Soren and Mommy

After perusing my little blog here yesterday, Amy mentioned that people probably think she has somehow dropped out of the picture (pun intended) since all the pictures on this thing are of Soren and me. So, I decided to be kind and post a picture of Amy and Soren.

Spiritual Disciplines for Infants?

Who says babies can't be spiritually disciplined? My boy says otherwise. Look very closely, and you'll see that he is doing his best to fold his hands in prayer. This means that not only is Soren a genius (cf. earlier post "My boy's a thinker"), but he also has already begun to practice prayer. Seriously, this kid could raise himself if it weren't for those freakin' diapers.

An Appeal to Youth Pastors

Really this appeal is to anyone who cares to listen: please stop using missional to describe your youth ministry, to describe your programs, your "ministry opportunities" and anything other strategic facet of your church. The danger of this term is that it has become so popular now that too many different styles of churches are using it to describe anything and everything such that it has become almost meaningless (similar to the word evangelical). The reality of this word, theologically anyway, is that it foremost refers to the church insofar as the church exists to bear witness to Jesus Christ. Sent as such, mission is the very life-blood of the church, so that Bosch calls the church "missionary by its very nature." I have been refining some things in my thesis and realized that there are number of youth pastors and youth ministry "gurus" who like to use this term to basically mean programs for evangelism or outreach. Please, feel free to talk about what youth ministry looks like in the missional church. Feel free to explore what this means for evangelism and outreach. But, please, dear God, quit talking about your specific ministry as if it is missional simply because it has a stated mission that includes outreach. Your ministry can't be missional, but it certainly can participate in the life of the community that exists in mission.

Daddy's Boy

We discovered that Soren loves laying down with his Daddy. This is good news, since Amy does all the feeding, and gets the closeness associated with that. I'm sure Soren would love laying with her too, but for now, I'm taking this as our little thing. Here's the pictures.

Here's one other picture I really liked. Sorry about the alignment. I couldn't figure out how to rotate it once I placed it.

Tuesday Morning Pictures

Soren's doing great. Here's some more pictures.

My boy's a thinker

I realize I've posted quite a few pictures of Soren already, but this one is too good. Notice that sticking out of the blanket is his right hand. Now notice as well that he seems to have his little pinky positioned perfectly as if deep in thought. I wonder what conundrum he is solving in his head. Perhaps its the problem of evil. Perhaps its the mystery of the Incarnation. Perhaps its why the heck this guy keeps taking pictures of me when I'm just trying to sleep. Whatever it is, I'm convinced he's the next great mind of this country.

Monday Morning Pictures of Soren

Soren Eris Leafblad

Here's a picture of the new Leafblad family...

And here's Mom and Soren...

And here's Dad and Soren...

And here's Eris (Soren's middle namesake) and Soren...

And here's Soren!!

The Hospital

I once was afraid of the hospital. Probably from a couple of surgeries when I was young, coupled with frequent visits to the nursing home to visit my grandpa. The sterility and aroma always seemed like a failed attempt to mask what really went on in some of the rooms. I always felt eerily close to death, as if it lurked around every corner. Yet today as I entered the Princeton Regional Medical Center (arguably the most posh hospital I've ever been to), something completely different overwhelmed me. I was walking into the hospital that would be the stage for my son's entrance into our world. I noticed something different. The ambience was lighter, brighter, evoking a feeling of newness of life. All of this to say, Amy and I are at the hospital now, awaiting the arrival of Soren. I'll update again when he's finally here.