Samuel: One Year Old

A year!  And what a year it’s been. 

Being the second born (and in under two years) has meant his first year of life has been a bit different than Beckett’s.  Better in some ways—he has a brother who he ADORES and who entertains him far better than we can, and we are even more relaxed with him and allow ourselves to just enjoy him more and not fret about pretty much anything.  But being the second kid also has some drawbacks too—he’s often just along for the ride as our activities are often catered more toward keeping Beckett active (gymnastics class, museums, playgrounds, etc.), and he gets more 1-on-2 attention than 1-on-1.  All in all, I think he’s as happy as a kid can be and has brought and continues to bring us so much joy!

So what’s he up to these days?  He’s crawling around fast a furiously.  He loves the dishwasher, trash can, refrigerator, power cords and the toilet.  He loves eating meat, eggs, oranges, and any of those baby food pouches.  He hates getting his diaper changed and getting into his car seat (but he’s a happy rider once we get going).  He loves to stand up in his high chair and stand up in the bath tub.  He throws his head back when he laughs.  He can say “Dada” and sometimes “Mama” too.  He doesn’t have any teeth yet.  He can clap, and we’re working on waving.  He loves to play with the toy kitchen stuff, chase Beckett in and out of the teepee, and roll cars on the ground while making the vrmmmm sound.  I tried to wean him (because he scratches me like a velociraptor when he nurses… which he apparently finds comforting but I find it terribly painful and annoying) but when I got him down to one feeding a day he suddenly decided nursing is the best thing since sliced bread, so, on we go.  He loves being rocked and still makes this drawn out “uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” sleepy sound and that’s how we know he’s tired ready to be laid down and go to sleep (he makes the same sound in the car when he’s about to fall asleep).  He takes two naps a day—usually about 1-1.5 hours each—and he typically sleeps from 7:45pm-5am and sometimes will go back to sleep after he nurses until close to 6am.  Once or twice a week he wakes up in the 4 o’clock hour.  On average I’d say we start our day at 4:45am (not necessarily up and at ‘em, but with at least one of the boys awake and in our bed).  It’s definitely not my favorite thing about this stage of life, but it’ll pass. 

There are a lot of ways that Samuel is a lot like Beckett was at this age—a very sweet and happy demeanor, easygoing, a great eater, social, doesn’t get upset by much, fine with going to or being held by other people, and super handsome.  We really feel like we hit the jackpot twice having such easy babies.  Although neither are snugglers (except when we’re rocking them to sleep)—they always want to be on the move.  There are some differences between them though.  Samuel’s hair is more blonde (Beckett’s was a bit darker and had more red in it), and his eyes are dark (not sure what color yet!) instead of bright blue.  Samuel is MUCH EASIER to get to sleep.  It’s so easy, and it makes me laugh thinking back to what we used to go through to get Beckett to fall asleep (remember the exercise ball?!?).  When Samuel’s tired he gets cranky and will lay on the ground and fuss until we put him down for a nap.  Beckett never showed any signs of being tired, which is why I think we always had such a hard time getting him down.  But once we got Beckett to sleep he slept better than Samuel does, so everything’s a trade off for sure.  Beckett was in to books and pointing, whereas Samuel is in to cars and kitchen toys.  Samuel is also more of a climber than Beckett was.  Their learning styles seem different at this age—Beckett was inquisitive whereas Samuel is more of an observer.  It’s been so fun to have two boys and see the ways they are similar and different from one another!

When we were pregnant with Samuel I had this slight fear that having two kids so close together would mean this first year would be so crazy that it would just be a haze and not something I would be able to really enjoy or remember.  Now that I’m on the other side, I’m so thankful to report that that wasn’t the case at all.  There were only a few difficult times—when we tried moving Beckett to his big boy bed and potty training him at about the same time, and Samuel was just two months old—when Beckett went through the terrible twos for two weeks (just two weeks, though!)—and when Samuel went through a phase at 7-8 months old when he woke up 4+ times a night for weeks on end.  Other than that it was just a usual amount of crazy here, and Kolby and I have had the best time with these boys.  I wouldn’t change a thing about our year and am still in awe that we have this family of four!

And now for some pictures of these last few months…

 

 

 

First Family Camping Trip

In October we went on an overnight camping trip with Kolby's brother and SIL and their two girls, and his parents joined us too.  It was hot but a lot of fun and something we definitely want to do again!

