Steve and Jenny Valentine

What's that smell? Oh yea, it's the spit up on my shirt...the shirt that I was planning on changing but got sidetracked in doing so because my son came running around the corner at lightening speed yelling out "POO AGAIN!" And while standing, cooking dinner tonight, baby asleep on me in the carrier, I begin to wonder what's that awful smell!  Does the meal I'm preparing smell that bad?!  Oh wait, it's my nasty shirt, which is impossible now to change and kinda pointless because my day is closer to the end (meaning bedtime for the kiddos) than it was when said spit up actually occurred. And honestly I can't even remember if I brushed my teeth this morning because every time it crossed my mind, my breath tasted of coffee!  Sooo, did I brush my teeth and drink more coffee or did I forget to brush them and this was my "first cup of coffee" breath smell going on? But my breath smells like coffee, it could be worse right?! ------------------...

As I begin to emerge from the fog that has been our lives over the first month, I can't help but be in a continual state of thankfulness.  Thankful for the gift of life, little Olivia's specifically.  Thankful for the gift of children the Lord has entrusted us with.  Thankful for the MANY people who have served us by bringing meals (literally we only had to cook a couple of times during the first month!). Thankful for my mom who served and cared for us all. Thankful that in the midst of tiredness, we are finding much joy.  Thankful for so many thoughtful gifts given. Thankful for encouraging reminders of God's love and grace toward us. Just THANKFUL! Olivia is the typical newborn. She sleeps, eats, well you know!  She likes to be near mama, doesn't mind the VERY loud sounds her brother and sister create (in fact sleeps right through it amazingly!), beginning to hold her head up and has very strong arms and legs (which makes diaper changes a bit challeng...

So in our last blog post about Poland, we mentioned that we were planning on making it home in 2015...so here's a little back story. Steve, who spends his days mobilizing missionaries with Converge Worldwide, was handed a folder with some information about Poland and things going on there. As is normal in his job, he sees a lot of field locations all over the world in great need of the Gospel. It's how he knows who to recruit for specific places. So when he began reading the information in this folder, the Lord began to stir his heart. Steve found himself being drawn to the people in Poland. This was around the time just after Isaac was born and so when he came home and mentioned this opportunity to me, I said, "it sounds neat but we just had a baby, let's pray about it over the next few months." Essentially, even though our hearts have been drawn toward serving overseas one day as missionaries, I wasn't even sleeping through the night and just trying to s...

So she turned two months old yesterday, which means I finally have had time to upload some "official" newborn pictures of our sweetie! My ever so talented sister in law took some of the most adorable pictures of our littlest princess when she was just a couple weeks old...enjoy! the three cuties. sister love Lauren caught her first smile on camera! one of our favorite pics when I first saw this picture I thought, "Man we look tired!" Ha, life with a newborn. The next few just show you what it's like to do newborn pics and attempt to have the other toddler siblings involved!   But we did end up getting a GREAT one of the three kiddos!

Karis and Isaac got to meet their baby sissy the evening she was born.  Since Olivia was born just after 4pm, my friend Cassi (who took care of them that day) brought them up to the hospital.  Funny story, when Cassi got the message that Olivia had arrived, she told Karis and Isaac and they told us that Karis ran around the room yelling something like, "MY BABY SISTER IS HERE!"  So cute! She was so excited to get up to the hospital. I don't have any real great pictures of that first sibling meeting and the one I do have of Karis, me and Olivia is a little blurry, but it works.  Isaac was very unsure of what was going on and stayed in daddy's arms, all while holding on to his baby doll.  He didn't want to get too close and I think was nervous as to why mommy was in a hospital gown and bed.  They didn't stay long since it was close to their bed time.  They went home for a good rest and came back the next morning to spend some time bonding with their new ...

We had the opportunity to visit Poland last Fall.  It was a beautiful time of the year to be there and explore such a neat place.   Hoping to make this place our new home sometime in 2015 . More on that later...until then, enjoy some pictures from our trip! about to board our plane leaving Orlando-Steve's excited face! too bad we didn't get bumped up to first class on our second flight but we enjoyed it out of Orlando :) boarding our plane for Germany can't get away from Disney...even across the ocean! our $30 breakfast in the Munich airport.  This is what you have to pay when traveling with a lady who's 19 weeks pregnant! arriving in Poznan, Poland walked around in Poznan after arriving that afternoon inside a cathedral in Poznan we enjoyed the beautiful architecture eating lunch First meal in Poland~Pierogis still looking a little tired, just a bit jet lagged the morning after arriving yes, another food pictur...