The Petersons in 2011

(NOTE: You can download a formatted version of this update here: http://db.tt/G6q2eV2Q)

2011 was essentially a pretty boring year for the Petersons…nothing to report for us…

Okay, that’s highly inaccurate…as most of you are aware! 2011 was probably the most life-changing year in the history of the Peterson family!! At the beginning of the year, Allison was continuing to teach drama, musical theater, and junior high Bible at Covenant Christian Academy in Colleyville, while I was starting a new position as youth minister at the Arlington Chinese Church in addition to beginning my final semester of classwork for my ThM at Dallas Theological Seminary.

In March, Allison directed Oklahoma for her spring musical, which was as tremendous as always! In May I finished my final classes for my ThM at DTS, which was a tremendous relief!! I still have to complete my thesis, which should be completed this spring (it was actually due in December, but I was unable to get it done in time for some unknown reason…). We celebrated the end of Allison’s school year and my classes at the end of May by spending a week in Branson, Missouri, where we relaxed by enjoying some significant downtime together. It was great timing, because our life was about to go entirely bonkers.

Around that same time we were contacted by our adoption caseworker at Buckner International and informed that we had been selected as the top choice for adopting three pre-teen sisters, ages 8, 10, and 11. In mid-June we spent a day in her office going through a rather large stack of CPS paperwork on the girls. After prayerfully considering everything we knew about the girls, we moved on to the next step: a conference call that included us, our caseworker, the girls’ CPS caseworker and her supervisor, their foster mom, and their therapist. In between those two events, we managed to squeeze in our youth summer camp and a weeklong youth mission trip to Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

The presentation conference call occurred on July 13, and everything was a go from there. Due to the fact that Allison’s school was starting on August 9, CPS fast-forwarded the pre-placement process with us. We went down to Houston to meet the girls and spend time with them the weekend of July 23. In God’s sovereign timing, the day that we met Maria, Griselda, and Ashley was our sixth anniversary--what a way to spend an anniversary!! We met them at the CPS office with their caseworker and therapist before going back to their foster home to hang out for a couple of hours. The next day we picked them up and took them to the Children’s Museum of Houston, where we got to know each other a bit better. We dropped them off that evening in their foster home and drove back to Dallas.

Their caseworker brought the girls up to our home the next afternoon, and they spent the next few days with us. It was the week of our church’s art camp (our church’s version of VBS), so they got to meet a lot of our children and youth. We drove them back down to their foster home at the end of the week and spent the weekend doing some fun things with them: visiting the Houston Zoo and the NASA Space Center in addition to having dinner with their three younger brothers (who have been adopted by their foster mom who lives just outside of Houston). We drove back home on Monday night, and their caseworker brought them back to our home on Thursday afternoon before returning on Friday to sign their placement papers with us (that fulfilled the requirement of 4 pre-placement visits before official placement with us). What a rush!! (I am very thankful that our church allowed me to miss a few days of work, including two Sundays, so we could fit all of this in!!!!)

As part of the rush, we tried to get all three girls into Allison’s school, Covenant Christian Academy. But since it is a classical school with very rigorous academics, only our two youngest, Ashley and Griselda, were able to get in (albeit “continuing” in the same grade they had been in the previous year). After reviewing her academic records and her entrance exam, it was determined that Maria would not be able to thrive at Covenant, which sparked a frantic search for a good school for her. The public elementary school in our neighborhood is so poor that we actually qualified for a grant to take her to any public school that would accept her, even in other school districts! But we couldn’t find a good public school that would take her! We also tried another Christian school near our church, but that didn’t work out either. So we ended up taking her to a charter school between our home and our church called Advantage Academy. It has a nice emphasis on academics and on morals, which we appreciate.

The past five months with the girls have been a different kind of rush. Let’s just say that our lives have dramatically changed!! We’ve gotten into a routine of early mornings rushing around to get everyone ready and out the door in time for school each day. Our afternoons and evenings are filled with the rush of homework and dinner and showers and everything else that fills the end of the day. Gone forever are the peaceful evenings that Allison and I used to spend watching DVD’s and playing on our computers!!

