Steve and Jenny Valentine

This is a long post. But many of you have asked about the story of Milo's arrival. So I wanted to take time to write it out, details and all. But  for those who don't want to read the entire story with all the details, feel free to scroll through and just look at the pictures! A lot of you were shocked to hear of his arrival...so were we! (After all, we were still 25 days out from his due date when he made his appearance). I had just gone to my 36 week checkup two days prior, all was healthy and well with baby and with me and there were no signs of early labor. At that appointment, the doctor said that I was 1 cm dilated, but honesty I knew I could be at that for several weeks before seeing any progress to labor. I had a long list of nesting projects I had been slowly working on and was hoping to finish before Milo’s arrival.  Thursday morning rolled around, I realized I was beginning to show signs of possible labor nearing, but still wasn’t too alarmed just yet, after all...

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...

After I took this picture and saw it on the computer, I was reminded that sometimes I want too much. Many times, it's things that don't really even matter. When I took this picture, I just wanted one where all three kids are smiling, but we all know that can be a tall order. However, as you see, success...all it took was Steve doing a silly dance and there you have it! So you may be wondering what the problem is then, why did I find myself wanting "too much" when I looked at this picture later on. If you look closer, you will notice that we don't have a tree skirt (as evidenced by all the wires sticking everywhere) and barely any ornaments on our tree (maybe soon we will have our things from the States). Then I glance at their sweet faces and think, we have three of the cutest little humans alive, what is wrong with me to think about tree skirts and ornaments!? I get frustrated with myself for swinging from one side to the next of want vs. contentment. I can ...

This has been a hard week for our family. We have endured sickness (4 times over), financial pressure, the ongoing process of raising support and keeping up with many hours of online missionary training.  As if that wasn't an exhausting list already, I just spent the last several hours in the emergency room with our youngest who fell down a flight of stairs. And about that... She is OK!  But we are tired. We are weary. We are emotionally drained. We are in need of good rest (as that has not been happening with several sickies here, myself included!) But I can't go on without saying that  we are thankful that the Lord has  sustained us through this hard week.  We aren't promised a life here on Earth without trouble, fear, doubt, persecution, pain, weariness or strife. But we have a Strong Tower that we can run in to in order to endure the storms of life. This verse started going through my head this evening, along with one other as I walked out of th...

Who ever said “stop and take time to smell the roses” has never been shoved in a minivan with almost all their belongings, 3 small children and told to drive over 1,500 miles through 16 different states in an effort to raise financial support for the ministry you feel called to do. Who even cares about stinkin “roses” when you have 400 miles left in your drive but cannot manage to be on the road for more than 30 minutes before someone has to use the bathroom yet again? This has been my heart condition of late. A heart that is more concerned with arriving at our final destination than the journey we are on. But what if the saying was “ stop and take time to become more like Jesus ” or even “ stop and take time to deeply treasure Jesu s”. Oh how this changes the long days in the car on this sanctification journey called a family road trip. Lord forgive me when I have been more concerned with “getting there” then who we are when we arrive. -Steve More  about our move to...

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a missions conference at a church in the North East. I was invited to come as a representative of the organization that I work for and to meet with people who were interested in serving cross-culturally. I was excited to attend the event as I find great joy in seeing God raise up his people to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth. As I arrived at the church on the first evening of the event I was handed a schedule that highlighted the weekend’s events.  On the docket for the weekend were times of prayer and fellowship, a short film, and guest speakers who would address the topic of sharing your faith in a Middle Eastern context. There was one item in particular that stood out as I combed through the schedule, a time in which the men would visit with a prominent religious leader of from another religious background. I was excited for this opportunity and had no idea what to expect. The following day, when it came time fo...