Steve and Jenny Valentine

A good portion of my time these days I can be found nestled into the seat of an airplane listening to how to quickly and calmly exit the aircraft through the clearly marked exits in the case of an emergency landing. In a matter of minutes after the important safety briefing I have already forgotten what doors not to use in the event of a water landing and I turn to one of the limited activities that can be done while wedged between the person sitting next to me and the side of the aircraft. Most of the time I will open a book or listen to some class lectures, but when all else fails I like to plug my headphones in and listen to channel 9. Do you know about channel 9? On United flights, channel 9 is the station that allows you to listen in to communication between your plane, surrounding planes and the various air traffic control towers. Although this might sound a bit dull, I find it quite interesting that while flying at over 500 mph 30,000 feet in the air with a plane packed full o...

Today we celebrated five years of marriage. We are on a little getaway tagged on the end of one of Steve's work trips. We have enjoyed sleeping in and spending as much time doing "nothing", afterall, relaxation is sometimes hard to come by these days with two little ones in the house. Speaking of, we have missed them so much and look forward to seeing them tomorrow afternoon when we arrive back in Orlando. {My mom has selflessly given of herself this week to be in Orlando and care for our children while we're away, and we are immensely grateful for her} After waking up around 6 am today and finding it hard to fall back asleep wondering if my sister in law had her babies safely, we finally received a call from her around 7am {our time in Phoenix}. After talking to her for a little bit we got up and ready to head to breakfast. We got the opportunity to Skype with our children and my mom and it was such a joy to see their smiley faces. After our Skype call, we enjoyed t...

As it turns out, our trip home from Minnesota last week ended with our little family of four riding First Class! You would think we do that all the time as we boarded when Karis sits down and says, "where's the TV?!" It was actually funny to me when Steve came back from the desk and said that we had all been bumped up to first class. See, he travels often for work and gets bumped up all the time so he was excited for me to enjoy riding first class. As enjoyable as that sounded, all I could think about was how would our children act and what would those around us think with our noisy ten month old and talkative two year old! Karis and Isaac both traveled well after settling in...Karis enjoyed her stickers and games while Isaac slept for most of the flight. I enjoyed the extra space and Steve laughed at me when I said, "I could get used to that!" Obviously this isn't possible with our budget but it was fun to enjoy some perks awarded Steve as a frequent fly...

Dear Steve, Welcome to the last year of your 20's...how does it feel?!  Is it crazy to think in one short year from now, you will be passing into a new decade?  The last time you did that, you were young and enjoying your college days at Texas Tech.  It's amazing what happens in ten years...well even one year for that matter! I'm very thankful for you. I could stop there, but I shall elaborate!  Afterall, you know I'm not one to speak just a few words ;)  I like simple, but I also like complex (probably  more of the latter though!)  I know you don't like to have the spotlight and for attention to be drawn to yourself, but allow me to brag about you for a minute.  Not for your own glory and that people will think you're so amazing, but so that the Lord may get ALL the glory due His name with having created you, for Himself. I have found myself in the past few weeks pondering just how thankful I am for you.  It seems as we passed into t...

Five years ago today, Steve and I began the journey of our relationship.  We went out on our first date May 15, 2007.  I still remember it like it was yesterday!  I'll keep the details to a minimum ;) I had been working at the Texas Tech Baptist Student Ministries (which is how I met Steve in the fall of 2006).  We had been building a friendship with the intentions of dating.  We both didn't really want to waste time in a pointless relationship, so we were very intentional from the beginning.  Some time in April, we had a conversation about how when I was finished working at the BSM we would like to start dating with intentions of marriage. (Because I was working with a student ministry on campus I wasn't "allowed" to date students-so this is why we waited until I completed my time with the BSM to start dating). On May 15, Steve had been doing some odd jobs around the BSM offices (mostly to spend extra time around me and also so my boss could get to kno...

Steve and I decided to go on one last date night together pre-baby and before family came into town.  We enjoyed an evening at Seaworld together (from tickets my mom had bought us a while back).  We really enjoyed watching the dolphins in the dolphin nursery and the momma and baby sea lions and learning about their interesting pregnancy and birthing processes-you can tell what's on our minds these days!  Here are a few pictures of our evening together: Dolphin at the dolphin nursery Mama sealion cuddling with her baby Steve and Me 38 weeks pregnant Of course the night wouldn't be complete without swollen ankles! Grateful for my husband and this date night together and excited as we anticpate the arrival of our daughter, Jenny

I will not lie, my heart was beating a little faster than normal as the tires of our large nine passenger van came ever so close to the edge of the shear cliff. The long narrow road and the blind corners of the switchbacks made for an uneasy muscle tensing trip up towards the summit of the mountain. As we got higher, soft patches of snow began to line the side of the road and an occasional mountain goat would watch us as though we were the wildlife.  As I watched out the window, it appeared as though we were getting so close to the clouds that I might be able to reach out and touch one.  As that thought made its way through my senses I forgot about how high we were and how close we were to death at every turn.  N oticing my childlike gaze up at the clouds, the driver leaned over and jokingly said, “I wonder if God hears our voice louder from here?”  Even though the driver, whom I would call a good friend after that trip, was joking it provoked my mind to thought for...