All three girls have now celebrated their first birthday with us: Griselda turned 11 in August, Maria turned 12 in September, and Ashley turned 9 in December (there is now one birthday each month in our house from August through December). Allison’s folks came out to celebrate Christmas with us (and Ashley’s birthday), so the girls have now met 2/3 of their grandparents and some of our good friends.

2012 looks to be another exciting year for us!! We are supposed to travel down to Houston in February or March for the court hearing that will finalize our adoption of the girls. I will also (hopefully!!!) complete my thesis in the spring and participate in DTS’s graduation ceremony in May. We're also hoping to sell our home so we can move closer to school & work (Allison, Griselda, & Ashley have a 35-45 minute drive each way), but it needs some significant work first. Combine these things with the never-ending frenzy of having three girls, and you can see with me that it’s definitely not going to be another boring year for the Petersons!

Kevin, Allison, Maria, Griselda, & Ashley Peterson (+ Hershey & Toffee)

The Best of Times…the Worst of Times

Kevin & Allison Peterson’s First Year in Dallas

Wow! It’s hard to imagine that I have now completed my first year at Dallas Theological Seminary! It feels like it was just a few weeks ago that we were pulling away from Northridge Christian Church in our Penske Truck…but my transcript says that the year is over… Now, I realize that most normal people typically write some sort of newsletter around Christmas or New Year’s, but I’m not normal (most of you knew that already), and Christmas 2007 was not a good time for me to be writing anything (for reasons you’ll read in a few paragraphs). This past year was truly a mixture of the best of times and the worst of times (if I can be so bold as to borrow from Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities). If you’ve kept in contact with us over the past months, you know that to be true…if not, then read on. I’m going to rehearse some of those best and worst times for you now.

Unless you've got some serious time on your hands, I might recommend just reading the monthly captions and looking at the pictures....

MAY 2007: Allison gets hired by CCA & we announce our departure
In May of 2007, a couple of exciting things happened. Allison and I had both been sensing that God was prompting us toward moving to Dallas so I could further my education at Dallas Theological Seminary for several months. In fact, I had been taking classes online through DTS for the previous two semesters, amassing a total of 10 units. But if we were going to move, we needed some sort of work in the DFW (Dallas Fort Worth) area. God provided a great teaching position at Covenant Christian Academy in Colleyville in answer to our prayers (interesting way that God provided: a different Christian school in the area actually flew Allison out for an interview a few weeks beforehand, and Allison interviewed with CCA while she was out for that interview). On a more subdued note, despite our confidence in God’s leading, it saddened us to now face the reality of leaving our church (Northridge Christian Church) where I was serving as youth pastor and Allison’s school (West Valley Christian School), where she taught full-time and I periodically substituted. We now began announcing our departure to the leadership of both institutions.

JUNE 2007: Allison says goodbye to WVCS & we buy our first home
In June we publicly announced our impending departure to the church and the school. Allison wrapped up her school year and bid a tearful farewell to her students and fellow-teachers, having completed 7 years at WVCS. At this point, we were unsure how we were going to afford to pay for our move… Allison had a job lined up, but I didn’t. And the money we had been saving up had been wiped out by Uncle Sam and Uncle Arnold at tax time in April. But God again demonstrated His provision in the form of provision that paid for our move! Wow! We had been wrestling with what to do about housing in Dallas, and decided it was a good opportunity to take the plunge into homeownership, so I flew out to Dallas for a few days (by myself--Allison was finishing up school) and purchased our first home for $91,000 (with Allison just seeing digital photos over e-mail and hearing descriptions over the phone). Towards the end of the month we made a farewell trip back up to Northern California to visit my parents in Rio Vista and my former church family in Santa Rosa (and to officiate the wedding of Mary Thengvall & Ryan Rotman).

