Mr & Mrs Peters

Wow, it has been a whirlwind last week or so for the Peters family! I feel like there is so much to write about and so I will jump right into this week’s edition of the Sunday Six.

1. Justin and I enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday. My cousin Paul entertained us with stories of his recent 6 month trip overseas (I make it sound like a vacation and not a Navy deployment!!) and even showed us his route on a huge map. It was a night for great food, fun conversations, and loving family moments.

2. Our trip to Palm Springs was a blast. The hotel was so luxurious and I enjoyed not one, but TWO super-soothing bubble baths in the jacuzzi bathtub. We ate so much yummy food that I feel as if I could go the next 2 days without eating. Justin couldn’t stay the whole trip as he had to work Saturday and Sunday so I got to revert back to my pre-married days. Nothing like sharing a bed with your little sister to remember the good ol’ days! Mom, thank for choosing to celebrate your birthday with us!

3. My friend Tianna welcomed her son, Cooper John, on Friday night. Congrats Jason and Tianna!

4. On Saturday I hit up the outlets with Coco, Fran, and Becky. We shopped for 5 hours and I was able to cross off almost everyone on my Christmas list by the end of the day. I tried my hardest not to be a brat and think I did pretty well considering the aforementioned 5 hour length of the trip. I don’t think I will ever again attempt Thanksgiving weekend shopping, however, as it was like a crowded day at Disneyland- lines for everything.

5. I may or may not have cheated and put up just a few Christmas decorations tonight. Hey- Justin will most likely not be home til after midnight and then technically it WILL be Dec 1st so I guess it sort of isn’t cheating…

6. I am still looking back with contentment on our recent trip to Utah. We had such a blast visiting with Bryant, Amy, and Stone. I was looking back at some pictures yesterday and started to get worked up because I already miss little Stone so much (and for all of you out there thinking, “Sheesh, what DOESN’T Mel get worked up about??” I say to you- Hush!). I will conclude this post with some more pictures of our trip.

working on Stone's birth announcements

never has a receding hairline been so darn cute!

right before we had to leave

too cute!

There are so many things to be thankful for this year- a loving husband, supportive family and friends, steady employment, a roof over my head, and most importantly- a gracious and merciful heavenly Father. I am so looking forward to our Thanksgiving celebration today. This morning we will have Dave and Sheri over for breakfast, and then later in the afternoon we will head over to my grandparent’s to celebrate with my mom’s side of the family. Tomorrow we head out for Palm Springs to celebrate Coco’s 35th birthday (I am hoping to gain some points for that last sentence!!). I need to go start preparing breakfast but I do want to recognize a few exciting announcements:

My baby sister, Rebecca, has passed her driver’s test and is now a licensed driver. Congrats Becca! I am sad because this is another rite of passage into her soon coming adult life, but am so proud of her.

Brent and Jill welcomed their new daughter, Whitney Joy, on Monday morning. We met her last night and got to hold her for a bit. Abby is such a proud big sis and we are happy for their family.

I will post more about the trip later but here are the basics, along with some photos: the baby is beautiful, adorable, so snuggly, and just amazing. I got to help with Stone a lot, and I already miss how his little body fit perfectly into the nook of my arm.

holding Stone for the first time

Justin holding Stone for the first time

Book of Stamps: $54

Snowmen Address Labels: $9

Photo Cards: $68

The Joy of Sending Christmas Cards: Priceless

Growing up one thing I always looked forward to around Christmas time was all the fun cards we would receive in the mail. It was neat to look through the pictures of families we didn’t regularly see, and to hear stories about people’s lives. I always looked forward to the day I would get to send out my own Christmas cards. Hence why even in a time where I am budgeting and saving like crazy, and it seems the entire financial world is falling down around us, I am still willing to pay a ridiculous amount of money to send out cards!

I wanted to have Skyla in our picture this year (last year I used a picture of us on the beach in Hawaii for our honeymoon) but unfortunately Sky has the habit of looking away from the camera at just the right second. For this reason it is near impossible to get a good photo with her. Hopefully Justin and I will be cute enough to catch people’s attention!

Not that I am counting or anything, but there are only 11 days until I am officially allowed to put up my decorations! I also have two Christmas CD’s that I would love to buy… we will see if my hubby is feeling loving this weekend

everyone needs a kiss once in a while
Whenever I find myself on the brink of tears it somehow makes me feel better to get a big, sloppy kiss from Miss Sklya. I like to think that she knows I am sad, but even if she doesn’t it cheers me up to have her come barreling at me (I do wish she had a better sense of aim- that nose of hers can hurt!!). She is never stingy with her love and affection- she will kiss you just as long as you let her!

a treat can make even the most boring of situations that much more enjoyable
Skyla is never one to turn down a treat. In fact, she often goes hunting for the dog biscuit box in the garage… It is amazing to me how something as simple as a small rawhide can make her oh-so-happy. I only wish I found such joy in the first bite of a fresh-out-of-oven chocolate chip cookie.

run, dummy!
Skyla is no dummy… She knows her size and what battles to pick. When I pulled out the vacuum recently an odd look came over her face. It took her only a few seconds to pick up and re-locate far, far away from the horrible noise coming from within the blue machine. Now, I know the vacuum was harmless, but Skyla wasn’t taking any chances. I am sure this has saved her from many a scrape with dogs bigger than herself.

In 3 days we will be in Utah and I can hardly wait! Not only am I looking forward to getting to hold Stone and really “meet” him, I miss Amy a whole bunch too (and I guess I miss Bryant… just kidding!).

Bryant just sent me this photo… I would like to point out that this is not the first photo I have seen with him flipping off the camera. Looks like this little one is going to be a rebel and very mischevious, just like his daddy!

