Baptism Day

A few weeks ago, Violet began asking some good questions about Jesus and our Christian faith. As we talked, she decided she would like to be baptized.

She took a children's baptism class at church, and we found out that one of the next dates would be when Sue and Gord were with us. We were so pleased that they would be here for this momentous day!

Our church doesn't practice christening, or infant baptism. Rather, we encourage older children (and adults) to be baptized when they are old enough make the decision for themselves.

Stacey decided that he would be baptized, too, and then stay in the tub and help baptize Violet.

(Like Stace, I was christened as a baby but baptized as an adult. For babies, our church offers a dedication ceremony, which is similar to a christening.)

The baptism ceremony is a public symbol of a person's decision to believe in Jesus. We are all so pleased that Violet has made this choice, and pray that she continues to grow in her faith.

The pastor on the left, Kevin, helps with our homeless ministry, and we've worked with him before. He's a great, down-to-earth guy and we were happy he was the one doing the baptizing Sunday.

It was a cold, drizzly morning; thankfully, the water was heated!

JT, Jim, Callie and Jonah came out to watch, and to spend time with Sue and Gord. We had a lovely ham, potatoes and salad meal, and Cora organized a tea party for the children with home-grown mint tea.

After dinner, we walked over to the big park. Grandpa and Violet played catch, while the others played football.

It was a truly a special day, spent with many of our favorite people.

See the fireplace? After eight years, we finally had our chimney inspected and swept, and got the all-clear to have a fire.

If you look close, you might notice that we're missing a child in the photo. Cora had Spencer on her lap; Violet tried to pull him onto her own lap by yanking his tail. That resulted in scratching, a reprimand, and a tearful, unwilling photo subject.