Days Zooming By

About 6 weeks ago, our 2 year old, JJ barely uttered a word. He just didn't talk. He could get his point across pretty easily through hand motions and grunting and signing a few words, but he just refused as we tried to teach him words. Now, just a few weeks later, he is almost putting together whole sentences. We have been parents now for 8 1/2 years, and sometimes I can't believe so many years have gone by. I am really fascinated by how quickly kids grow and change. A few short weeks ago, as I put JJ to bed, I said "I love you JJ." He smiled and answered, "yeah." Last night, as I tucked him in, I said, "I love you JJ." He smiled, thought for a second and said, "I love you....(thinking)...too much!" I'm pretty sure he meant, "so much" because he has said it before, but I'll take too much!

All of these fascinations make me love the normal, ordinary days. I had been thinking about this just this morning, and when I got to the office, one of the bloggers I follow, Jonathan Cliff, had blogged about this very thing. He posted a link to a video (mom's beware, you will cry...) that sums up the gift of ordinary days, and about savoring them. You can find it here -http://www.strategicdads.com/blog - go down to the video "The Gift of an Ordinary Day"

I remember around 11 months, I couldn't wait for my kids to walk. Then one day it became normal. I remember wishing that Madelyn could read the "big words" in her books one day on her own, and now it seems like there is nothing she can't read. Same with JJ's talking - it's almost hard to remember those days just a few weeks ago that we couldn't beg a word out of him. Time just goes by so fast. Cherish the normal, ordinary days. The days when you get to play video games or watch movies and read books with your kids. The walks, the trips to Sonic. Soon, too soon, those moments will be gone.

Summer is here, and so is KidzMax Live!

I just read a blog post by someone I follow that said one thing you should never do as a blogger is fill a whole blog up about why you haven't been blogging. I won't do that. Everyone is busy, and everyone faces big and little bumps in the road that keep them out of their normal routine. The last 6 weeks or so have been like that for the Peter family. We have experienced things that have been tough, but again as always God has shown us his faithfulness and filled us with joy and expectation for the future.

Today is the first day of no school for our girls. I love the FIRST day of school in the Fall because I love routine. But, I have to admit, I love the laid back feeling that summer ushers in. It also means that the mad dash that we have every morning to get everyone out of the house by 7:30 is over for the next 91 days...but who's counting?

I planned the summer events for our Children's Ministry at Bethel Church last September/October. A lot of thought and prayer went into those plans, and here I am preparing for tonight, which is one of the biggest things we have all summer. (There is a simple irony in the fact that I chose my busiest day this week to blog). We kick off tonight a 3 Night Outreach Event called KidzMax Live. It is a fast paced 1 hr event with games, illusions, drama, our special character Max, and of course prizes and tons of candy. The most exciting part about this event however is that we will give an altar call each night for kids to make the decision to follow Jesus. How exciting is that?! And what a great way to kick off our summer. I really believe that God strategically placed this event in our year so that it will have maximum impact in our kid's lives.

Even though this blog probably won't post to Facebook until after we are done with our kickoff night tonight, would you pray with me? That this week sets the tone for the rest of our summer, and that lives are forever impacted.