THE PETERSENS

This past Saturday we celebrated Joshua Lee’s and Caleb’s birthday with some close friends from our church, Treasuring Christ.

Caleb turned 1 on November 14th and JL will be 4 on Christmas Eve.  I cannot believe that I am a mother to such two wonderful, little boys.  I have been especially thankful for them lately, especially with the Thanksgiving holiday and all the funny things they’ve been doing together lately.  Ben verbalized my sentiments exactly when he read blessings that he wrote for the boys this year at the party.  They drove me to tears and I am so thankful that I have a husband who is so deep and intentional.  I am truly grateful for him.  Anyway, here are the blessings…we love you, Joshua Lee and Caleb Benjamin!  Oh, and photos will be posted soon.

Veronique,
As I began to write about this year with our little boys, I could only get one sentence out before I felt compelled to write to you first.  Thank you for our family.  As I sit in the coffee shop adoring photos from our shoot with Kristin… admiring at our beautiful family leisurely laying in the grassy field together, smiling and enjoying balloons, my eyes inevitably go from our little boys to you.  I always feared that having a family might not be a joy.  I remember seeing many examples of dysfunctional and loveless families, wondering it if was possible to have something more… something special.  God’s grace in you has made this happen for us.  You have been the backbone of this family.  You have been the one patiently enduring each day, investing hours and hours into carrying out my fragile visions…  and constantly investing vision of your own into our daily lives.  You have enriched our family life beyond what I could have imagined.  I am so overwhelmingly thankful for your encouragement to push forward, to make times and seasons special, to make our daily and weekly routines more than just mundane.  In all this, you have been for me a gift of God, a perfect complement and encouragement.  More than I could possibly deserve.  Thank you.

Boys,
Little boys… As I sit here in the coffee shop flipping through photos from this past year, I am caused to smile again and again as I behold our little family.  I was immediately drawn to write to your mommy first, because she has been such a beautiful mommy to you.  Never forget what a blessing of God she is to you.   Yet I also want you both to know what a blessing of God you have been to me.

Joshua Lee,
Joshua Lee, you have been my son for four years now.  This last year has been filled with many changes.  You grew from a toddler to a little boy.  We have gone from talking about the color of grass and monkeys to discussing why God created the world!  You have become a little artist (though we occasionally have to remind you to keep your work on paper), and a fantastic reader.  I think I love story-time almost as much as you.  You are an observant servant, a quality I rarely exhibit (so strange and humbling to see things you can learn from your almost-4-year-old). And you have such a soft and gentle spirit.  Yet I know you are ready and willing to grow up and be a man!  Joshua, I know that I am years behind in the maturity I should have to raise you right and give you what you need in a daddy and father figure.  Yet I am trusting that God will continue to provide what I am lacking.  I hope and pray that God will give me a new measure of grace each year of your life, that I may be able to show you a general mold for what it is to be a man of God.  And may a vision of God in his son Jesus Christ provide for you the rest that is lacking.  Very humbly I say happy 4th birthday little boy!

Caleb,
One year old but you are still our little bear.  You also have changed, yet not yet so dramatically.  A sweet blessing of comic relief and an example of God’s undeserved goodness.  I am constantly delighted by your funny face and your silly mannerisms.  Yet you also are an imitator, and a second reason for me to pray for grace!  As with your big brother, I can only hope that in what God provides me for Joshua will perhaps be a bit more refined for you. I pray constantly that God will soften your heart to delight in him, that you will fulfill your purpose in existence by loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  Happy 1st birthday Booboo.

Prayer of blessing for this year’s birthdays:
Little boys, may the God of hope be merciful to you.  May he work in you a delight in his son Jesus Christ.  May you understand your purpose in this life is to glorify God, and do so with all your might.  May you grow and be merciful men.  May you love the lost and broken.  May you serve the weak and helpless.  May you be men of justice, yet always understanding the justice that transcends our worldly system, that Christ died for sinners and God in his Good Pleasure may be merciful to anyone He pleases.  May you be strong and courageous.  May you choose each day to serve the Lord.  May you see the gospel as the greatest and only treasure in this world, and may you flee this evil age for the beauty of Christ.  As you grow into men, may those around you see the image of God on you, may they get a glimpse of the wonders of our Saviour by how you live your lives, and may that families you one day have always be thankful to God for the grace he has worked in you.