Steve and Jenny Valentine

As our tradition has been from when we first got married, here is a letter from us on Valentine's day! A Year of Growing G -Growing seems to be the best word to pick as a theme for our past year, in more ways than one! Growing through difficult moments, growing in our marriage, Karis growing like a weed and watching Jenny's belly grow with little baby Isaac inside of her! God has been faithful through each moment and we can’t help but be thankful for His goodness to us. R -Rest is not something we have felt much of over the past few months. Steve’s job keeps him fairly busy and with Jenny being pregnant and several sicknesses traveling from each of us during the entire month of January, we have found ourselves a bit worn out lately! We decided that it would be good to take a much needed break before baby number two is born. So the first weekend of February, Karis had fun at her first sleep over with her cousins and aunt and uncle! Meanwhile, Steve enjoyed a day of play...

Karis had her 15 month appointment a couple weeks ago and is growing like a weed (well her own little species of weed...but she's growing none the less)!  She is now 21 pounds and 30 1/2 inches making her in the 25th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height.  Both of these are very good news for our little peanut.  The doctor was very impressed with her talking skills as well.  Karis said, "bye bye" as soon as the doctor walked into the room and said hi to her :)  it was very amusing because she kept saying "bye bye" to the doctor throughout the appointment, guess she's like her daddy and doesn't really like to go to the doctor!  For those who haven't spent time with her lately, she talks up a storm!  Most of the time you don't know what she's saying, but a lot of the time, she is speaking very clearly.  She has a lot of new words she's saying and will repeat most anything you ask her to try and say. ...

Advent is a time between Thanksgiving and Christmas where we celebrate the birth of Christ.  A time of remembering, to be thankful and ponder the many fulfilled promises that came through the birth and life of Christ.  We are enjoying this family devotional so far for this Advent season (published by our former church in Dallas): http://www.thevillagechurch.net/mediafiles/advent-guide.pdf Having time together as a family is a great way for us to talk and reflect about things that matter most during the holiday season.  Check it out!

Before I even became pregnant with Karis, I knew I would want to stay home eventually with our children.  It wasn't until I had our little girl, where that feeling only intensified.  Steve and I feel blessed that we have been able to make that transition of me leaving a job outside the home to stay at home with Karis...and now soon to be Isaac too!  I dealt with a lot of mixed emotions and negative thoughts at the time of leaving my job: sense of worth in doing a job outside the home, will people judge me or think I'm lazy, will I get bored, etc.  I realized that most of these thoughts were attacks from the enemy on my personal self worth that should only be found in Christ.  My worth doesn't come from how much money I make, where I work, how well I do my job, but my worth comes from Christ.  It's because of Him, I am motivated to do a good job at whatever my role is...for now it's being a stay at home mommy.  I came across this b...

Isaac Haddon Valentine What a joy it was to learn I am carrying a boy inside of me!  We were able to see our little boy yesterday during my 19 week ultrasound.  At my 12 week ultrasound, the technician had made a guess about the gender, guessing boy.  After that appointment, we decided we should look into boy names, because there were none on our list.  Even though we knew there was still the possibility of having a girl, we were very excited to find out yesterday!  He appeared to be healthy: heart rate 153-strong and sounded amazing measuring around 10 ounces (a week bigger than what they say my due date is) was head down...PRAISE THE LORD!  We pray he stays in that position. very relaxed, little movement (unlike his big sister), he was laid back with his hands behind his head and legs crossed :) Our initial reactions: Me-laughter and excitement Steve-also laughter and excitement and gave me a high five ...

My thoughts about Karis and her first birthday (I'm a few weeks delayed in posting this, because I can't stand how long it takes for all the pictures to upload)! But until she wakes from her nap I will take a few moments to reflect on our daughter a bit. Our little Talker Over the past month her vocabulary has increased.  We're often surprised that she's talking...but then Steve and I smile at each other and say, "well, she does have us as parents and we both like to talk a lot (me probably more than him but he still takes credit for part of this-not to mention both Karis' grammy and grandma are quite the talkers as well-she's pretty much going to have that as part of her personality I think!) Other than the normal babbles and words she was saying before like MAMA, DADA, MORE and GO, She is saying: BABY - which really sounds like bob bob-of course making us laugh because that's her grandpa's name AGAIN - which mostly comes out sounding like ...

In the past couple weeks, there have been many "Remembering 9/11" radio broadcasts, TV shows, and articles that have caught my attention more than most in years past since 9/11/2001.  I'm not sure if it's because this is the ten year since that day where terrorists attacked the WTC buildings...none the less...catching my attention more than before.  I find myself sad and frustrated to watch and/or read about that day.  Sadness for those lost in the tragedy that day and the families they left behind.  Frustration for the evil in our world.  Although I am a very firm believer in God's sovereignty, and in his infinite wisdom, know He could have stopped it...I also know that evil is in our world and God has used the attacks on September 11th to redeem many people to call them as His own. Another reason I think I overlook the severity of the 9/11 attacks is because over the past six years I find myself often reflecting on how things became diffe...