Joshua's Baptism: September 27, 2009

Joshua was baptized Sunday at our church. It was a wonderful ceremony. John and I gave testimonies of God's work in our lives and our hopes for our children. You can watch the video below.

I hope that you're blessed as you watch this. As a sacred ceremony, it was a very meaningful event for us and our family.

Here are the testimonies that John and I were planning to give, though John decided not to use his notes so his words are slightly different.

Me: "Hi, I’m Jen, and this is my husband John, our daughter Katie, and our son Joshua. I was born into this church and met John here eleven years ago. We were married here, and Katie was baptized here about two years ago. We consider ourselves extremely blessed to be a part of this church, and are so thankful to the many of you who have invested yourselves in our lives and family.

"Now that we have two children, I’m reminded all the more how much I need the Lord. No matter how hard I try to be a good mom, there are often dangers, both seen and unseen, from which the Lord is protecting us. When I haven’t had enough sleep, I’ve seen the Lord give me supernatural strength and patience. Because of this, I’ve learned not to make my prayer, 'Give me more sleep', but rather, 'Give me more of you today, Lord.'

"We ask you for your continued prayers and support as we seek to raise our children to know and love our Lord Jesus just as we do."

John: "Thank you for being here today to celebrate the baptism of our son. It is our hope and prayer for our son that he become a strong leader for Christ.

"The thing that I am most grateful for about our families is our Christian heritage that began with our grandparents, was carried on by our parents, and has now been passed down to us. However, it is more than heritage that keeps our families bound as tightly as they have been during difficult times- it is Christ’s love.

"He is named after 2 models of Christian leadership. The Joshua of the Bible was unwavering in his devotion to God. Even when asked to do things that did not make sense in the world’s eyes (such as walk day after day around the city of Jericho), he trusted that the Lord would grant them success and never doubted that the Lord would be faithful to His promise.

"My son also carries the name of my grandfather, Roger Hetzner, who was a profound model of Christianity in my life. Having grown up in the depression and then serving in Africa and Italy during WWII, he knew difficult times and his positive attitude and perseverance always served as a guide for how I should be conducting myself.

"As Jen and I were thinking about a name for our son, the verse I was originally struck with was the famous quote: 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' Indeed this is a powerful statement of conviction and leadership. But as I began to prepare for today, another passage immediately struck my attention as well (Joshua 4:5-6), and I felt would be more appropriate for Josh’s baptism.

"Today, just as in times of old, we have a sign for our children of God’s faithful covenant in Christian baptism. I am so fortunate that when Josh asks us about our Christian heritage, we will have a lot to tell him about what his name means, why we gave him the name that we did, or what his great-grandparents were like.

"However, leaders are not born; they are grown, taught, and tried by fire. It is only by the fire of trial that a man’s true character is shown. So today I ask that each of you, that as my son grows up in your midst, please assist us in the task of showing my son what examples of Christian leadership are."


And then there are several things that made this ceremony unique and especially memorable.

1. My brother Stephen, a future Army Chaplain, did the prayer before the baptism.

2. Todd, the pastor who did the baptism, is not our senior pastor. Our senior pastor typically does the baptisms at our church (he did Katie's), but we asked Todd to do Joshua's since Todd is an excellent pastor and a friend of ours.

3. As Todd returned to the front of the sanctuary, you can hear a little voice call out, "HI KATIE!!!" That was Katie's best friend Daniel, calling from halfway across the church. And then you will hear Katie yell, "HIIIIIIIII!!!!" Yes, the microphone definitely picked that up.

4. When Todd was holding Joshua, apparently Joshua spent a good deal of time staring up at Todd's face. But friends have since told me that when John and I started talking, Joshua was doing lunges to try to see us.

5. As Todd sprinkled water on Joshua's head, Joshua grabbed his hand to hug on it.

6. As Joshua was being baptized, I was whispering to Katie about what was happening. Her response? She pointed to the water in the baptismal and said, "I want water!"

Thank you to those of you who shared this special day with us. And the many more of you who will share it virtually through this blog or Facebook. We appreciate your prayers and support of our family.

Happy Six-Month Birthday, Joshua!