 

Kolby’s Ordination

Kolby was ordained as a deacon in mid-November.  He has felt God calling him into ministry for most of his life now, and this was the next step in that journey.  The ordination itself was a wonderful service and it was great to celebrate with family and friends! 

Me and the Rev

So, what is a deacon? 

When I was growing up in a Baptist church, deacons were congregation members who led the church’s governing body.  In the Anglican Church, we call those people vestry members.  The role of a deacon is a ministerial position that requires discernment of God’s calling and a long process of preparation.  The term deacon comes from the New Testament Greek word for servant.

This definition is from the Book of Common Prayer and was spoken over Kolby at the ordination service:

As a deacon in the Church, you are to study the Holy Scriptures, to seek nourishment from them, and to model your life upon them. You are to make Christ and his redemptive love known, by word and example, to those among whom you live, and work, and worship. You are to interpret to the Church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world. You are to assist the bishop and priests in public worship and in the ministration of God’s Word and Sacraments, and you are to carry out other duties assigned to you from time to time. At all times, your life and teaching are to show Christ’s people that in serving the helpless they are serving Christ himself.

Kolby’s sense of God calling him into ministry has been around since I met him, but this specific discernment process involved lots of conversations with our pastor, church members, and friends, followed by formal interviews with church leaders within our congregation and outside it.  There was lots of reading and study, three exams, and even a psychological evaluation and marriage assessment.  (Good news:  Kolby’s not crazy and we are as happily married as we think we are!)  While it is more common for deacons and priests to hold seminary degrees, Kolby’s theological training in his undergraduate, his Bible knowledge (for which he rightly credits Baptist Sunday School!), and his own individual study allowed him to pass the exams and the interviews. 

He was ordained as a transitional deacon, meaning after a matter of months or perhaps a year, he will be ordained as a priest.  This is as opposed to vocational deacons, who feel called to remain in that particular ministry.  He is also a bi-vocational minister, meaning he’ll keep his day job at least for the foreseeable future.  It allows him to teach (which he’s always felt was such a big part of his calling to begin with) and keep serving our church on the teaching (preaching) team, and taking on a few extra roles here and there.  Our church is a missional church with a vision for planting more churches in the area, so there’s no telling what the future might hold for us.  For now, Kolby and I are trying to be faithful to the call God’s placed on us.

Cue the “Son of a Preacher Man” chorus…

As a side note, many of you aren’t familiar with the Anglican denomination.  I wasn’t either until we started going to an Anglican church!  I’ve written out an Anglican 101 blog post that explains what I think you all might be interested in knowing :)

Also, if you are interested in hearing Kolby preach, he preaches about once a month and we'd love for you to come visit our church, or you can listen to the archived sermons online here.

Anglican 101

So, we’re Anglican. 

I know that’s a weird and unfamiliar word to many of you.  But it’s not a weird denomination.  At all.  I promise :)

We both grew up Baptist but have been attending an Anglican church (which we LOVE) for six years.  At Wheaton, Kolby experienced and was really drawn to a more formal, historical expression of worship and so, when we moved here and planted roots, he took me a little out of my comfort zone and we visited some churches outside of the more familiar Baptist, non-denominational, and Bible churches. We visited a large Anglican church that Kolby liked a lot but was too formal for me, but it just so happened that the church was launching a new church plant nearby that was small and more casual.  We met with the pastor and his wife and heard their heart and vision for the church and furthering the kingdom of God, and we knew instantly we wanted to be in on it.  The rest is history, I guess!

So, for anyone interested in hearing more about this “Anglican” thing, read on…

[And be warned this got way longer than I intended!  But I'm never one to be short-winded, and I actually learned some stuff as I was putting this together.]

A quick summary

Anglican literally means English, and the Anglican Church simply means the Church of England.  It took on that name when separating off from the Roman Catholic Church during the reformation in the 16^th century.  Anglicanism is the largest Protestant denomination and the third largest Christian religious body in the world (after Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy). Its membership consists of 80 million people in 164 countries. Anglicanism is often referred to as the via media, the “middle way,” between Protestantism and Catholicism. Like Protestants, Anglicans understand Scripture as the final authority for teaching and preaching. Like Catholics, Anglicans embrace the traditions of worship from the ancient Church.

