A big day for Jacob

Today was Jacob’s public confession of faith, along with fourteen others in the Discipleship class at our church. Looking solemn, these kids stood in front of the congregation and assured our senior minister, Russ Peterman, that they believed in Jesus Christ as the Savior. Jacob did well. Although I know he was nervous, he looked composed, and he maintained eye contact with Dr. Peterman. This was a prelude to his baptism, which will take place on April 28.

Of course, we were the last to leave the church. The Burtons took lots of pictures and then explored the balcony to figure out where they could best see the baptism. I will not be sitting in the balcony with them, thank you very much. All those stairs! And I’m not sure I have to see it. Just knowing and being there is enough for me. Unless the minister drops him.

This baptism business sort of snuck up on me. I was baptized as an infant in the Methodist Church; my children were welcomed into the community of faith in the Unitarian Church. We do not come from this dunking tradition, but Christian, raised a Baptist, is invested in it, and has passed the significance along to Jacob. The day of the baptism will be a big deal, with many friends present.

To celebrate today, we went out for Mexican food for lunch. Fun and good. Then Jordan and Christian worked in the back yard putting potted plants in place, putting down mulch. Jacob went fishing, and I took a nap. When I woke up, the back yard looked like spring. Pray for no storms for a bit so that the new plants have a chance to strengthen.

Jordan has gone to a performance at Bass Hall with a neighbor, so I fixed Sloppy Joe for the boys and me. I’ve told the story so often about my Sloppy Joe recipe that I won’t repeat it here. Suffice it to say it’s the only recipe I know that calls for red wine. I wanted to check something and looked it up on an old cookbook file—wrong move. It had an error that has since been corrected—no, the recipe doesn’t need 1-1/3 c. ketchup; only ¼. For a moment I panicked, but in the new cookbook, it’s correct. At Jacob’s request, I cut down on the onion and diced what I did use very fine. As it simmered, it looked dry. Easy solution—sprinkle more red wine and ketchup on it. It was really good.

Busy week coming up, and I’m glad. Hope you all have a good week.