Joshua continues to be a very happy, playful, social baby. A few of his recent milestones:

1. I have unconfirmed suspicions that Joshua has rolled from front to back, although there is always a caveat. For instance, Katie sometimes flips him over so it's hard to know if he has rolled without help or not. :-)

2. Joshua can now sit unassisted for several seconds at a time without toppling.

3. Joshua now has two of his bottom teeth (first one on Aug. 17, second one on Sept. 8).

4. Joshua started solid foods on Aug. 16. As you can see from the photo below, he wasn't too thrilled to begin with. But boy did that change quickly.

He has now had (in chronological order): rice cereal, peas, avocado, Ritz cracker crumbs, carrots, pears, sweet potatoes, green beans, and peaches. So far he's not a huge fan of the fruits and beans. He can't get enough of cracker crumbs or anything else resembling Mommy's food. For that matter, he can't get enough of food, period, even the ones he doesn't seem to like.

Which brings me to... The things Joshua loves at Six Months!

1. FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!

Friends, this boy can EAT! I'm talking 10 ounces of jarred food a day, even when I've added rice cereal to all of it. He just goes and goes. I'm going to need to start making baby food in bulk. I was so happy to find bulk packages of baby food at Sam's the other day and I already need to buy more.

2. Joshua loves MOMMY!!!
I can carry him in this baby carrier for hours and he is content as can be. It's often how we do naps while we're out and about.

3. Joshua loves TOYS!
Joshua is learning how to grab items and move them around. It's funny to watch him try to stick a pacifier in his mouth (it hasn't been a successful quest yet). While he always prefers to be in Mommy's arms, he is also content to play in his Exersaucer for a little while as long as I'm not far away.

People warned me that one challenge of having two kids would be when they both wanted to play with the same toys. And yes, sometimes Katie cries because I won't let her steal whatever Joshua is playing with. But other times, if he's crying, she'll often bring him toys -- even her own toys -- to try to cheer him up. She really is a fantastic big sister.

Anyway, back to Joshua...

4. Joshua loves ALL PEOPLE!

Yes, if you're willing to hold him or give him attention, he will reward you with the biggest smiles. He is a social little guy and loves to play games and tease. He enjoys chewing on his grandma's chin and having me blow kisses into his tummy. He loves pulling on Katie's hair, and thankfully she thinks it's funny too.

Here's a photo of Joshua getting love from his grandparents, sister, and cousin at the beach house in August:

Joshua's being baptized on Sunday morning at the 11 am service; hope some of you can make it. On Monday we'll have his 6-month appointment and I can send you updated measurements. A few weeks ago he was nearly 18 lbs. I guess that makes sense with that huge appetite!

Happy 6-month birthday, Joshua!

God's Grace

We have had so many close calls safety-wise with our kids. I expect most parents of toddlers would say the same thing. Usually I don't tell anyone because I feel guilty that I wasn't paying more attention. But I was just thinking: God should get some glory out of my failings. After all, He's the one who puts the bubble of protection around us, even when I make mistakes as a mom. In the last two weeks, I've had three close calls in which I see God's merciful hand very clearly.


1. On August 1, I was at a birthday party for one of Katie's friends. John wasn't there yet so I had Joshua in the Baby Bjorn on my front while I chased Katie. She ran up a really steep hill, and when I chased after her, I fell backwards, twisting my foot so badly I ended up in the ER. Yet I have many things I'm thankful for:

- I fell backwards, not forwards, so I didn't land on Joshua. Since his little arms and legs were sticking out of the baby carrier, I could have easily broken one of his limbs if I had fallen on him.

- Even though John wasn't there, I was surrounded by several of my closest friends who helped care for my kids and for me until John could get there.

- I was already planning to move in with my in-laws that week because John was going on a work trip and I needed help with the kids and dog. I already had built-in help!

- My foot wasn't broken, though it was sprained. Here's what it looked like a week and a half after the incident:


2. A few days ago, Katie decided (against my warning from a few feet away) to venture down our 13-stair staircase, and fell on the first step, tumbling from the top. God's grace to both of us is that she only went down about five steps before she "happened" to come to a complete stop. By the time I got to her, we were both crying but she was only scared, not hurt.


3. This evening I was listening to Katie talk to Joshua in the next room while I prepared dinner. When I walked in there to check on them, I found Katie poking Joshua in the face with a pair of SCISSORS!!!!!!!!! God's grace was shown to us in that the scissors were closed and that I got to them before anyone was hurt.



