Baptism

On July 11th, Ruston was baptized at Living Word Lutheran Church in Moses Lake, WA. Ben and Kelli Hesse are his godparents. Kelli started out holding Ruston, but this was quite short lived.

SO... I got to hold him while he was baptized by my dad. I believe this picture is when my dad was putting the sign of the cross on Ruston's head, and Ruston swatted dad's hand away. After the service, Jim Nestingen (visiting pastor who had ordained dad the day before) said he likes "a feisty one!" Haha... Ruston's definitely a feisty one!
Ruston was not much for leaning over the baptismal font... he was clinging to me for dear life.
Then he got his baptism candle.
Ruston was pretty mesmerized by this, and really wanted to grab it, so Kelli soon got to hold it, and then it was extinguished.
Afterward, Ruston, me, Ben, and Kelli. Also, the blanket in the picture is a family baptismal blanket. There have been a lot of Hesse family members baptized in that blanket.
Ben and Kelli also took the opportunity to take a few family photos.
Nicholas was being less than cooperative, so he got held too. Ben, Kelli, Eli (less than a month old), and Nicholas (3).
After the service we ate Ruston's baptism cake. I don't have a picture of the actual cake, but this will suffice to say that it tasted good! Notice Nicholas does have a plate with a piece of cake on it, but apparently eating it right off of the cardboard is WAY better!

Welcome to God's Family, Ruston!!!

My Dad's Ordination

On July 10, 2010, my dad was ordained at Living Word Lutheran Church in Moses Lake, Wa. I guess that makes me a pastor's kid. :) Before his ordination, he had his questioning, which was done by Jim Nestingen and George Putnam. Jim is a pastor friend and mentor of my dad's, and George is my dad's godfather and uncle. Here they are in front of the congregation for the questioning.
My dad, deep in thought/response to one of many tough questions.
Jim, although deep in thought while listening to dad's responses.
George... once again, deep in thought while questioning dad. I think he did a pretty darn good job!

It wasn't all serious, as you can see.
After the questioning was the actual ordination, which was done by Jim Nestingen as well.
During the laying on of hands, dad requested that Anne, the little girl, also assist because she was the first one to call him "Pastor Lou" several years ago when she wanted to invite him to her school's pastor luncheon (I believe). Also pictured is Pastor Wiser, the pastor that comes from Spokane twice a month to preach at Living Word.

My mom got to put dad's stole around his neck, which was traditionally done by the wife because the wives usually made the first stole while the husband was gone at seminary. Although this wasn't the case, mom still put in on him.

****I'm missing a few pictures... I need to hunt them down, but there will be a few pictures of dad and the other pastors all dressed alike after the ordination was over.****

A nice reception with a roasted pig (hawaiian style) and cake followed. Here's just a good picture of Ruston that I had to post. :)
And also at the reception, Ruston's cousin, Thea, and my third cousin's daughter, Madison. (How many people know their third cousins?!)

Congratulations to my dad. Now he is working on his Master's through the Institute of Lutheran Theology. A bit backwards, but dad already knows soooo much about religion and theology. He's lucky to get to do it all online too. Oh the wonders of technology!!

Chic Chat and Chocolate!

Last night our church had a women's event for a few hours called Chic Chat and Chocolate!  They had a chocolate fountain, and about a million other desserts there... even a dessert contest.  I didn't win, but that's ok because I was hyped up on sugar, just like the other women there!  It was a good evening, and I met a lot of people, even though I know I won't remember all their names!!!  One cool thing... how many people know who Andy Griggs is?  He's a country singer... well, search him online if you don't know who he is.  But anyway, I met HIS WIFE last night!  She (and probably they when he's home) goes to our church!  She's one of the most hilarious women I have ever met, and she's a hairdresser, so I think I found my new hairdresser because I was just thinking the other day that I needed to get enough courage to find someone to do my hair.  I hate people touching my hair because I'm always afraid they will cut it wrong or mess it up real bad.  But anyway, that's a whole new topic!  Renee is great... and when I first met her, our conversation went something like this:

Renee:  How are you?  Have you been coming to this church very long?

Me:  I'm good.  I just started coming here about 3 weeks ago.  I just moved here from Washington.

Renee:  Washington STATE?!?!  (She was REALLY excited.)

Me:  Yep.

Renee:  I'M FROM WASHINGTON STATE!!!  I lived in Spokane... one of my kids was born in Walla Walla and one was born in Spokane!!

Me:  Oh really?  I grew up in Moses Lake!

Renee:  So what are you doing out here?

Me:  My husband brought me to Tennessee.

Renee:  Mine too.

That conversation was before I found out who her husband was... haha.  But it was exciting to meet someone that knew something about Washington, and even more exciting that her husband is pretty darn famous... but then again, we're in the Nashville area.  I think Gretchen Wilson (another country singer) lives a couple miles away from us... I know her house is somewhere here in Lebanon.  I'm just waiting to run into someone famous at Walmart... but I probably wouldn't even recognize them!

Here's a picture of Andy and Renee Griggs from some awards show... I found it online.  But she definitely wasn't wearing an evening gown last night... instead it was a Harley Davidson jacket and some jeans.