a baptism and a funeral...

S's dear Grandpa A passed away December 15.  He had been struggling since Thanksgiving, so it wasn't unexpected, but still hard, especially around Christmas.  Grandpa was such a faith-filled man and prayed for each of his family members daily, including new little H.  We have been blessed by Grandpa's example and will be sure to pass down his memory to baby H.  We had scheduled to have H baptized on December 18, and thought about postponing it, but S's parent encouraged us to go ahead with baptism (even though they would not be there) and then decide what we wanted to do about coming out to the funeral.  We decided that it was too much for H being so young and small to go that far (Grand Rapids, MI), so S flew out Monday to be there with his family, and my dad stayed with us while S was gone for which I was extremely grateful (not quite ready to do 4 small children solo!).  The funeral went well and good family time was had by all there.  But back to baptism, which will forever be linked with Grandpa's funeral in our heads, but what better connection with both being God's covenant children.  The family crowd was small at baptism, but it was a wonderful morning celebrating H and God's promises to him while remembering God's same promises to Grandpa A. 

*thanks to Dad for his sneaky iPhone photos during the service

S and I sang as we have for our previous children's baptisms, a wonderful song composed by our friend Emily Lund.

with Aahma and Boppa R

H was baptized with B, who is 2 1/2 weeks older than him

with Pastor Jim

with Uncle J and Auntie C, K & G