Immersed

Romans 6:4
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.


Hebrews 10:22
Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

I was "sprinkled" in baptism in June, 2000, when I was pregnant with Mykah.  Fast forward to 2005- when Joe and I realized we wanted to be together forever, we began attending church at First Baptist in Pocatello (Idaho, for my out of state friends).  I never thought about the technicalities of my baptism until Joe got baptized at FBC on Father's Day of 2005, a month before we got married.  I didn't understand why Joe was baptized by immersion, while I was sprinkled, so I asked our pastor.  He explained this varies from church to church and they believed immersion is the way for them.  When I asked how my prior baptism ranked, he indicated that it was a personal choice, that if I felt my baptism was for the correct reason, I was good.   I had accepted Christ as my Savior prior to my sprinkling, but that didn't stop me from wondering every time someone else was baptized, or there was a sermon that mentioned "baptism by immersion."  I just didn't feel peaceful when the subject came up.

As you may know, Joe and I were blessed enough to find a church that we were comfortable with immediately after moving to Tiffin a year ago.  Because of the life we were living through Joe's career, we didn't bother joining the church, although we attend every week and have grown to love it.  Before January, it seemed like a lot of good-byes and another way our hearts would break if (when) we had to move again.  As God guided our journey, we discovered that we were not going to have to leave Tiffin.  My selfless husband gave up the career he loved and sacrificed so much for over the last 15 years for stability for our family.  So here we are!

It seems like our church family knew our hesitation, as well.  When we spread the news that we were staying in Tiffin indefinitely, our minister approached us about a class for new members.  In this class, baptism was addressed.  When I told our minister that I was sprinkled, not immersed, he told me he could fix that in about 5 minutes!  I cried.  Poor Joe thought I was upset.  It was just the opposite, however. 

As I reflected to my prior baptism, I thought of the incredibly hard journey I have taken over the last 10 years.  As the tears were streaming down my face, and the others in class had to be wondering why I was crying, I was thinking, "I get to start fresh."  How many people are so blessed that they get to experience two rebirths?! 

So, on March 27th, I was baptized by immersion by my husband, while our minister officiated.  Mykah and Max got to watch with the rest of our church family and although I HATE being in front of people, I was overcome with gratitude for my new beginning.

I literally felt relief wash over my body through the water, and I felt the strength of my husband's love through his strong and capable hands.  Most importantly, I felt the love of my Savior and the freedom that comes with letting go of all the troubles, failures, and regrets of my past.  This made me think of how many opportunities my family has had over the last year to experience different kinds of immersion...

We immersed ourselves in this community from the very beginning, but now that others know how much we love it and that my husband was willing to change his beloved career so we could stay, we have been immersed even more by friendship and acceptance and it feels wonderful!  In fact, we are now official members of Christ's Church at Tiffin!

We immersed ourselves into a new life, one that included actual simultaneous co-parenting.  My fellow coaching wives know what I mean by this.  Coaching wives establish routines for ourselves and our children to accomodate football season, recruiting season, long hours, and no days off.  As mothers, we get used to doing the majority of the parenting solo.  All of the sudden, Joe was home.  We had to get to know each other on different levels, and begin new routines, so we immersed ourselves into family time so we could get to know each other in a whole new sense. 

We immersed ourselves in trying to increase our family's activities together.  Joe was asked to teach a fitness class for kids at the YMCA that our family loves, and now has the highest kid's class enrollment they've ever had.  He's such a big kid anyway that the kids love him!  Mykah takes the class, and recently, Max started going, too.  Some of the games are over his head, but he has 45 minutes of running around like a wild man and he loves it!  Not to mention that he sleeps like a baby on Monday and Wednesday nights ;)  I still love my pilates/yoga class while they are in their class, and Joe & I recently added a circuit training class on Tuesday/Thursday that seriously kicks our butts and we LOVE it!  Mykah has incredible passion for soccer, so her games and practices keep her busy, but active.

Joe & I are immersed in school.  We are both doing well, but the combination of all this has affected our communication with the "outside" world!  Obviously, my blog has suffered from my lack of time, and my phone calls and emails have become almost non-existant.  But we know that we are where we are supposed to be.   Regardless of the decrease in the time we get to spend outside of our immediate family, we have increased the time spent doing the most important things in our lives- dedicating time to each other and God.

Just as I loved being immersed in the baptismal waters, I have loved being immersed in my family.  Despite immersion into total life change, we are immersed in blessings and love.

Update: As of May 16th, Joe began transitioning from the Admissions Office at TU to the Registrar's Office. He works 1/2 day in each until he can be replaced in Admissions. The details are still rough, but we'll let you know them as we find out. Here are the very latest pix (from Mykah's last soccer game today and one of Joe & I from date night about a month ago) My time is so sporatic that it has taken me 11 days to finish this one entry from when I started it! Very sad! I'll make up for it in a year when I have my degree :)

At least you can see how big the kiddos are!!

This picture made me laugh out loud despite the consequence...Josh & I were doing just fine on the slide by ourselves, but Max was feeling left out. Look at the delight on Max's face after he wedged himself between us and twisted Joshie Bear around! Poor Josh smacked his face on the slide on the way down, got a bloody nose, and he's such a little peanut that he wedged himself sideways in the slide! There was blood everywhere!!