JULY 2007: Leaving NCC & moving to “Big D”
July was nothing short of crazy! We had a full month of ministry and activities at NCC, including Vacation Bible School. We were also bidding farewell to as many friends as we could prior to our move, including a whirlwind trip down to Ejido Puebla (just outside of Mexicali, Mexico), where I was able to introduce Allison to my other church family (and some of the best tacos on earth at Asadero los Molcajetes). On top of all this, we were busily packing (probably more accurate to say that Allison was busily packing--she did the vast majority of it!). I’ve often been accused of cramming too many things into a schedule, and I think that I outdid myself this month. We had our VBS from the 23rd to the 27th, with our VBS program taking place on Sunday morning, the 29th. We simultaneously finished packing up our duplex, signed papers on our new home, finished up the VBS, packed up my office and other stuff from church, and loaded up our Penske moving truck…needless to say, we didn’t get an awful lot of sleep that week! And we never would have gotten it done were it not for several friends from NCC who came and helped us pack and load and clean! On Sunday morning we pulled into church with the moving truck, locked Hershey into my now almost-empty office, and had our program. After the church service there was a barbecue lunch, after which we bid a tearful farewell to our youth and friends, and began our trek to Texas with Hershey & me in the Penske followed by Allison & her great friend, Stefani Childs, in our minivan. We arrived at our new home on the 31st, and our great friends the Montgomerys and the Bakers (who live in Dallas) met us there to help us unload, in addition to Allison’s parents, who drove out from Florida to meet us. Just a quick comment about the Dallas climate at the end of July: Can you say 100 degrees and 90% humidity? I was dripping with sweat within 10 minutes of semi-effort unloading our car from the car carrier!

AUGUST 2007: Allison starts at CCA & I start at DTS
August began with another bit of craziness for Allison. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon, 7/31, and she began her in-service at CCA on Thursday morning, 8/2. I take full blame for that, but she had to pay the price! Amidst all that, we managed to get things mostly unpacked and reasonably well settled over the course of the next few weeks. And I began my studies full-time at the end of the month at DTS. God had not only provided money for our move (and to invest in some rather pricey car repairs in July and October), but He also provided enough finances for me to be a full-time student--something I had dreamed of, but had never expected… One of the highlights of the first semester was taking a class on Bible study methods taught by Howard Hendricks!

SEPTEMBER 2007: I start teaching at Quest
In September we continued our school routines: Allison teaching drama and high school girls’ Bible while I studied at DTS. God provided a part-time job for me tutoring (it was actually more teaching than tutoring) students at a charter school not too far from our house, which I started on the 10th. It was a different experience for me, since all of my previous teaching experience was in a Christian school setting with pretty respectful students. Quest Academy was in an inner city setting (Oak Cliff) with mostly disinterested and disrespectful students from broken homes. The demographic for the school is 99% minority--mostly Hispanic. We also began leading a Spiritual Formation (SF) group at the seminary, composed of three other couples and us. I also had the humbling development of having to drop my Hebrew class--I had been trying to take both Greek and Hebrew simultaneously (6 of my 16 units), but I couldn't wrap my poor little brain around both languages at the same time--especially Hebrew!

OCTOBER 2007: Car troubles & Tour de Chefs
October continued our school routines with a few twists. Allison’s school had a major fundraiser for the arts program called Tour de Chefs, which took place at 4 magnificent showpiece homes near CCA. At each home there was a well-known local chef serving some specialty item in addition to some sort of music or drama vignette. It raised around $20,000 for the arts program at CCA! We were also blessed by the very brief visit of a good friend, Jimetta Mayne, who was in town helping lead worship at a conference. It was also a month of financial challenges for us, with our white minivan needing over $3,000 in repairs (transmission & head rebuilt). But God provided just enough to cover the unexpected expenses.

