Steve and Jenny Valentine

Be STILL and know that I am God... One of my favorite things to do is sit outside in the early morning {YES, even though I'm not a morning person} and just admire the beauty created around me by the one true God.  There's something calming and relaxing about taking in such splendor. It's even better with a hot cup of coffee in my hand! So it's no wonder that after a very frustrating morning, upon taking my kiddos outside {after major fits, melt down and voice raising} that they instantly calmed and starting giggling as they looked out over the pond and ducks behind our house.  And I had one of those "a ha" moments {one of those moments where I think to myself, why didn't I do this sooner? Maybe this could have avoided all the frustrations that occurred 10 minutes prior!}  It made me think of a few things: 1. God is amazing, he created us to worship him and find complete solace and satisfaction in Him alone. {Thankful for God's work in creation and...

There are days I have with my daughter that I sit back, smile and marvel at what the Lord is doing in her little life. Yesterday was one such day and even today she was just so sweet and I treasure such moments with her! Karis, since she was old enough to talk (so pretty much the past year and a half), has brought much joy wherever she goes and lights up a room with her big grin! She has also begun to have a heart of service, which Steve and I can only attribute to the Lord's working in her life, because only He can make a heart be filled with love for others. We love watching her play in the little toy kitchens at other's houses (because we dont have a play kitchen at our house she especially enjoys the treat of being at someone's house who does have one) as she busily puts together "tea" for everyone and then proceeds to serve all the guests who will accept her cups. It warms my heart because we have prayed and continue to pray that she be filled with a love for...

I have found since becoming a stay at home mom I struggle more with comparisons than I ever remember before having kids.  There's something about being home and raising my children that has brought out this need to compare myself to others {more} than ever before.  I find looking on facebook, other people's blogs and even chatting with my fellow mommy friends, that I don't measure up as a mom.  I don't have all the creative ideas for teaching my child how to learn her ABC's/counting/etc, I'm not sure what sensory play is really is good for, I can't say I even know how to potty train a child since mine doesn't seem to go consistently in the toilet, I lack a sense of what my child(ren) should be learning at each new phase they enter and I certainly don't have time to read the books that are recommended and piling up on my night stand about parenting and discipline.  It's a good day when I have 20 minutes in the Word of God, which I view as much hig...

Karis always seems to "teach" me something about life, myself, my imperfections, etc.  She has brought out the best and worst in me at times.  I really do thank God for this little girl and that by His Grace he teaches me through moments with her each day.  This morning was one of those moments.  She was flipping through her Bible while I was feeding Isaac.  As I began reading a story to her, she started flipping through the pages.  Normally I try to get her to focus on one story at a time, but I figured it wasn't worth a fight.  She started saying "Jesus" in her cute little way.  She was looking for Jesus in the Bible.  So we found baby Jesus and she said, "Baby Jesus, night night"! (yea pretty much adorable I know!)  She continues flipping pages and starts saying, "more Jesus, more Jesus"!  I laughed and said yea, we all need more Jesus.  So we flipped through pages to find more pictures of Jesus while she continued...

I am a needy person.  Most people don't want to admit that about themselves, in fact, I don't really like admitting that about myself, but I am.  Even worse, some people fool themselves and say they are not needy, so therefore wouldn't need to own up to that fact about themselves.  Of course we do this...we live in a culture where we do not "need" anything from anyone.  We can literally provide for ourselves (given that we have the proper resources)... We have stores very close to our homes, where we can buy all the food, clothes and anything we need and/or want.  Or we could just stay in our home and order what we need off the Internet and have it delivered to our home, how about that for service! We have restaurants to serve us Entertainment at our fingertips Theme parks (especially for us Orlando folks) Cell phones (most with Internet access these days) Social media (where we burn up hours of time looking at peopl...

Karis 5 months Valentine Family Since we have been married, Steve and I enjoy writing a Valentine letter (instead of a Christmas letter). We have always picked a word that we feel has been relevant for our past year as our guide of what to write about.  GRACE is our word choice this Valentine's day.  Enjoy! G-Grace. This could easily be described as the one word that we base our lives around. Grace is a Greek word which if transliterated into English, would be Karis. God has shown us much grace by sending his son to be sin on our behalf and save us from our sin. We also see God’s grace in the day to day life experiences. One of those ways was by gracing us with our daughter in August, whom we named Karis because we wanted to give her a name that would reflect what God was doing in our lives. Jenny has picked a favorite hymn of ours to sing to Karis on a nightly basis as part of a bed time routine. It would be our hope that Karis will know the meaning of her ...

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...