Madison’s Baptism

Oh, man.  It is always interesting when we hit a new milestone or type of event.  After blogging for almost the past 20 years (over 1300 blog posts), you think you have talked about all the things – vacations, births, deaths, vacations, silly moments, everyday moments, etc.  But this is one I have not.  Madison’s faith journey began before she was formed (Psalm 139:16).  We worked to continue to build on what God had started and would continue by being her earthly representation of Christ.  She was dedicated to the body of Christ at Salem with Grandpa Ediger officiating and again in our (then) church at Westerville.  Her faith grew as we whispered to her from the Jesus Storybook Bible and created a rhythm for life with nightly prayers and songs of praise.  Weekly, her Sunday school teachers fostered growth and knowledge through the lessons and crafts.  Junior high and high school youth group have continued to build the foundation.  Extended family offered examples of love in conflict, stories of praise, transition to commitment through baptism and testimony, and steady rocks of prayer at meals, intentional sharing around the table and gatherings, and the reminder of Christ’s story within the hub-bub of Christmas and Easter. 

And yet… with all that, it was still her choice.  I think that is what makes this the miracle it is every time it happens.  We, as parents, make so many choices for our kids – where they live, where they go to school, what foods are in the house, if they have a pet, sometimes friendships are formed in early childhood playdates, if they go to church, etc.  But this choice – whether they will follow Jesus and commit to a life of walking in His footsteps… that is their decision.  And I am so glad to know that Madison choose this for herself.  That her desire is to know and love Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior. 

At Salem, the youth interested in baptism attend a catechism class to understand God’s plan for salvation, the (brief) history of Anabaptism, and church membership.  They are paired with a mentor (one from a list of people they have thought of) from within the church body to meet with and serve with during this process.  In the end, they can decide how to proceed with their faith journey.  If they choose baptism, they prepare a short testimony and are immersed (or sprinkled with) in water.

Madison’s mentor was Beth Gerber, who coincidentally was also my baptism mentor.  She stood with her as she gave her testimony.  Then, spoke words of affirmation and encouragement.

    

They youth then served communion to the congregation and received communion for the first time.  (This was all a little backwards since typically they are baptized first, but this was kinda a mixed up service because of the changes made to the outdoor weekend worship service… not really important, but sometimes I forget things.)

   

Baptism was inside with a borrowed baptismal pool, officiated by Pastor Kevin Himes.  Tessa Daniels, our ministry intern for the summer, also was a part of it. 

       

Madison walked through catechism and was baptized alongside Mason, Grace, and Thea (already baptized, but was in catechism). 

And her “church” (and life) friends were there to celebrate with her.

I honestly didn’t think I would be struck by it in such an emotional way.  But I underestimated myself.  This was touching and beautiful and deeply honoring to what God desires for our lives.  I cried. Jeremy cried.  Madison cried.

Then…we talked to Christi Michaels….  She wanted to tell us that it was the most amazing thing because while Madison was giving her testimony there was a bald eagle circling overhead.  Jeremy thought he had heard its call, but didn’t look to locate it.  Christi said it circled until Madison was done, and Beth stepped up to share, and then it left.  The significance to us is that the eagle was Maynard’s God thing – some of his favorite verses in the Bible were Isaiah 40:30-31, “Even the youth grow tired and weary , and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, and they will walk and not be faint.” We truly believe this was God reminding us that Maynard and Gloria were there with us celebrating Madison’s step in her faith journey. 

Then, we all were bawling. It was awesome!

Grandma and Grandpa came over later to give her a gift of a journaling Bible and a gift card to enjoy those moments of reading with a fancy drink at Midnight Readers.

  We love you, Madison, and will continue praying for you. 

Easter

Our spring break ended after our California trip with the Easter weekend.  The Maundy Thursday service always helps to refocus me during spring break.  On Saturday, the girls were dying eggs for the Easter breakfast.  A process a have less need to monitor than I used to. 

They woke up to Easter baskets – it feels like more of a challenge to fill it with things that will not just be trinkets they throw away/never use or just a pile of candy no one really needs or to just spend a lot of money for no real reason.  I think I found a decent balance this year…

And on Easter Sunday, we enjoyed church with our shared breakfast at church before the service.  The cross was beautifully ordained this year.