NOVEMBER 2007: House broken into & Hershey shot
November was dominated by a huge trial in our lives. I actually had two weeks off seminary: one week was “Reading Week” followed by a week off for Thanksgiving. I was excited to have a chance to catch up on some studies and to get a couple of projects around the house completed. But my plans were very rudely interrupted as I came home from Quest on the Monday of reading week to find that our house had been broken into (they ultimately matched one set of fingerprints to a 15 year old girl) and our beloved dark chocolate lab, Hershey, was laying in our bathroom, unable to move. The thieves had made off with my laptop (thankfully I had backed it up only a few days beforehand), and other high priced electronic items (ipods, digital camera, etc.). After waiting 100 minutes for the Dallas police to arrive, I finally was able to load Hershey up in the van (assisted by a couple from our SF group) and head off to a veterinary hospital. On the way, as tears streamed down my face, I was finally able to get ahold of Allison, who had been in a rehearsal at school the whole time. Another couple from our SF group thankfully went to CCA and drove her down to meet me at the vet. We were shocked to find out that Hershey had been shot--an x-ray revealed a bullet lodged on her spine just below her neck! It was too risky to try to remove the bullet, and the vet thought she should recover after some steroid treatments and other IV’s. We left her there and headed home to our violated house…and found a bullet hole in our bedroom wall where they had shot and missed… Another shock came the next day when our insurance adjustor informed me that injuries to pets are never covered under any homeowners’ policy--meaning that we would have to pay the $2500 bill on our own… We were able to bring Hershey home a couple of days later and spent the next couple of weeks nursing her towards recovery. I had an alarm system installed at our home as well. We had to cancel a planned trip to St. Louis to be with Allison’s family for Thanksgiving as a result, but spent the day with the Montgomerys, which was a blessing! Thankfully, Hershey has almost fully recovered--except for a small limp on her right front side and a terror whenever she hears a loud noise like thunder. We were also overwhelmed with the outpouring of generosity from folks all over the U.S. who heard of our plight, receiving gifts that covered our vet bill and a good portion of our deductible. We thank God and all of you who blessed us!

DECEMBER 2007: Kevin’s dad passes away
December brought another trial, this one much more serious. On the Saturday before finals my mom called me asking if I could try to convince my dad over the phone to let the paramedics take him to the hospital. He had been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver in the summer and had been growing steadily weaker. He had fallen in their home, and my mom called 911 when she couldn’t get him up, and he was now refusing to go to the hospital. I talked with him for a couple of minutes, and didn’t think that I got anywhere with him, but mom told me he acquiesced shortly after hanging up with me. On Monday afternoon I got the earth-shattering call from mom that the doctors had told her to get any family there ASAP, as dad was hours from death. I got on the earliest flight possible that night and rushed out to California, praying fervently that God would allow me to spend time with dad before he passed away. God answered that prayer, and dad rebounded, and I was able to spend almost two weeks with him, sitting with him in his room for about 14 hours each day with mom and Brian, my older brother. A family from CCA came through at the last second to watch Hershey so Allison was able to come out a few days after me, and dad perked up on her arrival. I had several opportunities during that time to talk with dad about life and death and eternity, and especially about Jesus Christ. I explained the Gospel to him, that Jesus had come to this earth to live a perfect life, to take our sins upon Himself and die for us, paying the penalty for our sins, and then rising again from the dead. And if we would simply believe in Him, if we would trust Him to save us, He would. The most comforting moment of those two weeks was having dad look at Allison and me and make a profession of faith. After that, he grew steadily weaker, until he was essentially comatose for almost two days. Finally, at around 2 am (Allison & I were spending the night in his room because we had a sense that he wasn’t going to make it through the night) on December 29, dad opened his eyes and looked at me. I took his hand and told him, “We love you, dad,” and he breathed his final breath here on this earth and entered into the presence of Jesus in heaven. The next several days were a blur of activity, with Allison and I doing everything we could to help mom get adjusted while preparing for dad’s memorial on January 3 (we’d actually hoped to have it on the 2nd, but the quilting club in their retirement community wouldn’t budge from their stranglehold on the clubhouse that day). God gave me the grace and strength to conduct dad’s memorial on that rainy afternoon… We had planned on splitting time between California (my family) and Florida (Allison’s family), but we were where we needed to be…