If it’s such a huge denomination, how on earth have I never heard of it?

The Anglican Church here in the U.S. took on the name “Episcopal,” because during the Revolutionary War, it wasn’t cool to say you were part of the Church of England.  The Episcopal Church is the American wing of the worldwide Anglican Church.  But in the last few decades the Episcopal Church started liberalizing on some theological matters, and about ten years ago a group of Episcopal churches in the U.S. decided to realign themselves with the beliefs and theology of the worldwide Anglican Church.  This group broke away from the name “Episcopal” and reverted to “Anglican.”  There haven’t been churches in the U.S. with the Anglican name until fairly recently, so you might not have even come across one yet.

You’ve probably heard of Anglicans and just didn’t know it. Many noted evangelical scholars and authors are Anglican, including C.S. Lewis, John Stott, J.I. Packer and N.T. Wright.

What do Anglicans believe?

Because Anglican is such a foreign word to many, people often ask what we believe, namely—what makes your denomination different from mine?  And I don’t really have a good answer for that because Anglicanism is anything but unique.  We don’t have a defining thing that makes us different. 

Our statement of belief is just this:  the Nicene Creed.  This statement of belief, which all Christians have adopted since it was crafted in 325 A.D., is the bare minimum standard for what it means to be a Christian.  There are lots of other topics that churches can land on either side of (how/when to baptize, women’s role in ministry, if/how to use music, etc.), but this unifying creed is the litmus test for Christianity and outlines the core beliefs of the Anglican Church.

The Via Media

Anglicans hold on to the Catholic heritage in the ancient creeds, sacraments, and the threefold ministry of deacons, priests, and bishops, but Anglicans embrace the elements of the Reformation that focus on Biblical authority, have a firm commitment to the doctrine of justification by faith, and have a missionary zeal to bring others into life in Christ.

This idea of being the via media—the middle way—means, to quote a former Anglican Archbishop, we are “at the same time evangelical, apostolic, catholic, reformed, and Spirit-filled.”  I’ve found that to be the case.  Some Anglican worship services are hard to distinguish from a Catholic service.  Others feel almost Pentecostal—lots of spontaneous prayers or raised hands during worship.  At our church, there would be some things that felt really “high church”—we recite prayers together, we serve communion every week—but there’s plenty that feels like a typical evangelical service—announcements, sermons, contemporary worship songs.

Like other protestant churches, Anglicans have a heavy focus on scripture.  Like Catholics, Anglicans have a sacramental theology, which means that we believe that communion and baptism are holy moments instituted by Jesus that express God’s grace. 

Liturgy

Patterns of worship vary widely among churches (traditional, contemporary, etc.).  Anglican churches are liturgical, which translates to “the work of the people” and just means that Anglican worship is an act of the entire congregation.  Worship in the early church was liturgical—it was not a passive experience but a participatory action and event in which the assembled people of God actively worshipped together as a Church.  Incorporating the Psalms, creeds, hymns, and verses used by the earliest Christians reminds us that we do not worship God in a historical vacuum, but are connected to God’s people throughout time.

Liturgy expresses what we believe and bears witness to the story of our faith.  My personal favorite part of this is that in this model, the sermon isn’t the headlining event.  That comes toward the beginning of the service.  Instead, everything builds to communion, where we are reminded of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and we receive his grace and forgiveness together as a body.

Baptism

I wrote a bit about this topic already when Beckett was baptized (read here). But in the Anglican Church, a person may be baptized at any age.  We commonly baptize infants as an expression of obedience and accept the grace of God on their behalf.  This tradition has its origins in Colossians 2:11-12 when Paul identifies baptism as the “circumcision of Christ,” a practice that initiated eight-day-old infant males to the covenant made by Abraham.  Infant baptism is not a substitute for a child’s eventual individual expression of faith in God and decision to turn from sin and put their trust in Jesus Christ, but rather an important sign of God's pre-existent love and adoption of them.

Eucharist, aka Communion, aka the Lord’s Supper

Eucharist is the sacramental communion between Christ and his members (1 Corinthians 10: 16). We celebrate it every Sunday and it is the focal point of the worship service.

