"Child of the Covenant

... and a heavy one, too!" were the words our pastor used to describe William as we handed him over to be baptized this past Sunday.

He held up like a champ when Pastor Terry took a big scoop of water and doused his little head. Considering the boy has no fear of water (well, except perhaps for oceans), we didn't anticipate any resistance. His face registered some confusion over getting an apparent hairwash at 11 a.m., but once the shock wore off, he took everything in stride.

William had the privilege of sharing his baptismal day with his two year-old friend, Anant. You may remember that Anant was adopted from India just days before we picked up William in Taiwan. The two were the very picture of cute as they reached across the stage to hold each others' hands.

Some of you may wonder why we would go through all the hassle just to watch our dolled-up son get drenched in public. We believe that baptism is a public profession of our intent to teach our son about God's love and saving grace for him. It's also a promise on our parts to do all that we can to influence him toward a faith in Jesus Christ. We don't believe the act of baptism makes William a Christian; at some point, like everyone else, he will have to make that decision for himself. However, we owe it to William to do what we can to share with him the great hope and strength that we have found in Jesus.

After the baptism, we all headed back to our house for a lunch. Thunderstorms forced us to eat a brief part of our meal in the dark, but power was soon restored. We send a big shout out to all our family for traveling from near and far to celebrate the special day with us. Thanks, too, to my sister, Sherry, for taking all the great photos above. Finally, thanks be to God for his covenant promises of faithfulness and love to the sweet boy with whom he has entrusted us.