Oh Lord, I don't know what I'd do without you! It's only the grace of God that protects all of us on a daily basis.

Happy Four-Month Birthday, Joshua!

Joshua is four months old today! He is a sweet child who loves to be held and will smile at anyone who smiles at him. It seems his goal is to be Mommy's center of attention every minute of every day -- a challenge when he is a second child! He is also teething like crazy, so we're not getting much uninterrupted sleep these days.

At his pediatrician's appointment this morning, he was pretty much 50th percentile all the way around (weight: 15 lbs, 9 oz.; length: 25" long; head circumference: 42 1/2 cm). But you wouldn't know it to look at him: He's a big boy!

Scenes of Summer, Part 1

A few of my favorite photos so far this summer:

Katie's attending a music class this summer.

Katie with her best friend Daniel, who will become a big brother about 9 hours from now!

Katie's first jacuzzi experience

This is what happens when you forget Katie's swim diapers. Look at that rear end!

Joshua meets my grandma for the first time

"Stuck!"

Katie and her good friend Sofia at the zoo.

We've been finding items lined up in rows around the house. Looks like Katie's got some of her mother's obsessive compulsiveness in her.

Katie, her cousins, and Uncle Jason being pulled by Grandpa.

Katie rides a camel at the zoo with Uncle Jamie.

My brother Stephen graduates from Army Reserves boot camp with his then-fiancee (now wife!) Lindsey at his side.

Speaking of which, congratulations to Stephen and Lindsey, who got married May 2! Here are just a few photos from their wedding and our trip to Seattle.

Joshua slept in my carry-on suitcase while we were in Seattle.

Mt. Ranier


Joshua had his own "First Flight" uniform for the plane rides, complete with aviator goggles, and he was coincidentally given a bear with a similar outfit!

The stewardesses were so impressed they took all of us up to the cockpit, where Joshua got to meet the pilot!

Lindsey and I with all the brothers.


My brother Daniel thought I was embarrassing myself by slow-dancing with Joshua at the reception, so he asked us to dance.

A Few Firsts This Week

Today: Joshua's first movie theatre experience, and Katie's first that she was aware of (she went along with me as a baby, but mostly slept through the movies back then). We saw "Curious George" as part of Regal Theatres' Free Family Film Festival this summer. Katie enjoyed the movie and was mostly content, esp. since I strapped her into her booster seat and plied her with snacks and drinks. Joshua slept most of the movie. Overall, a good experience.

Yesterday: Joshua's first eye appointment. We went in for Katie's eye checkup and were thrilled that the eye specialist was able to squeeze Joshua in as well. I felt too silly to schedule an appointment for him since I didn't know of anything wrong with him, but the doctor started checking Joshua's eyes without me even asking. What an answer to prayer, since John and I have been a bit paranoid about his vision after Katie's early eye problems. Apparently one of Joshua's eyes is in fact drifting a bit, but the doctor is hopeful that he'll simply outgrow it. In the meantime, we've scheduled another appointment for him a few months from now.

This weekend: The kids' first fireworks and parade. We were at the beach for the Fourth of July and enjoyed both a parade and fireworks. I find it hard to believe that we haven't taken Katie to fireworks before, but her first Fourth, when she was five weeks old, we were in the hospital realizing she had something very wrong with her eyes. And last year we just watched the fireworks on TV with our best friends (who are having their 2nd baby next Wednesday -- hooray!). I was tempted to watch them on TV again this year, especially since the Sesame Street Muppets were part of the Capitol celebration, but I'm glad we did them in person. The kids were great overall and Katie really enjoyed the music and lights.

Funny Katie Quotes

I got Katie out of her crib this morning and lifted her up high to show her how excited I was to see her. She said:

"I touch the stars!!!"

No idea where she learned that one from. :-)
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Another funny one: Last week we got pretend food to go with her newly-inherited kitchen set (thank you Marce!). Katie wouldn't stop sticking the plastic food in her mouth, and I kept telling her not to eat it. Her response? "It delicious!"

I had never heard her say that word either.
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Other favorites:
"Jean Jeans" -- her word for my brother Jason
"Mucus" -- her word for music, as when calling for the "Elmo Mucus" DVD
"G-Ma-Ma" -- her word for my mom's mom, when we tried to teach her "GGMa" for great-grandma
"Hap Birday!" -- what she says whenever she sees a candle