Entries Tagged 'family' ↓

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations . . .” - Dueteronomy 7:9

Amy and I went out to dinner last weekend, enjoying a nice “night off” from being parents (Zoë was spending the night with Amy’s mom). At some point during our conversation, I said “sooooo, what would you say if I told you that I’ve been thinking about having Z baptized?” She asked why, and I went into the best basic explanation of covenant theology that I could muster with half a glass of wine in me (it might’ve actually been better than it would’ve been without the wine). After I was done, I asked what she thought. She paused, and then to my utter shock, she said “I think that we should do it”. I’m not even convinced yet, but I suppose my explanation was fair, since it at least helped to convince her. The fact that we both grew up in churches that were predominately dispensational in their theology — standing in direct contrast to covenantal thinking — it’s a pretty big leap for either of us to even consider infant (or in this case, toddler) baptism. A firm decision still hasn’t been made, but the fact that Amy’s already on board has made me feel better about things.

A few days later, she mentioned to her mom and grandparents that we’re thinking (just thinking) about it. The idea was met with some expected eyebrow-raising and skeptical questions, but her grandma gave us some real gems . . .

“Why would you wanna do that? That’s stupid!”
(Okay, guess you’re not coming if we decide to do this.)

“She won’t remember it! What about when her friends at your mother’s church are being baptized ‘for real’? She’ll want to do it then.”
(Sorry, I don’t think that we’d approve of her going through something as weighty and sacred as baptism just because “everybody’s doing it”.)

“Well, that’s okay. We’ll have her baptized ‘for real’ at our church when she’s old enough to decide for herself.”
(HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! *ahem* Sorry. . . sorry. Now, as I was saying . . . HAHAHAHAHA!!!! *pointing*)

Gotta love the respect we’re shown for our parental decision-making.

Anyway . . . like I said, there’s been no firm decision made yet. I need to be honest with myself about this whole thing. Will we be doing this because we really believe that we’re obeying Scripture by doing so, or will it be just because we’re members of a Presbyterian church now, and well . . . “everybody’s doing it”? How much of this is motivated by the fact that I want to be an elder in this church in a few months (which, by the way, I think is a legitimate motivation . . . just not a legitimate primary motivation)? How much is now wanting to annoy my grandmother-in-law?!

Pray for us.

We’re thinking of having Zoë baptized.

*ducks bottles, tomatoes, and various other objects being thrown by my Baptist friends and readers*

Great little blog post from Anthony Bradley on the growing (and in my view, troubling) trend of churchgoing (read: “Christian”) married couples intentionally going childless for the sake of “financial readiness” or living the American Dream . . . in other words, hedonism.

Even better than the actual post are the comments . . . most are good and serve to further the discussion . . . just a few express outrage at AB’s “judgmentalism” and “arrogance”. Hilarious.

Check it out here.

I’m blogging from a coffeehouse, listening to my iPod, Bible open next to me. How pomo/emergent-ish is this scene?

Anyway . . . last week, my family had the privilege of lighting the Advent Candle at the beginning of last week’s liturgy. Zoë was excited to do this, and as Greg said “Amen” at the end of his opening prayer, Zoë (as quietly as she could muster, which wasn’t at all) said “let’s go!”

There was a scripture reading for each candle to be lit (three, as it was the third week of Advent). I held my little girl in my arms and read each passage, and Amy lit each candle after each passage was finished.

Simple acts, but for the first time, I felt as if we were participating with the angels and the ascended saints in the worship of the incarnate Christ.

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shined.

The lovely wife and her dorky husband . . .

(Shot taken by Wife of Funky Presbyterian.)

1) My wife is gorgeous.
2) Despite the rough times, I’m glad we’re married.
3) My daughter is also gorgeous.

We went to the wedding of a childhood friend of Amy’s tonight. It was a beautiful Jewish wedding — solemn ceremony with a boisterous and celebratory reception afterward. This probably happens to a lot of couples upon going to a wedding, but it reminded me of how much I love Amy and how great our own wedding was a little over a year ago. It wasn’t anywhere near as ornate or expensive as tonight’s, but it was still perfect. Every element, from the vows to the encouragement from others to the Eucharist celebration was full of meaning and significance and blessing and God.

I digress. Fun facts about tonight:
- Someone’s cell phone went off during the wedding (during a prayer, even) and the genius waited at least twenty seconds to turn it off. Actually, the caller might’ve just hung up. People never cease to amaze me.
- I slow-danced with my wife for the first time.
- I ended up eating two of the catered meals, since Amy wouldn’t dream of touching any of hers. Grilled salmon w/ some sort of ginger sauce, white rice, and asparagus paired w/ a decent white wine. Delicious.

Some pics . . .

Amy in the car before leaving. Looks happy, doesn’t she?

Bethany (the bride, obviously), her son Noah, and Zoë.

Zoë and Amy. They have the same grin.

Zoë and me.

The offer has been accepted! We close next Wednesday.

Amy’s Grandma Carol (her late dad’s mom) passed away the first week of June. She had been in pretty bad shape in the 6 months or so prior, letting her tiny house go to Hell in a Handbasket, going into a nursing home and suffering bouts of dementia, along with lots of physical ailments. Amy happens to be her only living descendent (well . . . her and Zoë), and thus her sole heir. Well, apparently Grandma Carol had been living well beneath her means, because we have received a sizable chunk of change from her bank accounts, with more coming from investments and insurance policies, along with the sale of her house. We’ve been using it to pay off our debts here and there, and we felt good about starting to look for a home of our own.

A few months prior to our moving here, the house next door to Amy’s mom (where we’re staying now) went up for sale, and was quickly bid upon by a potential buyer. We had joked here and there that “it’s too bad someone’s already bought the house next door.” Well, as of last week, the “In Contract” sign was still on top of the “For Sale” sign in the yard (most contracts are closed within a month . . . this one had been “in contract” for at least six). This past Friday, as Amy and her mom were leaving to go somewhere, they noticed that the realtor’s van was in the driveway of the house next door, so they decided to pop their heads in and ask him if it was still in contract. He said that technically, it wasn’t, since it’d gone way past the 21-day timeframe, and he gave us (I had showed up by then) an impromptu showing.

The house was perfect . . . the perfect size, the perfect amenities (comes with a deck, and with an outdoor playset for Zoë, for example), and the price was already $10K below the initial asking price . . . everything is perfect. We talked and prayed about it, met with the realtor on Sunday and had him show us a couple of other houses, and finally took a deep breath and said “we think the first one is the winner”. We made an offer, signed the contracts right there in the kitchen, and got a call on Monday morning that our offer had been accepted by the sellers!

We met with the realtor earlier this evening to put down our “earnest money” (kind of like a deposit), and will be drawing the cashier’s check next week to pay the rest. No mortgaging!

So . . . provided we have no issues (there are none forseeable), we’ll be homeowners one week from today. We never could have imagined this, considering the dire straits that necessitated our moving up here in the first place. Our God is so good!

(And for those of you wondering, living next door to Amy’s mom really won’t be a problem. She already gives us plenty of space under the same roof.)

Here are some clickable pics of “our” place (with the current owners’ stuff, of course).

. . . but it could be.

We made an offer on what will hopefully be our first owned home today.
God is so unbelievably and undeservedly good to us.
Prayers are appeciated immensely.

(Visited another church today, so there will be a new Church Search post in the next day or two.)