Life As We Know It

Well, we still have not had a totally sleepless night which is very good, however, we are getting closer and closer to having one. Callie has her days and nights mixed up and I am trying very hard to get her to straighten them out. The problem is that my child can sleep through anything. This is thanks to her sister who runs through the room screaming at the top of her lungs as Callie is taking an afternoon nap. We have decided it is pointless to try to keep things quiet. Speaking of my two year old, she is going through a stage right now (at least I hope it is a stage). She had all of her toys taken away yesterday (well, alot of her toys) and still wouldn't listen. Not only is she not potty training but she refuses to have her pull up changed. We are trying bribery right now just to get her not to throw a fit. Jason has been at the state evangelism conference this week so I have given Emily a bath and put her to bed by myself with Callie in tow. It was not as difficult as I thought it would be. Callie, of course, did not cooperate and sleep like she was supposed to, she woke up about the time I was to give Emily a bath. However, that meant I rocked both girls at the same time and that was very sweet. My oldest tries so hard to help and be really sweet to her little sister, sometimes she gets a little overzealous, but she is so sweet. I thank God for both of them everyday.

Lost Is Back!

Tonight Lost finally returns after such a long wait. It seems like it has almost been a year now since the last new episode aired. I’m sure the wait has been well worth it. Here’s a quick preview of what we will see tonight.

Life With Two

Well, I have officially started taking care of the girls by myself on a regular basis. Last week I had Amanda here and she was such a wonderful help. It is great to have a friend like that who is willing to do some of the things I had either not thought about or couldn't physically do by myself. So far things are going pretty good. No injuries (that is always a good thing.) No major fits (even though we have had a few minor ones.) No sleepless nights (I have had some sleep every night since Callie came home.) However, our house is constantly a mess, my two year old wears night-night clothes almost the whole day, we have watched more tv than normal, and mommy has adjusted shower time to nights instead of mornings. Emily is adjusting very well and I think some of what she is going through now relates more to being two than it does to having a little sister. She loves her little sister and always wants to give her hugs and kisses. Overall,
i couldn't ask for things to go better.

The "M" Word

Since Theresa and Callie are still trying to stay inside as much as possible and are avoiding crowds, I got to take Emily to church by myself tonight. When we were leaving she started talking about me being a big boy and her being a little girl. That meant that I could do some things that she couldn't do yet. Later on down the rode she says that someday she will grow up and get married. I told her that I want her to grow up but it makes me sad to think of her getting married. Then she said that I could marry her. At this point several thoughts and emotions raced through my mind. First of all, I can't believe how "grown up" she sounds when she talks. For the most part I can have a fairly lengthy conversation with her. Second, I love how innocent she still is in thinking that she will marry her daddy. Also, it hit me that since I'm an ordained minister I will probably have a part in both my daughters weddings beyond the normal "giving them away."

As I have sat through two funerals in the last six days, I have thought several times about having family members die and the possibility of having to perform their funerals. While I am always honored to perform weddings and funerals, doing that for your family is just something you don't really think about when you start in youth ministry. Being a youth pastor is about seeing students' lives changed because of Jesus Christ. It is about living life with them on an everyday basis and also during special events. Don't get me wrong, it's far from always being a lot of fun. There are many hard times, many ups and downs in the youth ministry world. Still, I guess until recently I hadn't really thought my role in the weddings/funerals of my family and friends.

Ok, I can't end this post which such a negative tone. Youth group tonight was really good. We had over 40 students come, several parents help out, and God did His thing as usual. I am still amazed when he takes my limited gifts and talents and turns them into something that brings about change in the lives of my students. I really can't think of anything negative about tonight and that is pretty rare. From our opening game, to our worship time, to our Bible study, God just took over. Thank you Father for calling me into the fun, crazy, and exciting world of youth ministry!

Let's Go To The Movies!

This past Saturday I got to take Emily to see her first movie. Technically this was her second try at watching a movie in a movie theater. When The Chronicles of Narnia came out, our church in New Mexico rented out the theater and we took her to see how she would do. We figured it would be a good time since the theater was filled with people from our own church. Let's just say that she lasted about 10 minutes before we had to take her home. Emily has just always been a loud baby. Either by crying or now by talking, she is constantly making some kind of noise.

Now that she is older and is more used to watching movies at home, we wanted to see how she would do. It worked out perfectly because the movie, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything came out right after Callie was born. Theresa thought this would be a good father-daughter date since Emily is no longer the only star of the show. It was such a fun experience. She couldn't wait to get popcorn and a cherry coke to drink. As we were walking to our seats, a preview for another movie was already playing and is completely amazed her. She kept turning her head to stare at the big screen. Then she looked around to see all of the other people in the theater and asked who they were.

They only negative/difficult part was me having to put my leg over her seat so she it wouldn't fold her like a pancake! Every time I barely moved my leg I could feel her seat want to return to it's up-right position. (Next time I'll have to bring a brick to weigh her down.) As soon as we had finished sharing the popcorn, I put her in my lap because my leg was starting to fall asleep.

The movie was just the right length because I could tell the other little kids were getting restless toward the end. As we were leaving, she couldn't wait to go again. This will definitely be a movie we have to buy. Not only was it our first movie to watch together, but it was a good family movie. I expected nothing less from the VeggieTales creators. I have a feeling that last Saturday was only the beginning of my movie experiences with Emily.

Gotta Love My Girls!

Sometimes I still feel like I'm dreaming when I think about being the father of two beautiful girls. Callie went in yesterday for her two week check-up and she is doing great. She was 7 pounds 9 ounces and already over 20 inches long. Fortunately she didn't have to get any shots this time.