Afterwards, we headed to mom and dad’s to have Easter lunch together and hang out.  Meg, Madison, Ellie, and Landen played a fun game of phone hide and seek – two of them would hid in very creative places around the house and then send hints via emojis to the other groups’ phone.  The older boys took off to show Paxon’s friend from Peru (I think) the sights and the flooding; Sam ended up ruining his jeep driving through deep water… so that didn’t end as well as it could have.  It was especially nice this year because I didn’t have to return to school on Monday.  We were given Easter Monday as a professional development summer swap day – so the time we put in during the summer meant we didn’t have to be in person this day.  It made for a much more relaxed Sunday.

Blaze Winter Retreat

This year, as sponsors, Jeremy and I joined the girls for the youth winter retreat at Camp Luz.  The high school girls stayed in one cabin with Suzanne and I.  The middle school girls were in another with Courtney.  The boys were also split by age.  It started on Friday night with some mixer games and worship. The speaker for the weekend was excellent, although his name escapes me. 

We went to get ready for bed or ready for night time activities.  Our cabin was cold.  Like really cold.  So, I went home and got our electric space heater.  I started it and the thermostat read 46F.  We ran that thing all night and it only got up to 47F.  My bunk was near the door and a window, and I just tried to stay warm.  But I wasn’t really sleeping, so then I had to go to the bathroom – twice! – which required walking outside.  I hardly had to bundle up though because I already had on so many layers to sleep. 

Saturday morning actually set record lows (actual temps of –12F with feel like temps at –20F) which helps (kinda) explain our cabin situation… except that Ellie’s cabin was so hot, they were shedding layers at night! 

Saturday was cold, but fun.  Filled with worship, delicious camp food, laughter, a photo scavenger hunt, hanging out, playing games, and more.  Some pictures of the fun.

    

Saturday night was warmer (the air temp as well) in our cabin, plus Jeremy gave me the 30degree mummy bag.  I actually shed my socks and my long sleeves!  The thermostat was in the mid-50s on the space heater.

Sunday finished up with worship before heading home.  It was a good weekend together as a group.

    

Advent: Week #4

Day 21: Ediger Christmas (see previous post)

Day 22: Christmas Movie night. We watched My Secret Santa, a Hallmark-esque Netflix holiday show.  It was actually pretty good. 

Day 23: Go out for tasty drinks.  We headed to Midnight Readers bookstore and coffee shop in Apple Creek.  We enjoyed looking at books – even picked up some last minute Christmas gifts AND saw Sandy there! – and sipping some drinks.  Ellie held off for butterbeer at Treemont Coffee House; we were headed there to pick up a gift card for Jeremy anyway – two coffee shops in one day!

Day 24: Christmas Eve Service.  This is always a special night at church – from the music to the tree to the church family to the candlelighting service.

    

It’s all ready for the next day….

    

Day 25: Christmas day!  Celebrate Christmas with your family!  We woke up and opened stockings while the monkey bread baked in the oven. 

Breakfast

    

Then, we opened gifts.  The girls gave us ours first.  They wrapped up 11-12 of Jeremy’s coffee travel mugs and tucked a gift card into one of them. 

They wrapped up some of my clothes from my closet so I would have something to open and then gave me some nice gifts – a handmade calendar and a nicely presented list of 6 meals that I can make (with Ellie’s help) this year. 

The girls gift each other their gifts.  They enjoy giving them as much as getting them.  It is neat to see the thought they put into each gift. 

    

Pepper even got a gift this year – a new ball to hold hidden treats. 

    

After lunch (spaghetti and meatballs), we packed up and headed on our epic adventure to…. New York City.  (post to follow)

Tiny Highlights

Pepper enjoys having us all home, but mostly feels ignored and sad about it.  I am projecting feelings based on what I see, but you know.  So, here are his moments…

   

We did something for the first time this summer – went to drive-in movie at the Lynn Theater in Strasburg.  They were showing How to Train Your Dragon (live action), and we all wanted to see it.  We got there a bit early, pulled into a spot, tried to figure out how to get sound (Pro tip: bring a boom box to tune in to the station it is broadcast on so you don’t have to blare it through your car speakers.), and picked up some popcorn at the concession stand.  The movie was really good, the environment was fun, and it was very late when we got home!

