The Valle Family, servants of Christ Jesus, called to follow Christ, set apart by the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, our victorious King, by whom death, sin and Satan have received their vanquishing blows, who also was descended from David, according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God equal in power and glory but different in his role, according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, our great I AM, through whom we have received grace by his bearing our sins and receiving his glory, to bring about the obedience of faith for his name’s sake among all the nations, including you who are called to be belong to Jesus Christ, to all those who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ his Son, and the Holy Spirit sanctifier, he who regenerates and he who baptizes!
In the spirit of our favorite show, “Everybody Loves Raymond”, we have decided to write a Christmas Letter. (See Season 6, Episode 12. We own the whole series and partake of it almost daily.) There is so much that our great God has done in our lives in 2011, we wanted to take this opportunity to both update you on our doings and give praise for His goodness & grace.
For Marie, graduating from Valley Forge Christian College (in 2010) was followed by a mirage of jobs, including babysitting, individual therapy for children with behavioral disabilities, the YMCA as a before/after school program director, and Administrative Assistant to the VP of Finance at Valley Forge Christian College. However, in May of this year, her dreams came true and God opened a position for her in Children’s Ministry at her home church, Family Worship Center. Here, she works with her mentor and friend, Debbie Stevens, and enjoys all the insanity that comes with working in Children’s Ministry. This often means artsy projects, writing, and administration for things like our Panda-themed Vacation Bible School, Kid’s Camp, Fall Fest activities, Christmas Presentations and so much more. Angelo is figuring out all this Kids Ministry stuff as he experiences it. Over the summer, we spent a week at Kid’s Camp, Angelo with a group of 5th & 6th Grade boys. Also over the summer, we were given the opportunity to be speakers for the children at a Spanish Family Camp (Thanks again Uncle Tony). This was an interesting experience that surely cut Angelo’s teeth a bit more as to the heart of ministry to children (especially as he tried to translate his seminary knowledge to a group of eight-year-olds).
Angelo continues to work toward further education at Westminster Theological Seminary. In this last year, he has taken the following class: Introduction to the Old Testament, Greek Language 3, Doctrine of God, Gospel Communication, Hermeneutics, German Language 1, Old Testament History & Theology 1, Epistles & Revelation, and Ancient Church. Clearly, he is studying and learning much. Praise be to God, opportunities have been granted to Angelo to share this great knowledge as he was a guest lecturer in a theology class at our alma mater, Valley Forge Christian College, a key teacher in our church’s Young Adult Ministry, a mentor to a few young men and even the devotional speaker at the annual Rolón Men & Boys Retreat. While in school and over the summer, Angelo works with individual clients as a therapist for children with behavioral needs, which has even provided opportunity for ministry to the families and co-workers.
This has seemed to be the year of weddings for us, and Angelo was in almost all of them. Congratulations to Pat & Christy, Adam & Rachel, Ben & Hannah, and Chris & Michelle. We were especially honored to be a part of the marriage of Chris & Michelle as we spent the last year meeting with them to do their pre-marital counseling and then Angelo officiated the ceremony. Also part of our lives, our college buddy and “adopted son”, Ryan lived with us for about two months after he graduated from The Forge as he pursued further career choices. We miss him tremendously as he now lives in Boston, and we long for his return.
Speaking of all things random, here are some unusual updates we thought you might enjoy as well:
- We almost got a puppy. We were going to name him Nightwing. Our apartment complex would not allow a dog, even though the lease did not explicitly state that. We were very disappointed and he was very cute.
- To grace Marie, Angelo attended a Steven Curtis Chapman concert with her. Although Marie has loved his music for years, Angelo discovered the awesomeness and is now a fan as well.
- We now own the complete series of Boy Meets World, a childhood favorite for both Angelo & Marie. Random trivia: Season 3 was instrumental in our relationship while we were in college.
- Batman has become even more inspirational around our home. Marie completed the Lego Batman video game and Angelo completed the Arkham Asylum video game, both at 100%. (We’re lame. It’s okay.)
- We bought Marie a bass guitar, which she named Charlie. Angelo is teaching her to play, although the progress seems slow. Angelo says she has promise, but the time required to both learn and teach has been sparse lately. Angelo continues to rock out on electric guitar as much as possible.
- Our love for cooking shows continues as we watch anything with Gordon Ramsey and other Food Network shows. This is so much so that we spent Thanksgiving morning doing our own “Chopped” or “Iron Chef” face-off. We took bizarre foods and left-overs and attempted to create greatness. Neither of our dishes tasted very good but we had so much fun.
- We are practically forensic anthropologist AND FBI agents. Over the summer, Marie (and Ryan) introduced Angelo to the hit Fox show, “Bones”, and Angelo determined to catch up on all six seasons before it began again in November. We borrowed the seasons from the local library and soon became known as “The Bones Kids” with the librarians, but we did it. We have seen all 133 episodes currently available and will continue to watch Bones & Booth solve all kinds of mysteries as we pretend to be them.
For those of you that don’t know, our lives changed forever in late August as we brought two little boys into our home. The church daycare was approached by a mom who needed some additional help caring for her 3 year-old and 5 year-old sons. Marie’s heart was instantly captivated with love for these boys, without having ever met them. Angelo felt compassion immediately upon hearing their story and did not hesitate to open our home to them. About three weeks later, we had transformed our study/library into the perfect bedroom for these two little ones. Angel (5 years) and Joey (3 years) moved in with us full time in late August. Jumping into parenthood with both feet has been intense and exhausting, but the work of God in their little lives is so evident; it makes it all worth it. The difficulties the boys have experienced have certainly made our jobs difficult at times, but there is nothing like hearing Joey say, “I like you, Aunt Marie” or Angel saying “You’re my favorite, Uncle Angelo”. We secretly enjoy as they prepare their heads for bedtime, and after-prayer questions like, “Uncle Angelo, why do you always pray that Jesus will regenerate our hearts?” Needless to say, they have been a difficult yet enjoyable gift. Although we don’t know how long they will be in our care, we look forward to Gods’ best for them, whatever that entails.
In the coming year, we look forward to whatever God is going to do. We often pause in amazement at what God has done that we never would have guessed. As we prepare our hearts and lives for the excitement of the Christmas season, we wanted to share with you God’s grace in our lives and the blessing that you have been to us. Merry Christmas.
With love & peace,
The Valle Family
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