Last Sunday, we had Ethan baptized in a special service in the afternoon so people from all of our churches could be invited, and both Randy and I could be there.

We were grateful that both sets of Ethan’s grandparents were able to be with us. (Randy’s parents traveled from Tennessee just for the weekend, bringing two of Ethan’s cousins he had not yet met.)

For the baptism Ethan wore the traditional Korean dress called a hanbok that he received as a gift from his foster family in Korea. It is very colorful. And as you can see in the picture below, boys wear pink!

It was meaningful to celebrate this event in Ethan’s life with our church families, Manor Hill Charge and 12th Street and Hope. They have been with us through the journey into parenthood and helped pray Ethan into our lives. It was also special to have our District Superintendent, Dave Norris, to officiate. He and his wife Jean have been supportive and shared the joy of this life-changing event.

The service was to include a slideshow to the song “You’ve Given Life to Me.” See Randy’s post, The Missing Slideshow, for details, and to view the slideshow.

The Faith UMC Choir sang “How Great is Our God” which was a special selection they sung for me right before we left for Korea to get Ethan. We included the congregational song, “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” a congregational song from our wedding, too.

We played a recording of the World Vision Korea Children’s Choir singing in English and Korean, “Lord, I Want to Be a Christian” (see last year’s post on this choir’s concert in Huntingdon). And Open Timbre, a bluegrass group from Faith UMC, sang “The Blessing.”

Another special touch was the use of the Statement of Faith of the Korean Methodist Church in place of the Apostle’s Creed. We also used the ceramic pitcher and bowl that my grandmother (Ethan’s maternal great grandmother) had painted.

There was a good bit of music, but I like music! And so does Ethan. Ethan was a bit wiggly through a lot of the service, except when the music was playing! Now that he’s walking he wants down to get around.

Following the service, the Manor Hill churches provided a farewell reception. Joann, who (along with her husband, Dick) babysits Ethan on Sunday mornings, baked and decorated a beautiful baptism cake for the occasion.

We are grateful for this special day in our lives and in life of Ethan. We believe baptism to be a way in which we experience God’s grace. As an infant, Ethan can do nothing to achieve salvation. So it is with us all. God offers it freely.

Now we pray that Ethan will grow up to accept and claim this free gift of God as his very own.

Images from the day (the first one taken with our camera, and the other 3 by Ethan’s two grandmothers) …

The one-year doctor appointment is not fun. It means at least four shots, one in each leg, one in each arm. This was on top of Ethan having a slight cold (cough and runny nose).

I think we were all worn out from Annual Conference and then we came home from air conditioned buildings to a sweltering house. We broke out the window air conditioners on Sunday and the first night we had Ethan’s room too cold. (We weren’t going to get out the air conditioners … here we are, we’re supposed to be packing, and we are unpacking stuff! But we didn’t think we could stand to pack in the heat.)

After Wednesday’s appointment, Ethan was quite fussy. The first couple of hours of the night he was waking every 15-20 minutes. We finally gave him some Children’s Tylenol, hoping to ease his aches.

The worse thing of the appointment was talking about our move, which Dr. Ettenger described as a “trauma,” similar to that of the death of a parent. Not exactly the words of assurance we were looking for.

However, Dr. Ettenger continued to explain that while Ethan will lose most of what has become familiar around him (not to mention that he just went through this a mere four months ago), he will still have his primary caregivers (mom and dad) with him!

Ultimately our assurance is from God. We trust that this move is God’s will and he will provide everything we need!

This was Ethan’s last appointment with Dr. Ettenger due to the move. We deeply appreciate Dr. Ettenger’s work with us and Ethan over the course of the last few months. At one point he said, “I don’t need to tell you, you are doing a good job.” Those sure are reassuring words for new parents to hear. Everyone needs a “That a boy!” every now and then. And we send one to Dr. Ettenger, too.

A few months ago, Randy wrote an entry called, Praying the Scriptures for Your Children, which included a few suggested verses of Scripture to pray for children.

Another good resource for parents to incorporate into their prayers is an article from Christian Parenting Today called 40 Ways to Pray for Your Children. The article includes 40 topical prayers parents can use to pray for their children.

Look who’s the newest member of the Manor Hill United Methodist Men (UMMen)!

Wednesday evening, Ethan and I visited the 42nd annual building of picnic tables. They made 93 tables this year. The 6-foot tables were sold out before they were ever made! However, there are 8-foot tables for $110 and 10-foot table for $120.