We closed on our new house Tuesday and look forward to transitioning into our home in the upcoming weeks.  It has been a major blessing from the Lord to pursue this direction and we are so thankful for how the Lord orchestrated the whole process (even the parts that got a little frustrating, God worked it all out). Lunch in our new home

While sitting in class the other day with the 'after lunch heavy set eyes' taking over me, My mind was captured by an argument posed by my Old Testament professor. He was discussing the fall and the role of Adam and Eve. Through a series of connections with Hebrew verbs he presented the argument that Adam was to be a soldier-priest. One who would protect the garden while living in communion with God. To close the argument the professor made the claim that Adam's true failure was not that he followed his wife by eating of the tree, but his true failure was allowing the serpent in the garden to get to his wife. It will still take me some time to processes this theologically, but there is a pearl of great truth in the idea of Adam protecting the garden and his wife. Walking outside the other day to go to church I heard a commotion from the downstairs apartments. 3 young ladies and one guy were standing on the sidewalk pointing back at the door of their apartment. I asked th...

Refined-We feel like this has been our season of life-refinement. Like a silversmith refines silver through heat and pressure we also are refined spiritually through different stresses and trials. No this is not an attempt at making a joke about the hot and humid climate in Florida! Over this past year the Lord has called us out of comfort and led us on a journey of great refinement. We are thankful that the Lord has planned this time in our lives because in the process He has brought much dross to the surface to purify us in order to glorify Himself and make us more into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. Even though we have been through many challenging circumstances since moving to Florida…like wondering how we were going to pay the bills at times…we have found great joy in celebrating the fact that the Lord has always provided for ALL our needs. We have never gone without the necessities and even some of our desires. Even in writing this letter, the Lord provided a way for ...

Steve turned in his final papers and is studying like crazy to take the last of his tests for the semester!  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, with dad coming to visit and spend a week here with us.  I traveled to Chicago this week for work and have decided very strongly I hope to never live in a cold climate again...I was cold from the moment I got off the plane Monday morning until I got back to Florida last night!  I will say, though, that it was a great time to get away and spend some me time just reading and relaxing at the days end of work.  I never thought I'd say this, but I was so excited to get back to Florida-to see my husband, friends, co-workers, family and feel the great Florida heat! Here are a few pics of Steve and I recently taken-Thanksgiving day-yes my  hair is shorter :) It seems lately, there has been much endurance, heartache, pain, grief and healing taking place (some in our lives) but also in the ...

We have had a great few days celebrating Steve's 26 wonderful years of life. In fact, it's been more like a week long celebration. I like making a big deal about Steve even though that makes him feel like he's getting too much attention-he deserves it! It all started last Friday, when I gave him his birthday present from me.  He had a scavenger hunt I had planned for him to find his gift. To my surprise, I actually stumpped him a few times and he really enjoyed the suspense! His present was going to a Shane & Shane concert that evening, but the day entailed much more than just a concert. I made Chicken Parm for lunch then headed off to Lakeland (about an hour from here). We thought it'd be fun to just putz around all day there...and that we did! We found an amazing place called Deli Delicacies and enjoyed some cake to celebrate his birthday-We would highly recommend this place if you're ok spending a pretty penny on some cake! Steve got a carrot cake cheeseca...

I began to iron out some kinks in our budget this evening while Steve is at work. We both have looked over some things lately and acknowledge there is room for improvement and adjustment (especially in this time of waiting until I go full time at work-which will officially happen November 1st)! I slowly got discouraged and clearly saw that our budget seems pretty hopeless. I called Steve while he was at work and he had a chance to talk for just a minute. I started crying because I had a moment of disbelief, discouragement and uncertainty about how things will pan out, knowing it's going to be a few hard months ahead until we start having a full time income from my job. He's such a wonderful husband and reminded me that the Lord has, is and will continue to take care of us. *sigh of relief* Simply put, I know. I just don't always focus on God's promises for that provision when it comes down to crunching the actual numbers together. Shortly after I got off t...

What defines us dictates our life. What defines us becomes our master. What defines us can enslave us. What defines us becomes our god. Some would claim that they are defined by a multitude of things. While others cling tightly to one specific thing that defines everything they are. Some of us have yet to take an introspective look into our lives to see what defines us. Some of us know all too well what things define us. For some, our definition can even change depending on the people we are around. Some of us like our definition and some of us wish we could change it. I would like to argue that truth can be found in saying that everyone has at least one thing that personally defines who they are. Even one who would say that “nothing defines me” in turn is defined by that very statement. My relatively short lived, fairly experience filled life of twenty-five years, whether I was conscious of it at the time or not, has revolved greatly around this sometimes daunting and echoing quest...