Overall Emily is doing so well as the big sister (even though she insists that she is the little sister). There are still times when she will try and hug her too tightly or forget that Callie is so fragile. For the most part she really likes having a sister and is constantly talking about us all being a family. I think she still doesn't understand why Callie can't do everything she can, but she is getting better. I am beginning to realize how a parent can love more than one child. I find myself loving so many qualities about Emily while cherishing Callie being so little and innocent. They are both already so different from each other and I love that too. As my love for Callie will increase as she gets older, I see my love for Emily being on such a different level because she has been a part of my life longer. It is great being the dad to two girls!

Don't you like my pretty pink hat?

Emily just had to bring her own camera to take pictures of her sister.

Callie's first bath at home.

Welcome To Callie!

Well, as of January 7th, we are the proud parents of another baby girl. Her name is Callie Ann Peck. She weighed 7lbs. 2oz. and was 19 3/4 inches long. This is amazing because she was only an ounce lighter than Emily and 1/2 longer than Emily. Emily already loves her little sister, sometimes maybe a little too much! I was in the hospital from late Sunday night to Thursday, so I haven't had a chance until now to say anything about her. She is beautiful, a blessing from God! Most of the comments I am hearing are that she looks like me, but I can't tell yet. Of course, the first day Emily was born, everyone said she looked like Jason and that still holds true today. We are also getting ready to move into a different house this weekend. While this can be stressful, I guess the positive thing is that I am not expected to do anything. This will actually be very hard for me because I am a very independent person and like to do things for myself. But, in this instance, I will have to let Jason do all of the work.

Okay, Just A Few More

I couldn't resist putting up just a few more pictures of Callie.

Day Two w/ Callie

Here are a few more pictures from the last 24 hours. I hope that you enjoy meeting our little girl. I do believe that she has already "stolen my heart!"

Callie Ann Peck!

Callie Ann Peck was born today at 1:06pm. She weighed 7 lbs. 2 ozs, was 19 3/4" long and is doing great. Theresa did a wonderful job and is now very tired. Even though she has been through so much since we checked in at 11:50pm on Sunday night, it was all worth it. Her big sister Emily is ready to take her home so that she can hold her and play with her. So far she really doesn't fully understand how much her life has changed today. We do have video of her kissing Callie and even singing "Jesus Loves Me" to her before she left for MiMi and Papa's house. I will be posting more pictures as soon as I can and am hoping to get a short video up as well. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts as we prepared for this wonderful miracle. God has truly blessed my family and me once again. Talk about a great way to start 2008!

BOOMER SOONER!!!

No, I'm not crazy and yes I did watch OU get beat last night in the Fiesta Bowl. It was a tough game to watch considering last year's overtime loss in the Fiesta Bowl to Boise St. I'm know sure which was worse, losing on one play or getting beat by 20 points. Through it all, I will always remain a Sooner fan even though it is sure nice when we win. There are times when I wonder why I put myself through the emotional roller coaster of rooting for a college football team to win every game so they have a spot in the national title game only to have them come short of several occasions. Honestly, it would be easier if I just give up on watching college football or if I didn't have a favorite team. Then I ask myself where would the fun be in either of those options? I absolutely love watching college football and I love watching OU play. For one, college football is a passion that I share with Theresa and that is nice. As for OU, I was pretty much born a Sooner fan and I'll die a Sooner fan.

If I am going to keep watching and hoping that OU will again win a National Championship, what do I do when we lose? I remind myself that it is only a game and there will always be another chance later. Another thing I really try hard to do is not let it consume my life and my emotions. If I never got to watch another OU or college game again I'd be just fine. I do not find my purpose in anything here on this earth including sports. Sports are fun to watch but they are not more important than time spent with my family or with my Creator. I do believe that it is better to root for a team and have fun cheering them on than to just give up altogether. At least I have had fun even if my team doesn't win.

Even though I will hear about this lose for a long time, it's in the past and there is always next season. We have a great young quarterback in Sam Bradford and many returning starters. Maybe next year will be our year to win a National Championship. (This year I'm hoping LSU wins because that is my wife's favorite team.) If we still don't win at the very least it will be fun to watch!

Happy New Year (one day late)!

I don't know about you and your family, but 2008 looks like it is going to be a wild and crazy ride for the Peck household. We are only two days into the New Year and I'm already dizzy. First of all and most importantly we are still waiting for our baby to be born. We will go for our final checkup tomorrow to see if we might be able to deliver a few days early. I know that Theresa would love to hear her doctor say "it's time" and put and end to our anticipation. If not, we will just have to wait until Monday to meet our newest family member. (By the way, I'm currently working on a family website that I will launch as soon as I have pictures of Callie.)

If having a baby was not enough, we are in the middle of packing up all of our things so that we can move to our rent house by the 12th. We have pushed up our closing date to the 11th, which happens to be our 5 year anniversary. Talk about a way to celebrate! Thankfully we have my family close by to come and help and a very generous church family who will be helping us move. I just don't think we can fit it all in our 2004 Honda Civic. I'm afraid if I did we might look like this . . .

(What you can't really see is all of the concrete in the back seat!)

Moving is always an adventure but I know that this is all part of God's plan for us. Even though I don't always understand, I know He is in control and knows what is best. I wouldn't want it any other way. So, when I start to get overwhelmed with all of this plus everything that must happen in the student ministry at Union Hill, I have to laugh and let God have control. As I always say, life is never boring around my house and I wouldn't have it any other way. I hope you are already enjoying 2008 and I pray that this year will be a Christ-centered year for us all. I have set several goals for myself and feel that at least I am trying to improve my relationship with God, my family, and others. Hang on because 2008 just might get crazy!