Tag: An Le

Capturing the Moment

On By Tim ValentinoIn General2 Comments

Bethany tonight honored her brother and (soon-to-be) sister-in-law with a wonderful speech at the rehearsal dinner. She did it with a nice blend of fun memories, real-life insights, and heartfelt encouragement. I think she did a marvelous job “capturing the moment.”

Hello everyone. If you don’t know me, my name is Bethany, and I have the pleasure of being Andrew’s sister. I’m so thankful to be standing here tonight for this very special moment that we’ve waited for for a long … long … long … long time.

If you know Andrew, you know his creative passion for filmmaking. Because Andrew discovered this passion at a fairly young age, he has been able to do something really special for his friends and family over the years, and that is he’s been able to capture the moment.

Andrew has done such a great job capturing all the wonderful moments in our lives, so tonight I would like to help capture the moment we are in right now. The eve of the day we get to watch these dearly loved people get married and begin their journey through God’s greatest blessing of marriage.

Now, not all of our moments have been captured on camera, so tonight I want to help capture the moment by sharing some moments that weren’t. As you can imagine, growing up with Andrew was certainly an adventure. And if you didn’t know, before Andrew dated An, he never had a girlfriend.

And we have this theory in our family as to why Andrew never had a girlfriend. For most of his adolescence, Andrew really was not boyfriend material. He just wasn’t. And that’s because Andrew has always been husband material.

So, for example, Andrew might not have been great boyfriend material because as a child he was a little…aloof. The kind of aloof that gets you caught in a situation with a police costume he used to have. Somehow while playing with said police costume, Andrew got his ankles handcuffed together … and he had lost the key. All while only wearing … only underwear.

I have this image burned into by brain of Andrew’s feet handcuffed together, him wearing my dad’s t-shirt, while we scoured the front yard looking for the missing key to his handcuffs. I honestly can’t even remember how we got him out of those things. So maybe Andrew wasn’t quite boyfriend material since he was slightly aloof. But he definitely is husband material.

Also in our childhood, I had a season of time that I had bad nightmares. Andrew, in his great creativity and compassion, designed an intricate “bad dream catcher” for my room, made out of strings and laundry baskets and all sorts of things. He had a very detailed explanation for how this bad dream catcher worked and would help get rid of my bad dreams.

Yes, Andrew is husband material because he will always find a way to help you, An. He will come up with a solution to help and protect you in your fears and always wish you sweet dreams.

In our teenage years, Andrew still hadn’t become boyfriend material yet. Andrew had a really great group of guy friends in our youth group at church that he spent time with. My parents hosted an incredible amount of sleepovers in those years. Sometimes for Andrew and his friends to stay up all night drinking Mountain Dew and playing video games, and sometimes for me to have my friends to sleepover and stay up all night watching chick-flicks and talking about those boys in the youth group.

One night, the group of guys found out the girls were having a sleepover. As my girlfriends and I were in the basement watching a movie, Andrew thought it would be a great idea to mess with us. We had a walkout basement with a sliding glass door beneath out wooden deck above. So, Andrew and his friends proceeded to hang his paintball mask from the deck so we could see it through the glass door … and light it on fire. Andrew wasn’t boyfriend material yet because he was much more concerned with scaring the living daylights out of girls instead of impressing them.

However, that same teenage boy was also the boy that literally took someone who had nowhere to go. Andrew had a friend from school that had an incredibly tough home life and was no longer welcome in his home. Andrew invited that boy to live with us and walked through those years with him—all the way through graduation. Andrew is husband material because he is faithful and loyal and a real friend. He will be faithful and loyal to you, An, and he will be the best friend you could ask for.

By the time Andrew arrived at young adulthood, he still was not quite at boyfriend material. On one occasion, he tried to go to the Berkshire Mall in Reading. Somehow, he got lost along the way and wound up in Delaware. Still aloof.

However, once again he proved that he was definitely husband material. Like most college students, Andrew didn’t have a whole lot of money. But when a friend experienced some significant medical problems, Andrew emptied his bank account to pay their bills. Andrew will be a great husband to you, An, because he will give you everything he has without a second thought. He will love you sacrificially and wholly.

So, as we capture this moment now, I am thankful for where we are right here in this moment. Because today makes it all make sense—why Andrew wasn’t boyfriend material before. It’s because he hadn’t yet met An. Andrew wasn’t boyfriend material for anyone else. It was always supposed to be An. Because together, they truly are a perfect match.

And I know, like I’ve always known, that Andrew is going to be a wonderful husband to An because An is absolutely, positively, without a doubt, wife material. She is kind and patient and encouraging and sweet and thoughtful. Andrew will be a great husband because An is going to be a great wife, and, together, their marriage will certainly glorify the Lord.

So, if you can capture this moment in your mind, before your lives change forever tomorrow—in the best way possible, I want to say that this moment is capture-worthy. And I am so glad it’s here.

So, blessings to you, Andrew and An. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight” … and your marriage great.

‘I now pronounce you…’

On By Tim ValentinoIn General4 Comments

Lord willing, one week from today I will get to say these wonderful words after giving a brief wedding homily for my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and his lovely bride:

“And now, Andrew and An, by the authority vested in me by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I now pronounce you husband and wife. What God has therefore joined together, let no one ever separate.” *

“Andrew, you may kiss your wife.”

💋

“Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great please to introduce to you for the very first time: Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Valentino.”

