One day, our dear boy Joshua plucked the grapes out of our basket of fake fruit on the kitchen table and said, "I want to send these to Uncle James (Karl's brother).  Let's go talk to him on the computer".  Because of the time difference between Thailand and the United States, that just wasn't going to happen (at least not if we wanted Uncle James to be happy about it).  So, I offered Joshua the opportunity to send a video message to instead.  Uncle James, these grapes are for you:

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Our son Joshua emphatically refuses to go to a real barber shop with Daddy to get his haircut.  He insists that Mommy cut his hair in the "home barber shop", which is his room (minus his crib). During his most recent haircut, Daddy got videotaped an interview with the haircut-ee.  See below for the results:

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This past month, we had the joy of having Caitlin baptized, welcoming her into the covenant community of the Christian church.  Baby Molly, the daughter of our friends Chris and Paige was baptized at the same time.  A fellow missionary videotaped the event and I include it below.  The video is all in Thai and I am afraid that I haven't had time to add English subtitles.

Pastor Natee, who did the baptism, had some really helpful comments about the nature of baptism that got me thinking.  First, people are baptized not because of what they have done but in recognition of what God has done.  Therefore, in the case of people who come to Christ and are baptized as adults, they are baptized in recognition of God's work in their life, regenerating their heart and granting them faith and repentance.  They are baptized because it is evident that God has chosen to bring them into the fold of the Christian church.  Baptism welcomes them into the visible church because God has already brought them into the invisible church. 

Mommy made his blanket into a cape.  Daddy took some paper from the printer and made a crown.  But it is King Joshua himself who thought to ride his trusty green buffalo to go fight.  Of course by the time we got out the video camera and started rolling, he needed a bit of encouragement to keep on riding.  The green buffalo has turned out to be one of the best ten dollar investment I have ever made.

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We've been working on getting Joshua to memorize some Bible verses and catechism questions.  He is doing a decent job so far, even if he doesn't get it right all the time.  Actually, it takes quite a bit of work to get him to memorize them.  Not that he has a bad memory, but he is not always willing.  However, one day he picked up the little New Testament that was given him the last time we were in the States and did a Scripture "reading".  Multiple times over.  Amazingly, he was still doing it by the time I got the video camera out.  

Two small comments before you watch the video: 1) that is baby Caitlin crying in the background and yes, she is okay (Mommy is with her), and 2) Joshua's emphasis upon certain parts of John 3:16 is entirely of his own doing.  He was not coached to do that.  Might we have an aspiring preacher on our hands?

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Our our recent vacation, Karl & Joshua went to a nearby science park where they had a fun dinosaur garden for the kids.  I don't know if they were supposed to be ridden but we did.  Here's some pictures.