JANUARY 2007: Back to school
January had me driving back to Dallas in dad’s minivan--Allison flew back since she had obligations at school. Have you ever driven from Northern California to Dallas? It’s not the most exciting drive--especially since much of my driving was after dark! I got back home (it still feels weird to call Dallas "home"), took my finals that had been patiently waiting for me (somehow ending up with straight A’s for the semester), and re-entered my routine at Quest and a new semester at DTS, while Allison continued her fun at CCA. One of the highlights of the month was the quick visit of the Kellys--Allison taught with Cindy at WVCS--who were in town for a convention.

FEBRUARY 2008: More of the same
February continued with more of the same, but Allison was beginning to ratchet up her activity at CCA in preparation for “The Wizard of Oz” musical that was taking place at the end of March, so we weren’t seeing too much of each other… But I was able to keep up with my studies (for the most part…).

MARCH 2008: e-LEAD & The Wizard of Oz
March had a couple of highlights. Allison and I were blessed to be able to attend e-LEAD, a four day intensive that stands for emerging Leadership Evaluation And Development, a “seminar” put on by the Center for Christian Leadership at the seminary (you can learn more by visiting http://www.dts.edu/departments/campus/ccl/lead/ ). It was a profitable but emotionally draining time of counseling and coaching for us (after putting in a number of hours of self-evaluation and receiving evaluation from others--friends and co-workers). Allison finally had her production, “The Wizard of Oz”, with over 90 cast members. It was nothing short of phenomenal--she has a wonderfully talented group there at CCA and she directed them spectacularly! Allison’s mom also flew out to share in the experience, which was a blessing.

APRIL 2008: Taxes & TAKS
April found me winding down my semester at DTS and my job at Quest. I had been hired specifically to help get junior high students ready for the TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) test, the measuring stick for all public schools in Texas which determines their very survival. But once TAKS began on the 28th, my job was over. We also had an unexpected blessing: getting a tax refund instead of having to pay taxes for the first time in a few years! I had actually postponed figuring out our taxes because I found the whole prospect depressing, and was surprised to complete them and find out we were getting a refund! What a blessing!

MAY 2008: Another break-in & what’s next?
So now we’re here in the middle of May. I finished up my finals last week (I'm pretty sure I managed to pull out "A's" again by the grace of God) and Allison will finish up her year at CCA next week. Last Thursday we had the "pleasure" of having our home broken into again--but fortunately our alarm system did its job & the would-be thieves took off without taking anything... We are looking forward to a weekend jaunt to St. Louis at the end of the month to attend a dance recital for two nieces: Kaia & Josie -- it’s been 1½ years since we’ve seen them or any of Allison’s brother’s family! I have a job offer that I'm going to find out more about on Monday -- it's for a gentleman who loves the seminary and has a business fixing minor paint blemishes on used cars at dealers' lots. I have been interviewed by a couple of churches over the past few months, but neither of them worked out (the second church was influenced in part by some negative feedback)--I'm interviewing with another church seeking a part-time youth pastor this weekend. I’ve registered for classes for next fall, and thankfully will receive a small scholarship from DTS that will help cover a portion of my tuition. I would love to take a class or two over the summer, but am uncertain about our finances--especially since we’re facing the financial challenge of having to replace a rather large retaining wall (see the sagging/bulging wall in the picture) next to our house sometime this summer.

We would like to thank all of you for your friendship and your prayers for us. We count ourselves blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family members! And we covet your continued prayers for us--we are always in need of them! Here are some specific things that you can be praying about:

• Ministry for Kevin (ideally a paying position)
• Starting a family (we've been wanting and trying to have children for about a year and a half now...)
  

