less than ideal (but this is kind of becoming a trend around here lately...ideal has long left us!) We woke up to our youngest having a fever (after our son had a fever the other day, we weren't surprised and thankful we had at least 24 hours without someone having a fever over our Easter Break)...and also our oldest who was coughing a bit, so it was a no brainer that we couldn't go to church. We were all pretty bummed, well not our youngest, she just wanted to be snuggled in mommy's lap-to which I gladly obliged. I admit, I was sad, disheartened and a bit deflated. Both Steve and I are weary of all the health issues our entire family has been facing for the past (well I don't even know how long anymore because it's been so long!) I was also a bit irritated this morning by the constant whining that was happening from all the little people and found myself apologizing a couple times for how I responded to their yucky behavior with my own yucky beha...

*Disclaimer* I (Jenny here) have a hard time sharing things personally (especially on a blog) but I like to write and it helps me process and it keeps our family and friends back in the States "in the loop"...so I make myself write about what God is doing in my life, even in the hard pieces. With that being said, if any of what I write seems slanted, confusing or jaded...it might be... (I also don't like being misunderstood, haha!) but also, I'm finding I just don't have the proper words (yet) to really explain all of how I have processed this whole move so far. I get words/thoughts in spurts...and so when I do, I will write. Steve and I want to be better at writing this coming year. Last year on the blog we spent a great deal of time telling stories and sharing pictures about what we experience here...this year, though, we want to be more wordy and give you a deeper level of our thoughts through the things we experience everyday. Some days will be funny and some...

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 9th was a hot day in Florida (what day wasn't this past Summer/Fall?) and also happens to be the day of one of my closest friend's birthday (I'm so sorry we left on your birthday!) I remember that day like it was yesterday. We spent the morning at church, saying goodbye to friends and what we considered our family. We went home to put kids down for naps and finalize our packing for the trip overseas. I was even still selling items and having people pick them up at our home that afternoon before we headed off to the airport! Our friends arrived late afternoon and pick us (and all our belongings) up...two vans and a car loaded with people and items...we were off. That was an odd car ride to the airport (many mixed emotions swirling through my mind) and I wish I had had been able to be in all the other vehicles to chat with our sweet friends each one last time face to face. We got to airport, unloaded everything and plopped it all on the outside sidewalk in carts, hugge...

It has been quite the effort to process all the thoughts, feelings and changes that have taken place over the past month for me and our family moving across the world. Many of you back in the states have asked how we are doing, how we are feeling. Our responses have usually been pretty brief as it is hard for us to understand the full scope of how we are doing, let alone be able to relate that to you. We are grateful for the concern and thankful that God has placed people in our lives who care so deeply for us, so much so that to ask about how we are doing, to pray for us and encourage us consistently. Thank you. This means a lot to us. It has not always been easy, in fact quite the opposite. It has not always been filled with joy, but many tears. The truth is...I feel weak. This would be the best way to describe how I feel. We laugh (sometimes) that it often takes both Steve and I to accomplish one task here that would have only taken one of us to do in the States. This wears us ...

Karis was excited to have her own camera to take pictures and video with ... she captured some fun moments from our travel across the ocean ... Enjoy! Before we left Orlando selfie Boarding our airplane in Orlando Uno in the Frankfurt airport on our layover Very tired mommy rocking Olivia in Germany during our layover My cake snack on the airplane going to Poland We "we are almost to Poland" selfie "Flat" grammy and grandpa on the plane ride The Walking life our new friends-part of the Nungesser family (Mr. Richard is silly!) Mrs. Brooke out for lunch About to eat in my first cafe selfie juice for kids in Poland In bagel B LT during our house hunting adventure (well, this is not our home) in lego creation my little sister That's all for now ... Hope you enjoyed adventures with Karis!

Well after a two month blogging hiatus, we decided to reappear in the bloggosphere! Instead of a wordy post, I thought I would show some highlights of the past couple months with pictures.  OH, and before I forget, we're moving to Poland...for real. One of the biggest highlights happened on July 1, when we reached 100% of our monthly financial goals (yay God!). So plane tickets were purchased and on August 9th we will leave here and arrive in Poland on August 10th. Only thing that is  needed on the financial partnership front is $6,000 in start up costs. Karis completed preschool Random opportunity to meet Kurt Warner, playing my cello with some of the CCC worship team for the Kurt Warner foundation event Another random, I won all these fun things through an online giveaway, in which I only really entered because I wanted to win the ESV Bible (I never win anything, so it made us laugh!) Isaac and Karis caught their first fish Traveled to No...

That's the question of the day...or past few weeks really!  Everyone seems to be asking,  " When are you leaving for Poland? "  If I am honest, I have to admit that sometimes I wince (on the inside of course) when people ask that question because it's a reminder to me of two things... 1. We haven't yet completed raising up monthly financial partners...and it's already been such a long journey and we still have 15% more to go, oy! AND 2. We are leaving Central Florida, the place we call home, and we are very sad about that. We are sad to be moving across the world, leaving those we love dearly who will remain on this side of the world. It's almost like a jab in the side every time someone asks that question as a painful reminder of our very present reality of leaving soon...whenever that may be! But, we also celebrate when we hear this question, because that means we are close! Closer to reaching the goal that will allow us to move into our next...

Being a person who is musically inclined, I often find myself being encouraged by music, by the lyrics and find my spirit lifted. In fact, all along our journey to move to Poland, I can pin point certain songs from different phases of the process and what each song meant to us in those moments…music is powerful! Steve also enjoys music and as a family we like to play certain songs (rather loudly) in the car and sing at the top of our lungs. In turn, our children (even little Olivia) will clap and sing to the songs. It has become a normal family tradition when we ride in the van. One of those songs lately that we will crank up is called Forever. We had been given the latest Passion CD from a sweet friend (along with some fun busy games for kiddos) as a gift before we left on our month long trip last month. We are grateful for this sweet friend and her thoughtfulness in giving us this gift before we left, because we found ourselves blessed (during our travels) by the music on the cd da...

I have been mulling over this topic for a couple weeks now. It first hit me when speaking with someone a few weeks back about the timeline of our going. The conversation went something like this, Them: so when do y'all leave? Me: We are hoping for July, depends on when we reach 100% support. Them: Wow, that's only like (counting on their fingers)...April, May, June, July...four months! And just like that, I felt as though the wind was being knocked out of my body, I thought, "there's not enough time"! You know, not enough time to spend with those I love dearly. And fast forward a couple weeks, I was sitting in our last Bible Study meeting for the Spring, while listening to women share their hearts of what the Lord had been doing in their lives, I thought again, "there's not enough time"...Here. Spending time with these women who push me to the Cross and encourage me to continue to dig into His word. Then there was the day I sat on the cou...

All along this journey of raising support, we have thought a lot about leaving. Leaving our family. Leaving our friends. Leaving our church. Leaving where we have called home for the past (almost) 6 years. Just leaving. It’s hard to even begin to imagine what life will be like without all of the above. In all of this time processing our own thoughts and feelings, a mix of sadness, excitement and sorrow; I am very aware of those we leave behind. I can’t articulate what “they” (those who stay here while we leave) are thinking and feeling because, well, I am not them. But what I do know, is for those who stay, they deal with a sense of loss, sadness, excitement and sorrow as well. In their own way. Different than how we feel it, but none the less, they feel it. As we have talked about this, we want to be sensitive to those around us that are walking alongside us, helping us move toward Poland, a move that will take us far away from them. We want to stay connected....