Steve and Jenny Valentine

So today was way less than ideal (but this is kind of becoming a trend around here lately...ideal has long left us!) We woke up to our youngest having a fever (after our son had a fever the other day, we weren't surprised and thankful we had at least 24 hours without someone having a fever over our Easter Break)...and also our oldest who was coughing a bit, so it was a no brainer that we couldn't go to church. We were all pretty bummed, well not our youngest, she just wanted to be snuggled in mommy's lap-to which I gladly obliged. I admit, I was sad, disheartened and a bit deflated. Both Steve and I are weary of all the health issues our entire family has been facing for the past (well I don't even know how long anymore because it's been so long!) I was also a bit irritated this morning by the constant whining that was happening from all the little people and found myself apologizing a couple times for how I responded to their yucky behavior with my own yucky beha...

*Disclaimer* I (Jenny here) have a hard time sharing things personally (especially on a blog) but I like to write and it helps me process and it keeps our family and friends back in the States "in the loop"...so I make myself write about what God is doing in my life, even in the hard pieces. With that being said, if any of what I write seems slanted, confusing or jaded...it might be... (I also don't like being misunderstood, haha!) but also, I'm finding I just don't have the proper words (yet) to really explain all of how I have processed this whole move so far. I get words/thoughts in spurts...and so when I do, I will write. Steve and I want to be better at writing this coming year. Last year on the blog we spent a great deal of time telling stories and sharing pictures about what we experience here...this year, though, we want to be more wordy and give you a deeper level of our thoughts through the things we experience everyday. Some days will be funny and some...

Well here we are at last...finishing up the blog series "Poland 365". If you have missed any of the stories and pictures from some of the weeks we have posted, you can click on the label at the bottom of this blog "POLAND 365" and it will bring up all our blog posts in this category. Thank you for following along in 2016 (our first full calendar year living in Poland). We hope you enjoyed hearing more about our experience, the culture here and a glimpse of what life is like in Poland.  In this coming year, we will post more of our experiences through writing, telling stories and sharing experiences and the moments God is using to draw us closer to Him through our time in Poland. Without further ado, on to the last few pictures from 2016... December 23 - More cookie baking with grandma. Can you see the delight of decorating these sugar cookies on the kids' faces? Olivia especially enjoyed liking up the extra sprinkles that fell off each cookie ;) Dece...

December 9 - Down at the Christmas Markets with some ladies from Bible Study and I got to taste Chestnuts from an open fire for the first time and they were tasty! December 10 - Getting resourceful when things like vanilla extract cost so much money here (but the vodka is cheap so I made my own!) December 11 - Afternoon coffee makes a cold day better. December 12 -Can you tell what season is upon us? We have the oils going in the diffuser, tissues galore and homemade disinfectant spray...this week started a three month long illness streak for our family, and finally this month (March of 2017) we are seeing some upward gains in the health department! December 13 - Mailing Christmas cards to friends back home in America...and the line in the post office here is just like it would be at the holiday times in America ;) The funny part about this entire story, is the Christmas cards did not arrive until end of February to most of our friends! I don't k...

November 25 - Isaac's really good at making some pretty good creations with his wooden train tracks...he could do this for hours! November 26 - Isaac and one of his favorite little buddies! This baby boy is the younger brother of Olivia's best friend. Isaac loves holding babies and begs to do it anytime there is a little one around. He also plays this game at home, taking care of baby. He's a little nurturer that's for sure. November 27 - An International Thanksgiving Meal with the friends from Poznań International Church. Since this is an American tradition, there were only a few typical Thanksgiving dishes, and then whatever else people brought. So we had a wide variety of food from many places in the world! It was quite the spread of food and desserts. This is just a snap shot of part of the people who participated in the lovely evening.  I will also say, this was my first experience with getting violently ill in a foreign country...something I ...

Well alas, still more pictures have turned up missing (but what do you expect with me publishing this post that should have been posted over two months ago!) So, I'll share what we have...and hopefully will finish posting all our pictures finally from Poland 365 of 2016 in the coming days! November 11 - This is Independence day here in Poland as well as Sw. Marcin day in Poznań. The past couple years we have attended the Sw. Marcin day festivities in town and they are known for having a popular Polish treat (pictured here) called Rogale. It's tasty, as you can imagine!   Missing November 12 & 13 (the perfectionist side of me is bothered that I couldn't locate all these pictures!) November 14 - In addition to Karis attending school (and Isaac in preschool) in the Polish school nearby, we do a small amount of additional home school materials to help them stay on top of English studies.  November 15 - Jenny got a hair cut and color and it was really ...