May God continue to pour out His riches in His grace to you all!

In His Love,
Kevin & Allison Peterson (& Hershey)


Update:
I accepted the job working for the "Chip Doctor", so it looks like I'll be enjoying the mild (tongue firmly planted in cheek) Dallas summer fixing paint chips on car lots around the metroplex....

Our House was Broken Into & Hershey was Shot! (Monday, November 12)

Original Report (Monday, 11/12/07):

To my friends:

At 4:10 pm on Monday, I arrived home to discover that our house had been broken into and that they had hurt Hershey...she was lying in our back bathroom, unable to move... As I waited over 90 minutes for the police to arrive, I tried to get ahold of Allison, who was having a drama rehearsal, but was unable to. I finally did contact one of her fellow teachers, who went back to the school and got her for me...

Our small group from the seminary stepped up in a BIG way. One couple came over to help me get Hershey loaded in my van and to wait at the house for CSI, and the other couple went and found Allison at work and drove her over to the emergency vet hospital in Irving where Kevin had taken Hershey.


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Update from Tuesday Morning (11/13/07):

Here is the morning update:

• Hershey is resting comfortably at the vet. They believe that she will recover from being shot (yes, shot!) in a few days, as the spinal cord is intact and she doesn't seem to have any broken bones. It looks like the bullet bounced off of her spine and fragmented. The next few days will tell... (needless to say, all of her treatment is very expensive, but we're hoping that our homeowner's insurance will cover those costs)
• A company that contracts with AAA came over around midnight & boarded up our broken window...
• We've determined that the following things have been stolen:
• Kevin's Mac Powerbook laptop (praise the Lord that I backed it up over the weekend!...and the thieves did not take the external hard drive!)
• Related to that, I had foolishly left my password manager program open....so if someone really tries, they'll obtain access to all of my online stuff....so I have to change almost 200 passwords.....
• Kevin's high school class ring
• 2 - iPods (a mini & a 30GB video)
• a bluetooth earpiece
• our Canon digital camera (with a bunch of our pics on it)
• Kevin's Laptop Backpack
• the thieves kindly pulled out my class files & syllabii in addition to removing my Greek workbook & textbook -- nice of them
• a nice book bag
• some PS2 video games
• a house key?
• 3 flashlights
• misc from our safe (but it does not look like any valuable documents.)
• Allison's Palm Tungsten E2 PDA
• 3 watches
• a 2 GB flash drive
• Greek vocab cards (left in my backpack)

• We've also determined that they broke several things:
• the window to come in...
• the frame edge of the window next to it....they tried to pry it up with a chisel (& left the chisel behind)
• the window screen
• our safe (using my tools)
• a hammer (trying to break into the safe)
• my Sony PS2 video game console?
• there is a bullet hole in our bedroom wall and in a storage case & in one of our bathroom closet doors....we found bullet slug #2 in the bathroom tonight....

I slept okay last night, but Allison did not sleep well at all.... I'm trying to make contact with the claims people from AAA this morning in addition to changing our bank account....

Please keep all of these things--especially Hershey--in your prayers over the next few days...

For Him,
Kevin Peterson

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Update from Tuesday Night (11/13/07):

Hi All -

We just got back from the VCA hospital where Hershey is and thought it would be an appropriate time for an update--it's been an eventful day!

I spent a good portion of the day taking care of financial matters. One of our concerns is that they had access to our financial info, both through my laptop as well as through ransacking our safe. It seems that we're in good shape on those ends of things at this point...

Hershey seems to be gaining some more movement, which is a positive sign. The vet had sent her x-rays off to a vet radiologist, and the radiologist said that things look good. Time will tell whether or not there might be complications, but things look positive at this point. But on a human / animal-lover level, it's very hard to see your beloved dog in discomfort at the vet hospital...

