The Blessing of Family

We have just successfully completed the first two weeks of being our own family of three since Levi was born! For the first month of his life, we were so blessed by having my family here with us as we transitioned into our new life. In fact, my Mom was here in Kona for almost the entire month of July, serving us with anything (and really I mean anything!) that we could possibly need, from cleaning our condo, doing my laundry, cooking meals, holding Levi and just listening and talking to the wonderings of a new mom. MOM - truly, this post is to honor YOU! Just entering into mommy-hood, my eyes have been open to the wonderful sacrifice that moms (and parents) really make for their children, and that my own mom continues to make for me and did while she was here serving us. Thank you Mom so much for being here!!

It was so special to see my entire family fall in love with this new member of our clan - from Mom having "play time" with him while he was awake, to my Dad rocking him to sleep as he was engulfed, safely in his arm, to my brother and sister holding and "ooooing" and "awweing" over him. Not to mention the wonderful help (and relief) both of my parents provided in both a physical sense but also with words of life and encouragement that we were going to make it and were doing incredible. I have been so blessed by my family!

But now, here we are, on this island learning what it looks like to be our own family. I am so thankful for the example that I have to draw on from my own though! From my parents who just celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary last weekend, to my friendship I have with both my siblings, to many memories of times together often traveling and laughing I am so thankful!! I am working to trust the Lord as both sides of our family are so far from us. I'm not going to lie to you....it's reached a new level of difficulty, having a baby, to be apart from family members and those that care for us to such a deep level and have such a large investment in our life. I am daily learning to trust the Lord to a new degree that every moment Levi gets to spend with his grandparents and relatives will connect him in his heart to them, regardless of distance! I love what the Lord has called us to in ministry, and am so blessed to be in an amazing community here with Ywam Kona; however, now we're seeing with fresh eyes the degree to which our families and relationships mean to us. It sure does make our times with them that much sweeter!!

The Lord is so good as he can often give us something else to look forward to, proving that we really can trust him with our whole hearts to work things together! Right now we're extremely looking forward to Graham's parents coming out to Kona (for the first time!) at the end of the month - we cannot wait for them to meet Levi as well as see what our life is like here with Ywam and ministry!

Petersen Side of the Family :)