Peter is 34!

A modest steak dinner with baked red potatoes and sauteed corn and zucchini.

It's become a sort of tradition for the kids to hide Dad's gifts and make a scavenger hunt with clues to find them. Peter LOVES this tradition. It really makes the kids feel involved in the preparation and celebration of his birthday too. The kids wrapped his gifts and set up the scavenger hunt entirely on their own. It's so helpful that they're getting bigger! I was freed up to focus on cooking his dinner. The first clue led Peter to the mailbox, which is also a typical hiding place every year. :)

Deciphering his next clue.

The clue led him to his own closet.

Heading to the next one...

...which was on the deck.

Since I let the kids handle this, I was unaware that one thing was hidden in the sandbox and another out in the tree fort in the woods. I might of intervened had I known, but no harm done.

And this one in the garage is hooked onto the end of a fishing rod.

Now to open.

My mom got Peter a book he wanted called "John Calvin and the Church: A Prism of Reform." He was excited and what you see here is him reading to us *all* the titles of the essays included. The kids were highly interested. (Not so much)

We finally made it to dessert. :) Peter isn't huge on chocolate. If I'd had time, I have planned ahead better for a dessert he particularly likes. But he'd rather that I not push too much and overdo it at the last minute, so we settled for something quick and easy: Individual chocolate molten cakes (made in a muffin tin). We had some homemade chocolate ice cream in the freezer and, in the end, neither of us thought the dessert was too shabby. :) Hey, we survived another year!

Actually, the Lord has blessed us tremendously. These celebrations are always a reminder of how blessed we are. God has given us good and meaningful work to do. He has filled our lives and teaches and trains us. We are growing. Not easy. Growth isn't. But worth it and beginning to bear good fruit, as God is faithfully showing us lately. Praise the Lord for another year and another step closer to the Glory that awaits.