I finally spoke to an adjustor late this afternoon (after almost 23 hours of trying...). She wants to come out on Thursday to look at the damages, etc. But she had some very bad news for us: our homeowner's insurance will not cover any of Hershey's vet bill.... Animals are specifically excluded from coverage.... So it looks like we'll be paying off her vet bill in some other way....

Allison and I are both very drained. In fact, I don't know how she made it through the day of teaching--she got less sleep than I did, and I did not get very much!

We would greatly appreciate your prayers as we continue to walk through this time....

For Him,
Kevin Peterson

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Update from Thursday Night (11/15/07):

Here's the latest in the Peterson saga...

First of all: we brought Hershey home last night, and she seems truly happy to be home. The vet said that at this point they were just performing supportive care (keep her warm, fed, hydrated, drugged, change her bedding after she soils it, roll her over regularly, etc.),
and suggested that we could possibly do that at home. Since a day at the vet hospital runs between $300-$700, we opted to bring her home.... Hershey is still only able to move her back legs a little bit voluntarily, which is an improvement from Monday night. The vet thinks that is due to swelling in her spinal area where the bullet hit her in her neck, and that she will gradually improve over the next 7-21 days. The x-rays all seem to be negative toward anything else, but he did say there is a possibility that there might be a blood clot in the spinal area near the point of impact, but the only remedy for that would be a $1500 MRI (complicated by the bullet fragments in the area) followed by a $2000-3000 surgery, which are beyond our sense of stewardship.... He also suggested that if there is a clot, that it
might slowly dissipate on its own. So we watch, pray, and nurse her as best we can....

The AAA Adjuster came by this morning. I found out that we have a $1380 deductible, & they will reimburse us for replacement value on the items that were destroyed or stolen. They will also pay for a contractor to replace 2 windows (the one the thieves broke in through and the one next to it that they had tried to pry off), repair the bullet holes in the bathroom and bedroom, and to repaint both rooms. But they will not pay for the locks to be re-keyed or replaced (they would only pay for any locks damaged during the incident, and none of ours were....we're just concerned that they might possibly have gotten ahold of a key...). She was a very nice lady and gave me some helpful information about our insurance and possible upgrades to our policy--she even offered to donate some money towards Hershey's vet bill since pets are specifically excluded.

Please continue to pray for our situation. There are some items that are higher priorities for us to replace -- especially the laptop since I need it for my seminary studies. Please pray that the claim would be processed as quickly and as favorably as possible. Please also pray that God would provide for our financial needs. He provided very abundantly for us to move out here in July, for some unexpected car repairs in July, and for our early seminary costs. But the unexpected van repairs of the past couple of months (new head, transmission, etc -- over $3300, $720 of which was refunded to us) have exhausted our reserves. And the out-of-pocket expense on this incident looks like it will be around $4000 (almost $2500 in Hershey treatment + deductible + incidentals)...

Please also pray for Hershey's recovery. I know that on a scale of earth-shattering issues that confront the body of Christ, the recovery of a dog is such a small thing, but it's heavy on our hearts, so we ask for your prayers.... Pray as well that we would be strengthened so as to demonstrate the reality of God's working through a challenging time to the people around us.

Thank you so much...

For Him,
Kevin Peterson

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Monday night (11/19/07) update from the Petersons:

It's been a few days since we gave an update, so it's time to let you know what's been going on with us. Let's start with Hershey.

Hershey has been making some gradual improvement. Yesterday she almost stood all the way up a couple of times before losing her balance and falling. At first we thought that she had lost strength in her hindquarters, but we noticed over the weekend that it's a lateral weakness--she has a lot more strength & control in her left side than in her right side... And just this evening she did actually get all the way up and took about 1.5 steps before losing her balance and falling. We're encouraged!

We had to take her in to the vet on Saturday. We had brought her home on Wednesday night, and she had not had a bowel movement since then. We called the vet, and they said that we needed to bring her in. They were able to induce her to do her thing by way of an enema... So we have 2 requests in relation to Hershey: that she would regain strength & muscle control on her right side so as to be able to move without falling, and that she would be able to poop on her own. The 2nd one is much more urgent--she needs to start pooping on her own by Tuesday evening, or else we'll need to take her back in.