For those of you who have a low tolerance for all things cutesy, sweet, and mushy… I warn you now- stop reading! This post is going to be filled with sentiment and feeling!

Lately I have really been worried about Skyla. She is getting older and I am noticing the onset of what I assume is arthritis. We typically notice it in her right hind leg, usually after she has been walking or running for a bit. I am a worrier by nature and so I immediately begin to fret whenever I see her wince or move in a way that is abnormal for her. I have known Skyla for about 2 1/2 years but it wasn’t until this year that I really began to feel like she loves me. In her defense, I am sure she was used to the revolving door of Justin’s many girlfriends and decided not to get attached to them… Just kidding!

In the past I have written a lot about what a great comfort Skyla is to me. We have our routine and in the evenings I love to sit and read or cross stitch with her sleeping next to me. I am trying to prepare myself for the fact that she won’t be here forever, but every time I begin to think about it I just get overwhelmed with sadness.

I have had to practice saying goodbye with both of my childhood dogs. Scotty died when I was in college, and Roxie had to go live with a new family around the same time. It took quite some time before I could think of either of those dogs without getting totally emotionally worked up.

And then my Dad sent me these pictures this morning… This is Kazaam, a search and rescue dog who has been helping in the fires by searching through the rubble of burnt down houses. I know it might seem silly to some, but looking at these pictures almost made me cry.

This also reminds me of the doggies who help soldiers overseas in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is time again for the Sunday Six… Six things I am so very thankful for this week.

1. I will start will the most obvious- I am so thankful that we are safe and sound even with wildfires raging 10 miles away. I don’t think I can remember fires ever being so close to my house. When we woke up this morning it looked like it had snowed outside. Skyla spent the night inside with us last night and other than her breathing being a bit odd (from being outside all yesterday while I was gone) everything seems to be okay. This is a picture of the smoke right when the fire had just begun yesterday. Things got progressively darker and more smoky as the day went on. For better pictures see Matthew’s blog (linked below on my blogroll). Continue to pray for the safety of the firefighters and that these fires will end soon!

2. I continued my love affair with all things pumpkin this week. On Friday night I made a pumpkin Bundt cake. YUM!!

3. God is good and always provides just what we need. It is so sweet to trust Him for all our wants and needs, whether emotional, spiritual, or physical.

4. More babies are on the way!! Our dear friends Brent and Jill should be having their baby in the next week or so. Also, my friend Tianna from work is expecting little Cooper to make his entrance sometime soon.

5. Justin is in the middle of a 6 day work stretch. This morning we were able to spend a couple of hours together and it was so nice. I miss him so much when he is on these long work stretches!

6. On Friday we leave for Utah to visit Bryant, Amy, and Stone. I cannot wait, and am so thankful that Justin was able to get the time off of work.

Today feels like it is going to be a good day… It started off not-so-pleasant as I had a pretty gnarly nightmare last night, but things are going well now that I am awake. Tomorrow I am hitting the outlets in an attempt to get a good chunk of my Christmas shopping done. Should be exciting!!

I don’t have anything else particularly exciting to say, so I will end the post with this lovely photo, taken last night. Skyla was out COLD. When I took this picture, she was actually snoring (who knew dogs could snore??) and as you can see, her head was hanging off the side of bed.

Now, just try and tell me that her picture isn’t the cutest thing you have seen so far today!!

Thought #1
Isn’t it crazy how things that were originally invented to do good always end up, in time, helping people do bad things?? An example- medicine is meant to help people with their health issues but now many people use certain medicines to get high. I know this sounds a bit elementary, but bear with me here.
Here’s what got me thinking of this:
On Monday night I had dinner over at my in-laws with some relatives of Sheri’s. They are missionaries in an Asian country and we were talking about the wonders of the internet and in particular how great Skype is for people far away from their families. Sheri’s cousin (I am purposely not mentioning specifics like names of religions or countries or people and you will see why soon) said that while the internet is great, it can also be very hindering to their work, and their safety. Apparently, several weeks ago this gentleman googled his name and found that he is listed on several hostile religious websites as being something similar to a “dangerous” threat. Basically, you could say that he is on their hit list. What seems to have happened is that someone on his e-mail list forwarded an e-mail update he had sent to their church group. The church group posted it on their website, totally meaning to be helpful and in turn increase the amount of people in prayer for this family’s needs. This “religious group” has done some very destructive things to the Christian churches in their country. In the last year they have destroyed several Christian churches and severely beat some Christians. Keep in mind, this is all happening in what is considered an “open” country (i.e. there is no state forced religion, and Christians are supposedly allowed to worship freely). Crazy, huh?

Thought #2
I am sure most of you have heard about the new ad campaign debuting this Christmas in Washington D.C. from the American Humanist Association. This is a “non-theist” organization, a group for people such as atheists and agnostics. This a quote from their spokesperson, “Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion.” Really?? Schools, businesses, and public organizations aren’t even allowed to use the word Christmas anymore, and in some states people aren’t even allowed to put nativity scenes on display… The entire “holiday season” has become nothing more than a celebration of generic emotions like hope, joy, and peace. I just don’t see how non-theists could feel “alone” in a season that has become completely separated, at least publicly, from any sort of religious attachment. (Not just Christmas but Hanukkah, or Kwanza!)
Personal note: As a believer in Christ, I have hope, joy, and peace given to me in abundance through the Lord. I just don’t see how someone who doesn’t believe in a god of any sort and feels like there is no higher being in control could rejoice in hope or peace while living in the seemingly chaotic and evil world we inhabit.