Donuts & Dinosaurs: Wells & Poppy's Birthday Party

Wells requested a dinosaur party at the water park in St. Thomas. I incorporated pink flare for Poppy's side of the celebration or least it gave an excuse to add pink to the park. Poppy and Wells are only two days apart and until they plead separate parties, I'll keep joining them.

Our transfer/move season is during the summer each year so I can't just skip throwing a party on our move years. In Philadelphia, we celebrated Wells' first birthday one month early. This year, we celebrated Wells and Poppy a little over a month early with our friends (aka island family) before our move.

Only two days before we moved out of our house, we picked up donuts, poured coffee/milk/and water, blew up balloons, painted dinosaurs, and splashed all morning in celebration of our two kids.

A Letter on Baptism Day

This letter is very touching.

Dear Rebecca Lee,

Today, my little one, you are to be baptized. You won’t remember it, and you certainly won’t understand my words or the significance of this event for a long time. And that’s OK, because what we celebrate today is a mystery beyond the full comprehension of you or me or even the greatest theologian—it is the mystery of God’s grace. No one can fully understand why God extends his love to us, except that God is love. And no one can fully comprehend the paradox of God’s sovereignty and our human responsibility. It is hard to understand the how and why of God choosing us and us responding to his gift of himself. Maybe that’s why the sacrament of baptism itself has divided even believers.

But let me tell you something about mysteries. They’re not all bad. First, they sometimes help people, like your dad, work a little harder to know God and his ways. Second, and more importantly, they help us understand that we have a God who is too big for us to contain in our minds. If we are humble enough to admit this, we may realize that we don’t even want a god we can fully comprehend. That kind of god would be too small to do us very much good at all. Finally, even though God doesn’t give us all the answers we might want, he does give us the answers that we need—the truths that we can trust in and base every decision of our lives on.

So, dear child, let me tell you what I do know is true. First, I know that baptism is about grace, and because it’s about grace, it’s not about what we do, but about what God does. That’s why all we can do is use a symbol, water, to show what God does unseen in us—He washes away our sin and unites us with Christ, both in his death and resurrection.

The fact that you, as an infant, obviously don’t understand this and can’t do anything about it for yourself only further illustrates that it’s God’s work and not ours.

Your baptism today signifies God’s claim on you as his own—a child of his covenant of grace. The apostle Paul even says you are holy. This means you are separate and special, but what does this mean for you on a practical level? It means that whether you want it or not, you will be involved in a dynamic relationship with God.

If you obey and submit to God’s rule in your life, you will experience the blessings that come from that obedience, but if you rebel and seek your own way, you will experience the discipline and even pain that comes from struggling with God. Whatever happens, you can be sure that God will be persistent in calling you to confirm and claim for yourself the promises he makes to you. Not that this is anything new.

God’s chosen people have struggled with him from ancient times until the present. And that brings me to the second thing I know to be true. Again, whether you want it or not, you are part of a family of believers—a spiritual family that extends all the way back to those first men and women of faith we read about in the Old Testament, and that comes to you in the form of this church community and in particular your biological family. You come from a family that can’t even remember our first ancestor who came to saving faith in Jesus. This doesn’t have much significance in itself, except that it shows that past generations have been faithful in passing down a living faith that has survived every trouble and hardship that has come our way.

For whatever reason, God chooses to allow and even desires believers to participate in his work in this world. So, if we are faithful, we, your living family, will love you, teach you, discipline you, and most of all pray for you, so that we can show you not just a tradition or a nice way to live, but a life of active faith that fully follows the sacrificial life of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

And so, precious baby, this morning we dedicate you and our best efforts to raise you to our God, but these promises are only a response—a response to what God has already done in the past, is doing now, and promises to do in the future.

Your mother and I, of course, have hopes and dreams of a long and happy life for you, but it’s more important that God himself has hopes and dreams for you of a life that is abundant and fruitful, no matter how long or short it may be.

