Steve and Jenny Valentine

After a weekend away in Georgia to celebrate our 2nd anniversary, contemplate the past two years we've spent together as husband and wife and dream about our future we started our week off by going to my 16 week doctor appointment.  It seems my pregnancy is right on target and everything is going well.  People have started to notice and comment on my growing belly!  But how can they not, take a look at the pictures below-taken at 15 & 16 weeks...it seems like my belly popped out over night!  We are excited about the next five months of preparation before the baby is born.  This has been a neat experience and we enjoy learning about the new ways our baby is developing each week.  I can hardly believe that the baby is the size of an avacado right now and will double in size starting this week!  What an amazing work the Lord is doing, forming a child inside a woman.  We have decided we want to find out the gender of the b...

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 ...

Been in hiding for a while-or we've just been busy-probably a little of both.  After Steve finished finals, we had the Christmas time upon us with family in town and then I went into a crazy couple weeks of working twice what I normally would in a week's time.  We finally had a time to escape the busyness of life this past weekend and get away for a night in Tampa.  What a blessing and time of refreshement this was for our souls, our marriage and our sanity!  We're preparing for the next semester for Steve, he's been busy buying books and working extra hours as he's been out for his winter break.  In the midst of all of this, we have seen the Lord's faithfulness to us as we wondered several times of how we were going to pay the bills for this month.  The Lord provided.  He continues to provide.  And our hope has been in that He will continue to do so as we are in the journey of seminary life.  Some verses that really encouraged our hearts las...

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 ...

It's been a while since we've written anything...we will have lots of thoughts real soon! In the meantime, here is a quick re-cap of the last month: *Steve is in the last lap of classes for the semester and hitting the books hard to study and write papers. *Jenny went full time and has been very busy with the new full time schedule. *Steve is praying and seeking an opportunity to serve in a ministry role while he attends seminary.  He has been dialoguing with several people about what this may look like and where he could serve. *Jenny has had the opportunity to worship with our church by playing her cello on several occasions during Sunday services and has really enjoyed using this talent to bring the Lord praise. The Lord has been so faithful to us and remains our constant provider, protector and salvation. All our thankfulness is for His name and His glory alone.  "You are my God, and I give thanks to You; You are my God, I extol You."...

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...