We have received a few unexpected blessings over the past few days. A student at Allison's school collected $350 from other students to help us with our expenses. Another family we know at DTS gave us $600 over the weekend... And we received a $100 check in today's mail from a family that I went to church with in Santa Rosa but that I haven't seen in years... All of these are huge blessings! God has already provided for about 1/4 of our losses... Thank you, Lord!

On the security front, I re-keyed all of our locks yesterday afternoon for only $11. Thank you Ron Thurow, who alerted me on how to do that. We're also planning on getting an alarm system installed, which we hope will be an effective deterrent... If any of you have any recommendations on that level, let me know...

We appreciate your continued prayers on our behalf. We greatly need them and greatly appreciate them!

For Him,
Kevin Peterson

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Thanksgiving (11/22/07) update from the Petersons:

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends! We trust that today was a day in which you reflected on the ways that God has blessed you and give thanks to HIm for that.

I am reminded of the words of George Washington in his proclamation that designated the Thanksgiving holiday for the United States: "...we may then all unite in rendering unto him [Almighty God] our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection..." Allison and I have much to be thankful for!

First of all, Hershey continues to improve physically. In our Monday night update, we specifically asked for prayer that she would start having bowel movements, and God has answered. Beginning Tuesday night, she has been pooping regularly. I know that this probably sounds wrong, but we praise the Lord for her poop! She's also getting around better, standing up several times each day and taking a few steps--or at least trying to do so. Just this morning she walked about 12 feet--we're thankful!

Secondly, we found out yesterday that the police had identified one of our intruders. One of the fingerprints that they got was of a 15 year old girl named Julia who is already in Juvenile Hall for another burglary. There were more people involved, but that's the only positive id to this point. It's kind of shocking that a 15 year old girl would be involved in not only breaking into a house, but shooting a dog along the way....

Thirdly, we had an alarm system installed at our house yesterday. Now all of our doors and windows are wired, and hopefully just the knowledge of that will serve as a deterrent to any future potential burglars. We felt that this was a necessary step since we heard that a home that has been burglarized has about an 80% likelihood of being burglarized again.... It gives a greater peace of mind for about $35 / month...

Fourthly, we had the blessing of spending the day with my best friend, Matt Montgomery, and his family. Matt and I have been best friends now for about 25 years, and it's a wonderful blessing to see him on a regular basis at Dallas Theological Seminary (the last time that we saw each other on a regular basis was when we shared a condo 15 years ago). Knowing that Allison and I were unable to travel to visit Allison's family as a result of Hershey's injuries and recovery, the Montgomerys invited us over to their home where we enjoyed a sumptuous feast and great fun and fellowship.

Fifthly, one of our neighbors, whom we met as a result of passing out flyers about our incident, gave us a smoked turkey yesterday. He serves as a police officer for Highland Park, which is an upscale enclave in the middle of Dallas. Each year, Sonny Bryan's BBQ gives turkeys to all of the HP police officers. He received his and gave it to us, since it was too much for he and his mom. We were blessed by his kindness.

Those are some things for which we're thankful this Thanksgiving. If we took the time, we could list a bunch more, but I hope that you're encouraged!

We would appreciate your continued prayers for us and for Hershey. Although Hershey's showing definite signs of improvement, she still has a ways to go on her road to recovery. Please continue to pray for her. We also would appreciate your prayers for our financial needs that are a result of this incident. We're encouraged by God's faithful provision for us so far, but we're going to have some pretty serious bills over the next month or so...and God has provided for only a portion of those bills up to this point....

Thanks for your continued prayers and support through these challenging days. We have felt both in very real ways...

Happy Thanksgiving, and may God richly bless you!

For Him,
Kevin & Allison