A highlight of summer is Vacation Bible School at church.  For many years, we took the kids to Stanwood Church for VBS because Salem didn’t have it.  But Salem has had VBS the past few years.  And the cool thing is that the girls are old enough to help be small group leaders.  And they love it!  Last year, Christi and I signed up to do the skits.  She was a clueless scuba diver and a was a wise friend last year.  This year, we switched roles and I was a clueless hiker and she was the wise friend.  We have fun being silly, and the kids think we are awesome (and trust me, our acting skills have something to be desired!). 

Another highlight was a surprise.  One of my housemates from after college was heading to Ohio (from Mississippi) and asked if I had time to get together.  Then, she managed to get our other housemate to join us and two other local college friends.  It was so fun to be with everyone again.  I forget how much I enjoy those friendships… I think back to Rachel visiting in June and now this.  Those deep friendships forged in that transitional period of life are so special and so difficult to recreate later in life.  I treasure these times.

Madison’s Many Adventures

This summer held a number of milestones for Madison – some were more fun than others.

The first one came just after we got back from Myrtle Beach.  She turned 15-1/2.  Which means…. she could get her DRIVER’S PERMIT!!!!  But she had to pass the permit test first.  We got to the BMV and were greeted by a super nice receptionist, which helped ease her nerves a bit.  She had a seat at the computer, took her time, and PASSED her test!!  Pretty big deal!

We are now off and running, trying to clock 50 hours before December 31st when she can get her actual driver’s license.  We started off small – just the cul-de-sac.  Moved to driving around Dalton, navigating stop signs and stop lights, using turn signals, and encountering other vehicles.  Now, we moved on to driving on Back Orrville Road to get to Wooster (numerous times!) to church on the Zuercher Road hill to crossing Route 30.  We have briefly navigated driving ON 30, but have not used that as the major thoroughfare yet.  While I still sit there on high alert, I am able to relax a little bit on the routes we have taken more often. 

Milestone #2, not as fun…. the day after she got her permit, she had her wisdom teeth extracted.  She was pretty nervous about it. It was her first surgery, the first time to go under, the first in the family (between her and Ellie) to have this done.  But they took her back and she had no choice but to go through with it.  She said she remembers very little.  Then, she was up coloring a picture before I cam back.  Things went well for her.  She had virtually no pain – she took her pain meds for the first couple days, iced as much as possible, and rested.  The worst thing was just the swelling she had to deal with.  Here is her photo progression (without the final “normal” recovered picture)

     

Milestone #3 – going on a multi-day trip without any parent!  For many kids at Dalton that would have happened with the 8th grade trip to Washington D.C., but, selfishly, I usually like to go (and the school lets me).  I also asked her if she minded if I went, and she didn’t.  So, this was the church trip to MCUSA National Convention with the youth group.  It briefly crossed my mind to go as a delegate because I love convention, but I decided not to; this was her moment to love it to!  And she did.  She went with three sponsors and 6 other girls from the youth group to North Carolina.  They joined others from across the U.S. to worship, learn, and have fun together.  They made memories, grew closer together, and did some fun stuff. 

Advent Wrap-up

Day 23 – Get a fancy hot (or cold) drink. We headed to Tremont Coffee shop with Jen for a fun drink. They have coffee, teas, hot chocolates, milkshakes, and cold drinks. Madison chose a vanilla chai latte; Ellie got butterbeer (cold, butterscotch-y drink); I got hot chocolate; and I am not sure what Jen ended up with. Then, we just hung out while we drank it. I thought there were games, but I didn’t see them. When we were leaving, I did see them again. So, next time, we may play some games.

Day 24 – Stuff and Stamp cards. This one got moved at least once on the calendar of activities. But that’s okay. Normally, the girls think this day just says “Celebrate at a Christmas Eve service”… and it usually does! It didn’t take long, and it is good to remember the names of those we know afar.

The Christmas Eve service was nice at Salem, but most of the lights remained on during the candlelight portion for some reason, so it threw me off a bit.

    

Afterwards, Jeremy and I worked on present wrapping – a task for some reason we almost always save for this night.