The first Christians were Jews, and in the Jewish faith, all liturgy (public worship) is ultimately about covenant renewal.  Israel’s very existence depended upon continual renewal of her covenant with God.  The early church viewed the Eucharist in the same light.  It was not a “ritual” but a covenant with God that was continually renewed upon entering into communion with the risen Lord.  In short, for the first Christians the Eucharist constituted the Church and so became the central act of worship.

During Eucharist, we engage in the Church’s central act of praise and thanksgiving (the word “Eucharist” simply comes from the Greek word for “thanksgiving”), renew our covenant with Christ as his Church, and receive from him the fruits of his death and resurrection offered in this sacrament.

Church governance, ordination

Basically, there are two forms of church government: congregational and episcopal.  A congregational church is independent—ruling itself, electing its own leaders, and ordaining its own clergy.  Baptist, Bible and several other denominations follow this model.  Episcopal (I’m not talking about the Episcopal denomination noted above, which I know is confusing!) is a church system governed by a hierarchy of bishops.  The title bishop comes from the Greek word episkopos, which translates as overseer.  Bishops have authority over a group of churches, called a diocese.  Decisions are made with the input and recommendation of the local congregation members, but ultimately, priests and bishops—having been ordained by God to shepherd the church—have the final say.

Episcopal governance is the predominant pattern in Catholic and Anglican churches and is also common in Methodist and Lutheran churches, among others.  These churches have three types of ministers, all based in scripture (I Timothy 3:1, 3:13, 5:17, 1 Peter 5:1-3): the diakoneo (translated "deacon"), presbyteros (translated "priest"), and episkopos (tranlated "bishop").  In the Anglican tradition, deacons, priests, and bishops are ordained to particular roles, but ministry is still considered to be a vocation of all Christians.  Ordination is also considered a sacrament because it is believed that God empowers the person, through the Holy Spirit, to fulfill their particular ministry and calling. Ordination is always conferred by the laying on of hands by one or more Bishops as an outward sign of the inward reality of God's call.  In a priestly ordination, all the priests of the diocese lay hands upon the ordinand following the example of Scripture: "Neglect not the gift that is in you, which was given you with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery" (1 Tim. 4:14, Acts 8:18).

OK-that's what I've got.  Please don't hesitate to ask questions or talk about any of this further sometime!

Update 2: Beckett's Lymphangioma

Beckett had a second sclerotherapy procedure on his lymphangioma on Thursday (11/5).  At his follow up appointment with the radiologist several weeks ago she said it could use one more sclerothererapy treatment.  We knew going into the first treatment that there was a 50/50 chance he'd need a second, so this wasn't unexpected.  To clarify, the lymphangioma did not recur- I think I was hazy on what exactly would necessitate a second treatment.  Apparently sometimes these things just need a couple rounds of sclerotherapy to go away (or shrink as much as possible).  

The procedure went just fine and we are sure hopeful that was the end of things.  Health-wise there shouldn't be any concern going forward.  It is now just a cosmetic thing- a small but somewhat visible lump on the side of his neck- but even before this second treatment it was looking 90% back to normal.  SO much better than before the first sclerotherapy (it had gotten really large, but I didn't want to post a picture of it online).  It would be great if the lump totally went away, but it's hardly noticeable even now so it is not something we think many people will notice and it's possible it'd become even less noticeable as he grows.

He had an emotionally rough time coming out of anesthesia this time- he got really agitated and then tailspinned into an all-out tantrum- but we made it through and he was back to his old self by the end of the day.  

This kid really is such a trooper.  He handled everything so well and he made us so proud.  We are so thankful for his health and the great care we received from all of the nurses and doctors.

Halloween 2015

For Halloween this year our boys went as master destroyers King Kong and Godzilla.  So fitting!

(And bonus... the gorilla costume was a hand me down from Beckett and I got the dinosaur costume secondhand for $5. Boom.)

Samuel was a trooper (minus hating the gorilla hat) and Beckett understood enough to get excited about trick-or-treating this year.  It was fun!

We had a Halloween dinner and went trick-or-treating with some friends that live in our neighborhood.  Beckett and their boys are all the same age and they all had a great time together!

Superman, Godzilla, Daniel Tiger

Beckett has gotten really silly and creative lately and that night he decided instead of yelling "next house!" he'd yell "next nouse!" and thought it was so funny.  The other boys caught on.  You were nobody this Halloween if you weren't calling it a nouse.

NEXT NOUSE!

Checking out their loot.

Happy Halloween :)