When Jesus was on earth, he blessed the little children. This morning I ask that this same Jesus will bless you and keep you, that he will make his face shine upon you, and that he will give you his peace—forever and ever, Amen.

 With love and affection,
 Dad

Easter Sunrise Service for Poppy's Baptism

What a day to be dedicated to the Lord! We gathered with our church here in St. Thomas for the Easter sunrise service at Smith Bay/Lindquist Beach. Seated in the sand, Ted and I had two children bouncing between our laps. Everyone left their beach chairs and stood around to witness the baptisms of several babies, children, and adults. It was the most beautiful and meaningful experiences of baby dedication and baptism I've ever witnessed. We are truly blessed to have such a sweet community.
 

Photos taken by Genevevie from S/V Necesse

Poppy's Baptism

Our holy week was full.

Paul and Elizabeth were here and joined me at church for Palm Sunday. The children's choir sang, "I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart, I will enter His courts with praise. I will say this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice for He has made me glad. He has made me glad. He has made me glad. I will rejoice for He has made me glad". While I was growing up, my mother would sing hymns to us to put us to bed. I remember her singing this song regularly.

Ted and I went to the Maundy Thursday communion service to commemorate the Last Supper. As stated in our churches bulletin "Here our hope is visualized at His table, the powerful symbol of the grace that holds us together in Christ". 

During the invitation to communion, we began to sing "This Is My Commandment".

This is my commandment that you love one another that your joy may be full.

This is my commandment that you honor one another that your joy may be full.

This is my commandment that you forgive one another that your joy may be full.

This is my commandment that you love one another that your joy may be full.

I want to keep repeating the words of the hymn. What a full weekend of events that are so vital to my faith and powerful to my own life. On the night of Jesus' betrayal, he washed the disciples' feet. "Christ took a towel and washed the disciples' feet, giving us an example that we should do to others as he had done to us." (exert from churches bulletin). Taking communion to celebrate what Easter means for each of us personally in faith, we celebrate the depths of His love for us.

On Easter Sunday, we had Poppy baptized at the sunrise service at Lindquist beach.

My prayer for Poppy is that her life be filled with grace upon grace. I pray that she comes to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

I am so thankful for a family of believers to help us raise her up in faith both near and far.

After her baptism, we made it to the traditional service. The traditional Easter service last year was one of the most beautiful and special services I've ever attended which is saying a lot considering my childhood was consisted of one continuing church service. This year was just the same. The congregation was invited to place flowers on the cross. The cross which once only symbolized death now is celebrated with Life. Life eternal. Life everlasting. The Cross blooms with Life because Jesus humbled Himself unto death taking upon my sin and your sin. He didn't just die. He conquered death. The Cross blooms because

He is Risen.

Happy Baptism Day, Poppy Emmaline.

Photos taken by Genevevie from S/V Necesse
More photos here.

St. John Family Session

It seems like we are on a roll of family photography sessions in St. John. Savanah, a wedding and lifestyle photographer, reached out to me about being apart of her brand video project. We were, of course, so excited to be a part of the shoot. With our crazy toddler and mellow baby, we took the passenger ferry over to St. John. She introduced us to Richelle and Eric Frank, a couple she hired to film her. (After meeting Richelle and Eric, I was able to connect them with our friends and am waiting for a super cool brand video they were able to shoot here in St. Thomas. Check out their websites and feeds, they just moved back from Paris!)

At sunset, we all set out for Trunk Bray. First of all, the beach was emptied of all tourists and locals of the day which made it all the more magical. The water was pristine and the sun setting so peacefully. Wells ran around and Savanah captured the life of a toddler while engaging a family of four. I'm usually always a fashion over function type, but after sitting in the sand, I was covered in no-see-ums and stinging! I was beyond on fire and worried Poppy was going to be covered too. In the end, regardless of bugs and crazy energetic toddler, the photos were great.  We were so happy to be apart of the day.