A Dedication, a Graduation, and an Illness

This past weekend was a full one, with two very happy things and one not-so-happy one. First, the good stuff!

Tobin was dedicated this past Sunday, right after we officially became members. We squeezed that all in during our pastor's last Sunday with us! It was a really special day for many reasons.

Here are the questions that were asked of Jeff and I during the dedication:
~ Do you receive Tobin as a gift from God?
~ Will you see that Tobin is nurtured in the faith of the church, in the decrees and commands of God, and by your prayers and witness guide him into the full stature of Christ?
~ Do you promise to gladly surrender Tobin to the ministry God has in mind for him, wherever that might be?

After the talking part, a hymn was sung; and my dad had the privilege of walking Tobin around the room to show him off to the church. (Get it? The people are the church.) Tobin was tired by this point and fussed a little, enough to prove that he's a real baby and cries like anyone else! And then a little comforter was given to us that had been made by the women of the church. I plan to take some pictures of Tobin on it sometime, and I'll post a photo then.

It was a joyful event (much more joyful for me personally than the last baby dedication I saw, when I couldn't stop crying for anything!). Even though Tobin has in fact been dedicated to God by us from birth (even before birth, really), it is significant to have a ceremony to honor that...and to feel the communal support for the upbringing of this child.

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The other wonderful part of last weekend was my friend Jackie's graduation with a master's degree from EMU. Because of all the events of Sunday--specifically, it being our pastor's last Sunday--I wasn't able to attend the graduation ceremony, although I would have loved to do that. But we thoroughly enjoyed having Jackie and her husband Pete spend the night with us on Saturday! David was so entranced by Jackie that he could hardly finish his supper. :)

I know Jackie from college days, when we were part of a group of 5 women that lived together during the last 2 years of college. I'm eternally grateful for their friendship (and so is my mom, who cried when she gave Jackie a graduation card on Sunday morning...I was upstairs getting ready and heard my mom's tearful voice downstairs...I thought, "What in the world is Mother crying about now? Maybe I should join in!" :)...in fact, my mom was simply crying from gratitude about how special it was for me to have this group of friends in college and ever since...most people probably wouldn't cry about that, but then again; my mom is not "most people!").

Jackie lived in Egypt for 6 years, and we had the privilege of visiting her there in Cairo and hosting her when she came to Tel Aviv where we were living. I forgot to take a picture of her and Pete during their time with us, so I'll throw in this old picture of them from 2006. :)

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And now, the sad part of the weekend.

Sunday evening, Dad was concerned enough about Mom's health to take her into the hospital to have her checked. The discovery? She has pneumonia. She, of course, had no idea; but she hid her sickness well because not a soul at the church service Sunday morning would have guessed that anything so serious as pneumonia was wrong with her! She is being forced to take it easy this week to recuperate...which is a very good thing. Wish it didn't take a serious illness though to convince her to let herself rest! ;)

This picture below has nothing to do with her current status; it's simply a fun picture of some good Grandma time when David was a baby and Josiah my little 3 year-old.