THE PETERSENS

1.) Jesus

• The One who loves me steadfastly.
• The One who died on the cross to save me from my ugly sin.
• The One who has redeemed me and made me one of His very own.
• The One who is faithful toward His children, even when they are faithless.
• The One who gives eternal life.
• The One who saved me from God’s wrath and showered me with His mercy by the shedding of His blood on the cross.

2.) Ben

• My dear husband who, with God’s help, has led us through thick and thin.  He has seen me on my worst days and yet chooses to stay married to me!
• My dear husband who shares my first love, Jesus.  Ben loves our Savior more than life itself.  He even loves Him more than me and the boys…that is totally fine with me.
• My dear husband who tirelessly works hard to provide for our family’s needs.  He has a full plate of responsiblities, but even on the most stressful and discouraging work days, he is not prone to grumble.  I could stand to learn a lot from him.
• My dear husband who loves our boys so much.  Some of his favorite things to do with them lately is to tackle and tickle them until they can barely breathe.  Reading the Chronicles of Narnia and the Bible with them are also a high point of his day.
• My dear husband who seeks to serve others.  I often find him joyfully attacking the pile of dishes in the sink after dinner, taking out our stinky trash, washing out poopy cloth diapers or cleaning up the Leggett home after community group.
• My dear husband who always lets me have the last French fry, brings a glass of water to put on my nightstand at bedtime, warms up the cold sheets for me, puts gas in my car so I don’t have to, watches cheesy figure skating movies with me, and doesn’t get mad at me when I accidentally shave a bald spot on his head while cutting his hair.  This list can go on and on.  I love you, hon!

3.) My little boy, Joshua Lee

• My little boy that loves to spend time with me and looks forward to going on our donut date later this week.
• My little boy who is growing in His knowledge of the Lord.
• My little boy who loves his little brother so.  He helps Caleb lift heavy things.  He helps Caleb get unstuck from cramped spaces.  He tickles and tackles Caleb, sending Caleb into serious giggle fits.  He has compassion on his little brother when Caleb is hurt or sad.
• My little boy who has a tender heart.  Though he never got to meet Uncle Lee, he cries about his death.  He asks if people he holds dear loves Jesus; if they don’t, he immediately prays that they would.
• My little boy who never complains about being sick, going to the grocery store or having his normal routine interrupted.  Ben has apparently set a great example for him.
• My little boy who astonishes us with his intelligence.  Yesterday, he plopped down on our couch and started reading PARAGRAPHS out loud to his Daddy.  What???  Where did that come from???

4.) My littlest, Caleb Benjamin

• My littlest that still likes to be a snugglebug, even at 15 months old.
• My littlest who looks so much like me it boggles even my own dad.
• My littlest who loves toys that start with the letter “B”…balls, balloons, bears, books.
• My littlest who likes to hear words.  He points his little finger at everything and grunts, his way of asking us to name what he’s pointing.  One day out of nowhere, he will probably start talking in full sentences and I will probably poop my pants when he does.
• My littlest who loves his big brother, following JL all over the house (sometimes to JL’s dismay) and imitates what he does.
• My littlest who loves to throw food all over our floor.  Feeding him is a disaster, which is a complete paradox to how his big brother was at his age.

4.) My family

• My Daddy…who is slow to speak because he is wise and measures his words carefully.  He has loved this daughter well and I know it is because he realizes how much he is loved by God.
• My Mommy…who continues to serve God, her husband and kids, even though God has brought many trials into their life.  She will still maintain that her joy is in the Lord.
• My sister, Jambutt…who is my favorite person to laugh with, who understands my fear of dots, who adores my kids and wants to hear about every single detail of their lives, and who is generous in blessing others.
• My brother, Jonathan…whom I have watched grow up into a young man.  It is a highlight of my year whenever I get to see him.  It means that many more chances to love on him well!

5.) My church family at TCC

• My family away from family.
• My family whom I seriously live life with.  You guys help me fight against sin, encourage me with the Word and continually love me despite my sins.
• My family who has embraced my kids and loved on them.
• My family whom I have learned so much from…about what it looks like to love Jesus, what it means to live in community, what it means to treasure the Word and how I can better care for my husband and kids with joy.
• My family, given to us by the Lord God Almighty.  We are united by the blood of Christ and I look forward to spending eternity with each and every one of you!

We bought a gingerbread house at the end of 2008 thinking that we would decorate it, but I gave birth to Caleb instead and we just never got around to it.  One year later, I retrieve the unopened gingerbread house to finally decorate it before Christmas…but alas, it still remained in the box.  We finally did get around to decorating it though, the day after New Year’s Day.  Ben and I ended up doing most of the decorating.  JL was too busy asking every 2 seconds whether he could eat various pieces of all the different candies.  He also made various decorating requests and here’s how it turned out…

Joshua Lee asked Ben to write his name on his hand.

The back of the house.

Adding lots of snow…for a Minnesota feel, doncha know.

The front of the house.

Sooooo candy happy.

And, TA-DA…the final result!

While starting to take down our Christmas decorations today, I realized that I never took the time to blog about our Christmas here in the Petersen household.  So, let me fill you in.  We started off the month with Advent.  Over Thanksgiving, Ben and I sat down and made ornaments that symbolized parts of the “Creation to Consummation.”

Ben prepared a devotional for each day which served to point us to Christ and His birth, as well as to anticipate His Second Coming.  He really did an excellent job and I am so thankful for the passion God has given Him to disciple me and his boys.  Joshua Lee enjoyed seeing each new and different ornament and now that he is older, he is picking up more and more of what we teach him from the Bible.  God is working in his life and for this we are thankful.

We put up just a few Christmas decorations.  Space and finances didn’t allow us to purchase a Christmas tree this year, but we still managed to make our home feel “Christmas-y.”

JL and I made several crafts to go along with the holiday and he loved that.  We baked and decorated cookies with Kimberly and her girls one morning and did the same with some friends downtown.  Even without family in town, we managed to keep pretty busy.

My sister and her boyfriend were the only ones who were able to fly out and see us this year.

It was the first time meeting her boyfriend, but things went great.  We had so much fun with them and we laughed more than we can ever remember.  We played Nertz, Puerto Rico and DDR, went to Chuck E Cheese’s and Red Robin with the kiddos and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning every single day they were here.

Jonathan even gave JL a mohawk one day.

It went by way too fast.  On their last full day here, we had a big Christmas dinner.

Jonathan made the turkey and the rest of us made all kinds of sides.  We ate and ate.  They flew out Christmas morning and it was awfully sad to see them go.  Many tears were shed, especially from Jennifer and JL.  JL is so fond of his Mak Ming Jen!  We were so thankful to have even a little family around this year.  Though I know that Christmas is about Jesus Christ and His birth, it’s so heartwarming to celebrate that fact with family.

On Christmas Day evening, we hung out with the Jacksons from our church family…

…and Ravi from NCState.

We had turkey again and just fellowshipped.  It was wonderful and refreshing.  So, that was our Christmas!  My hope and prayer is that your Christmas was filled with the peace and joy that comes only from Jesus, the Savior of the world.