A lot has happened in the past few weeks....so let's REWIND a little! A little about Steve's job: Shortly after Steve was offered and signed the paperwork for the tutoring job...he found out that there would be a conflict in his school/work schedule. We found out that he would lose his financial assistance if he wasn't taking all his classes (to make him full time) on campus. In order for him to work the tutoring job, he would have to take some classes online and some on campus (still being full time but not all classes on campus). Well the day we found out he'd lose his financial assistance from RTS if he did this, we started to wonder what we should do. That day at lunch he received a call for an interview at another job and told them he'd call back later after speaking with me about it. We started to weigh the options and came to the conclusion that it really wouldn't hurt for him to go to the interview and see what would happen. Plus the schedule wo...

I will be as straight forward as I can from the beginning of this post, my intent in this blog is to provoke thought on something that caught me off guard recently. Not too long ago, I was reading "The Call" by Os Guinness. It's a great book that breaks down what it means to be "called" by God Biblicly. In the book Guinness attempts to destroy some long held ideologies about ministry and works to develop a new framework in which to think about Biblical calling. Early on in the book in a chapter titled "Let God be God", a statement is made about how God needs to hold His right place in our lives for us to understand our calling. As we search the scriptures, we find this idea about God holding His right position in our lives many times. Guinness begins to devolop his point by sharing a part of George Steiner's novel, "The Portage to San Christobal of A.H". In this classic novel by Steiner, the fictional story of Hitler plays out with Hit...

A few days ago a friend of mine asked me if I would help him change the oil on his car. Its been a while since I have done much work on a car but I figured that a simple oil change wouldn't be to hard. I was all in and a bit excited to be able to work on a car again.  It might sound strange, but working on a car can be quiet relaxing for me. After a rough week at school, the idea of relaxing and working on a car was sounding great. I met up with my friend Will at his place and found out that we would be headed over to one his friend's apartment so we could use his set of car ramps. As we pulled out of our apartment complex (Will and I live in the same complex) and headed north, I quickly noticed the change in scenery.  Our apartment complex is tucked in a nice little area just north of Downtown Dallas. We are actually less than 5 minutes from a very upscale mall and many fine dinings, such as the Cheesecake Factory and Magiannos. We truly live down the street from million...

There are many things in life that can be "out of place" without causing a much of a problem. For instance, In my classroom at my school there is a great chance during the day, with 56 kids in the room, for some stuff to be misplaced. Sometimes papers are placed in the wrong pile, supplies not returned, or books not put where they belong. When this happens it puts a small inconvience in the day. Now if I were to misplace one of my students this would be a different conversation. When things are not in their place in the classroom, though, I have not only myself to blame but also those 56 little ones that blur in and out of my room. My first tendency is usually to blame them. Funny though, many times it was me who misplaced something. Yet day by day my first response is to turn to the kids when something goes missing or is not in its place. What about in my own llife? My spiritual life (I say this loosley believing that my life in Christ has everything to do with everythin...

5:50 and I spring to my feet. Knowing I should have been up 20 min ago to have enough time to grab breakfast and hit my knees to pray before the day, I hurry along to the bathroom. I get dressed and ready for the day in record time. I then proceed on my morning routine and head to the bedroom to give my wife a kiss and tell her to have a good day. I leave the apartment, race down the stairs and jump into the car just to find myself sitting to let the car warm up. In that moment of sitting I realize two things: one, that I had not gotten nearly enough sleep and I am very tired; and two, I am almost out of gas in my car. I think to myself, I can't stop I need to get to work because I have a meeting starting at 7:00 and stopping for gas would make me late. I leave the parking lot, pull out on the street, pass the gas station on the right and get on the highway with hope that I made the right decision on not filling up. Cruising along and doing quite well, I think to myself I knew I c...

After a nerve racking couple of weeks, we finaly received confirmation that I had been accepted to seminary. I was overwhelmed as I began to think about the future. My mind tore through all the thoughts as though I had to come up with the answers to every question and have every detailed planed out. When would I start? How much does it cost? Where are we going to work? Oh no, we need a truck!!! How big of a truck do we need? 16ft? 22ft? 28ft? Do I need my CDL? So, I really didn't think about getting a CDL. I did, however, think that I would need a cool trucker hat and Jenny and I would need CB radio call signs like The Professor and Pretty Lady J . Not to mention, learn all the trucker lingo and find out all the stops between here and Orlando that we could stop at and hang out with our fellow truckers. Ok, so a bit ambitious and a little wierd I know, considering our truck will be about 16ft, only have 6 wheels and say Penski Rental on the side. None the less my mind became very ...