At that moment, I will get a daughter-in-law, and then we’ll go celebrate with a marvelous reception filled with food, fun, and a few surprises.

Welcome to the family, An. You are God’s gift to all of us.

The countdown is on, and the excitement is growing.

* Since the state has defied God’s definition of marriage, I no longer refer to it in the pronouncement.

Circle of Life

On By Tim ValentinoIn GeneralLeave a comment

Here’s a random picture dump since Easter. The bright yellow daffs have come and gone. Then the flowering cherry tree popped and petered out. Then the multi-colored tulips erupted, only to begin their fade into eleven months of obscurity. But I just started planting the new garden because it’s that time of year again, and because hope springs eternal. It’s the circle of life, and it moves us all, right?

The ladies are all out of town at An’s bridal shower today, and Andrew is off to his bachelor party. I kept Samuel and Levi myself last night, and we all went out to breakfast together after last night’s wonderful pizza-movie night.

I got to see “A Great Awakening” two weeks ago, Sight & Sound’s second major film. It’s the story of Benjamin Franklin’s interaction with George Whitefield two centuries ago. I spotted Andrew twice and Sonya three times along the way. Living in the same house with two movie stars is dreadful, but the film is well worth seeing. 🙂 You know for sure that most of the people in the production are local when everybody sits there to watch the credits.

Speaking of Sight & Sound, I got to see Joshua this past Thursday. That production is also worth seeing. The walls of Jericho came down, and Christ was lifted up. Several lines and moments got me right in the feels. Afterward, we got another back-stage tour, and we got to see some new areas this time. It’s like a small city back there.

Last but not least, Enya’s “Fallen Embers” is routinely said to be one of her fans’ most underrated pieces. I think the fans may be right. Happy weekend.

A Moment to Remember

On By Tim ValentinoIn General1 Comment

As promised, here are some pictures from Andrew and An’s special day at Longwood Gardens last week. The custom ring is finally here, too. Since An is a Lord of the Rings aficionado, Drew put an Elvish twist on the presentation. She loved it, as well as the ring itself, which features her favorite gem stones and interlocking A’s from their first names. She also has Drew’s grandmother’s ring to wear. Wedding planning has begun, and we couldn’t be happier for the happy couple.

She Said, ‘Yes!’

On By Tim ValentinoIn General3 Comments

We are thrilled to announce that our son Andrew is engaged to be married! At around 5:00 p.m. on Monday, October 27, he asked the love of his life, An Le, to be his wife. He proposed to her at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, using his grandmother’s wedding ring, which is loaded with meaning and sentimentality.

Drew actually designed and commissioned a uniquely tailored ring with An’s favorite gemstones in it, along with an interlocking configuration of A’s from their first names. Alas, that ring won’t be ready for another few days. While the delay was initially disappointing, the heirloom ring brought a sense of family history into this precious moment.

Drew’s Grandpa Keith worked for an entire summer painting army barracks at Fort Hood, Texas, so he could buy that diamond for his fiancé, the one who would eventually become my mother-in-law. Without him and Grandma Lorena, Sonya would not be here, and neither would Andrew. He was their first grandchild, and the newest joy of their lives—a thrill I understand a whole lot better these days. On bended knee in a beautiful garden, he brought his grandparents’ love and legacy into a sacred event the happy couple will never forget.

An wearing Grandma Lorena’s wedding ring.

More important than any ring, however, is the one wearing it. An is a lovely Christian woman with a deep personal faith and commitment to Jesus. She is gracious, kind, warm, and engaging. She’s also an exceptional piano player, and we love to hear her “go to town” on the ivories. She is able, even from memory, to play classical music as well as hymns and worship songs. She has a captivating smile, and she adores children, including Samuel and Levi, which means she has good taste. (And also because she’s crazy about Andrew!) We love her to pieces!

Drew and An met at Sight & Sound Theatre, near Lancaster, where they both work. Their encounter was made possible when Drew decided to leave the photojournalism business several years ago and reboot his life. It was an act of faith and courage on his part, and I’m exceedingly proud of him for taking such a bold step. The station where he worked would not give him Sunday mornings off to attend church, and they constantly asked him to signal-boost—not just report—events that were contrary to his Christian faith. Not only that, he had seen enough violence, crime, and human devastation covering the news to last a lifetime.

So, providentially, he made his way to Sight & Sound, where he could put his Film & Media Arts degree from Temple University to good use for the kingdom of Christ. Little did we realize at the time that God had a divine encounter awaiting him in the person of An (pronounced “Ahn”) Le (pronounced “Lay”), who works in the theatre’s Hospitality Department.

An and Andrew on a recent date.

Her father Phil is a medical doctor who, at the age of 11, was rushed onto a plane during the fall of Saigon, Vietnam. The Communists were rounding up and killing Christians, and Phil’s neighborhood was scheduled for execution the next day. Blessedly, that emergency flight out of the country saved his life. More divine providence.

Knowing the proposal would be made Monday—and anticipating An’s joyful acceptance of it—Andrew, Sonya, and I gathered Sunday night for a time of prayer to thank God for his goodness to us. There were, of course, tears of delight as we remembered praying—even while standing by Drew’s crib when that first contraction hit and we knew it was time to go to the hospital—for our firstborn’s future spouse.

An, you are an answer to many prayers that go way back in time. Welcome to the family, dear one. We love you, and we pledge to pray for you into the future as well.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Engagement pictures (and snaps of the custom ring) forthcoming.