Steve and Jenny Valentine

February 12 - A quick visit to the doctor for the two littlest in our family, and antibiotics prescribed to help them heal. Now, the first time we had to take kids to the doctor (which actually was one of my biggest fears before arriving to Poland) we had only been here about a month and so you can imagine my surprise (then) when I brought the medicine home from the Apteka (Pharmacy) to find powder in a bottle! After some translation help from friends, I was able to figure out just how much water I had to add to the powder and begin administering the medicine properly. So now, as we were prescribed antibiotics (probably the third time since being here)  I'm a pro at knowing what I need to do to prep the medicine. This is very different than back in the States for us, and actually very surprising!  February 13 - What to do when most everyone is stuck inside sick over Valentine's Day weekend...why bake heart shaped chocol...

Sometimes our days don't go as planned, and you just have to go with the flow. This Valentine's day has been one of those days. Sunday, a day when we would usually be headed off to church, we find ourselves waking up to sick children who can't keep their breakfast down! As I stood in the midst of the sickies and tears, flipping heart shaped eggs...I looked over at Steve and said "happy Valentine's day, I love you" . Sometimes special days are filled with sickness and "not as planned" moments...but despite it all, we are reminded of God's great love for us in Christ Jesus! So HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all our family and friends, may you find true love and contentment in Jesus today. And if you didn't get our Valentine letter yet in your email today, please message us and we will send it to you. Just a few pictures from our annual Valentine photo shoot a few weeks back, enjoy!

February 5 - Steve began training last week to run the Poznan Marathon this coming Fall...more to come no doubt about this endeavor! And don't you know Isaac wants to be just like daddy :) February 6 - Family day consisted of an afternoon walk around a local lake - that our kids thought was the Florida beach ;) During our walk we found this outdoor exercise area. One of the first things I remember seeing at a park here when we arrived in Poland was an exercise area like this and pretty soon found out that they have exercise equipment like this all over the city at different parks and locations, it's pretty neat. February 7 - first birthday party we have attended for friends here in Poland. Notice the firecracker of a candle that is blazing as we al sing the "Happy birthday" song and "Sto Lat" to these two lovely gals! Party was at an indoor play area in a mall, and it seems every mall has one of these play areas, which is very differen...

August 9th was a hot day in Florida (what day wasn't this past Summer/Fall?) and also happens to be the day of one of my closest friend's birthday (I'm so sorry we left on your birthday!) I remember that day like it was yesterday. We spent the morning at church, saying goodbye to friends and what we considered our family. We went home to put kids down for naps and finalize our packing for the trip overseas. I was even still selling items and having people pick them up at our home that afternoon before we headed off to the airport! Our friends arrived late afternoon and pick us (and all our belongings) up...two vans and a car loaded with people and items...we were off. That was an odd car ride to the airport (many mixed emotions swirling through my mind) and I wish I had had been able to be in all the other vehicles to chat with our sweet friends each one last time face to face. We got to airport, unloaded everything and plopped it all on the outside sidewalk in carts, hugge...

January 29 -Because sometimes when people come over, we connect over a good game of Settlers of Catan.  January 30 - Family day included a trip to a local restaurant. The neat thing here about many cafes and restaurants, is that they are very family friendly and you find a lot of these types of "kid areas" in the restaurant. Makes going out to eat with little kiddos a pleasure. Sometimes it's more decorated like this one, and other times it's a small bin of toys and paper and crayons for them to color with. January 31-When I saw the three kiddos sitting there next to each other watching the worship team warming up before church began, I had flashbacks to my own childhood. God has definitely given us children who are flexible and enjoy change (as much as they can enjoy change) and this has been a huge win during this move across the world.  February 1-While the older two went to class today, the little Love and mommy did some grocery shopping. I mostly on...

January 22-On this particular day, I found Olivia "carrying" around her grandparents! We have small pictures printed of their grandparents and she just found them on the shelf and was staring at them. It was so sweet, and she can identify them all without hesitation. Thank you FaceTime for allowing our kids to still see their grandparents regularly! Then later that day I found the kids fighting over who's grammy was who's, and who's papa and grandma and grandpa belonged to. They carry these around, in the car, around the house, hiding them from each other. We even had an exciting game of hide and go seek with papa this evening before we finally found him under the couch and then they all proceeded to sit on the couch and just stare at them for a while. Of course, Olivia saw me take the camera out and decided to cheese it up! Have I won you grandparents over to hurry and buy plane tickets to come visit yet?! They love and miss you all tons, as do we ...

January 15-We were given several cash Christmas gifts and chose to put it all together and use it for buying a T.V. The children were thrilled to say the least! It was fun to have our Friday night movie night on a bigger screen rather than the computer screen. And Netflix came to Poland, which is exciting for nights when we want to chill, but maybe a little distraction when we need to be studying ;) The fun thing is that we do have access to Polish television because of how our internet service works here and it's good to hear the language more and more for me since I'm not out and about as much as Steve. January 16-Eggs, milk and creamer...all found on the aisles in the grocery stores here rather than in the cooler section. This was very different from what we were used to back in the States, but these are the little things that are fun to learn and figure out as we walk through each day of life here. January 17-We have been going full steam ahead learning ...