Steve and Jenny Valentine

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...

Our mother's day was pretty low key...mostly because I was out of town the days prior and flew back to Orlando returning the evening of mother's day.  Steve had a meal planned to cook, but had to adjust plans since my flight was delayed and we were pushing up against Karis' time to eat!  So he took me out to eat at Longhorn steakhouse.  I think the best part of my day was Isaac and I coming home and getting to spend the evening with Karis and Steve!  It was fun to be away, but I was glad to be home.  Steve and Karis had spent time planting flowers with cousins, Char and Eloise, along with Uncle Rob on the Saturday before mother's day to give to the mommy's in their lives.  It was fun to hear the stories Steve told about Karis "helping" plant.  Apparently she liked playing in the dirt more than anything!  I didn't get a picture of Karis with my new plants until a couple days later, which was perfect because there were several really pretty blo...

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...

We were out for a walk this morning when we came upon a mama birdy and her 4 or 5 little baby birdies.  Karis enjoyed seeing this and quite honestly, so did I!  There's just something about little fuzzy baby birds hopping around with their mama that makes me smile :) As I watched the little birdies run around, their mama trying to get them all together, I had to laugh because she looked how I often feel with only two kiddos to round up! I wanted to help the little mama bird round up her little birds (especially the one running into the street!) and make sure they were all safe.  I seem to get a bit frazzled on most days for example when trying to get out of the house if I have errands to run or somewhere to be.  I can also get easily frustrated with Karis who seems to choose those very moments to have a meltdown.  I hate that I lose my patience and get easily frustrated some days.  But I'm being refined...ref...

With enough peanuts, gummy bears and a silly aunt who can make a little girl smile...you can pretty much get great pictures!  Not much else needs to be said, the pictures are enough! Isaac at 5 weeks old sibling love Karis the chipmunk with a mouthful of peanuts Blessings from the Lord she loves leaning in for hugs as she calls them Cousin Charlotte wanted in on the photo shoot-sweet girls! Thanks Lauren for your time and willingness to do this...we always like being practice models for you!

My mom came into town and spent the past month with us humbly serving our family.  She came down for a few weeks when Karis was born and we were excited when she decided to make plans to do the same thing when Isaac was due to be born.  She was originally planning to come for three weeks, but because Isaac came a bit sooner than expected, how could a mother deny her daughter's plea to come earlier when she asks her at 4:30 in the morning post birth of her first grandson?!  So my mom flew in the day after Isaac was born and we picked her up at the airport on our way home from the hospital!  What a joy it was to have her here.  A mere thank you doesn't suffice, but I think she knows we are very grateful and I tried to tell her often during her time here.  A glimpse of what she did to help us around here... snuggling Isaac for the first time after she arrived more snuggles She often rode cramped in the backseat between the two ki...

To the readers...this is a long story, but if you know me at all, you know I like details! And due to my lack of sleep, I may repeat myself!  Consider yourself warned :) A little back story: When we found out we were pregnant with Karis, I knew instantly that I wanted to have a natural childbirth...by that I mean non medicated and with as little intervention as possible. However, at 35 weeks pregnant, we found out Karis was breeched. Although we did hope she would flip to the head down position, it did not happen and I had a c-section on August 20th and met my first child, Karis Ann! Many people who are in the "I want a natural childbirth" camp, tend to be pretty diehard when it comes to "their" method of doing things...I wouldn't classify myself as a diehard and in the case of my birth story of Karis, I am thankful for doctors who can perform c-sections in order for us to have welcomed a healthy baby girl into the world 19 months ago.  Her birth story is as...