Call 814-643-0779, 814-667-3484, or 814-667-2485 if you’re interested in purchasing a table. Be sure to bring a truck or trailer and help to load your table.

Also, the UMMen were glad to have Katie home from college to lend a hand.

Thanks to Patty Stever for sending us the photos. Click on the thumbnails below to see the full images.

Last Saturday, Ethan took his first steps. He usually only takes a few steps at a time, but once on Saturday, he walked between the love seat and sofa, which is at least six feet!

On Sunday, we happened to catch him in action in this photo.

A few weeks ago, 12th Street UMC scheduled a gathering for May 4 to welcome Ethan. In the meantime, we learned of our new appointments, so the welcome also became a farewell.

Although Randy will continue to serve 12th Street through the end of June, it was probably the last time that Ethan and I would get to visit with the people of 12th Street. And so this gathering came with mixed emotions as we celebrated Ethan’s arrival, but also had to say farewell.

The afternoon was a time of social interaction. Ethan was a little out of sorts, though, because we had to wake him from his nap to go into the church. He finally was becoming more himself by the end of the gathering.

Ethan was showered with gifts and cards, including the Tonka truck in the photo. The truck was a gift from the 12th Street Church. Ethan has taken to it right away.

Thanks, 12th Street, for embracing Ethan and for your expressions of welcome!

Ethan continues to make great strides forward managing to amaze us.

Sunday, April 20 was our first Sunday back to our churches. Randy left a little after 8:00. I dropped Ethan off at Dick and Joann’s at 8:30 and went on to my first service at 9:00. Joann and Dick took Ethan to Faith at 10:00 for Sunday School and worship at 11:00, where I was reunited with him following the service.

Ethan handled the morning so well! I was nervous going into the 11:00 service, but he was fine. Dick and Joann are doing a terrific job with him. They were so kind to give their time in advance to get acquainted with Ethan.

Other updates …

Getting teeth. Ethan now has a total of six teeth. He had his lower two front teeth when we brought him home. His two upper outer front teeth came in after we got him. Now his upper middle front teeth are poking through!

Preparing to walk. Ethan is still preparing to walk. His balance has improved so that he can stand and dance with no hands. He also occasionally does what Randy calls “squats” to strengthen his leg muscles. He loves for us to take his two hands so he can strut his stuff from one end of the house to the other! It won’t be long until he’s walking on his own.

Learning to chew. We have been trying to teach Ethan to chew. He sometimes makes big chewing motions while he’s eating his baby food (usually with his mouth open). Gerber Graduates Finger Foods were recommended because they easily melt in the mouth. In fact, the Banana Puffs were part of the success in our travels to Asbury last week (he started chewing two days before the trip!). Ethan was so excited to pick up a Puff from my hand and get it into his mouth and chew! This kept him quite occupied while we traveled. (He is a bit confused, though, when we read one of his books that has a “choo choo” in it. )

Mom and Dad are making strides too. Ever since we’ve been home from Korea we have been keeping a running journal on what and how much Ethan eats and when and how much Ethan sleeps. We stopped keeping track of his eating a couple of weeks ago, thinking we pretty much have that down now. We are now ready to stop recording his sleep. His night sleep is pretty standard (10-11.5 hours). His naps are more sporadic. He takes a late morning nap regularly. We are considering letting go of the afternoon nap — he doesn’t always go to sleep and it just makes mom and dad more tired trying to get him to sleep.

Here are a few photos related to what I’ve written in this post …

Today, Mom came to our house to spend the afternoon with Ethan while Randy and I went to State College to run some errands.

Round 1 involved a lot of separation anxiety, but in Round 2, Ethan had a wonderful visit with “Grandma!” They played together. Ethan had one of his favorite snacks — yogurt. And NO crying this time!

Ethan just continues to amaze us as he moves forward in his adjustment. What an encouragement on our last day of parental leave!

My cousin, Kevin, had twins twelve days before Ethan was born. Ethan got to meet Steven and Evin (corrected spelling!) and the family on Friday.

The twins have each other to play with (or steal toys from), but this was the first time Ethan was around any babies his age.

The 10-month-olds were cute together. They would reach out and touch each other. Evin was in a laughing mood (corrected with the name of the right twin!). The three just hung out together. After awhile Ethan ventured from Mommy’s lap to check out the wide array of toys.

Hopefully we can do this again soon!