ezekiel's baptism

 a few weeks ago ezekiel was baptized by our good friend and pastor mike vk.  subscribing, as we do, to a variant of covenant theology, baptism is a poignant symbol of ezekiel's entrance into a community of faith.  nobody handed me a mic at this baptism (maybe kylie paid someone) so i wasn't able to expound on the benefits of community or advertise pigbbq.ca this time around, (or joke that ezekiel had received his ticket to heaven - the prime reason for kylie's marc/mic phobia) but looking out at all our gathered family and friends reminded me how lucky we are to have such a kind, loving and generous community to assist in raising our wonderful sons.

 and that community showed up!  in addition to our church family, shareen, craig and maggie came from victoria, and mom and dad and julie, lowell and fraser flew out from high rollin' alberta.  friends and family from around the valley made the trip as well, to either the service, the party or both.

ty already knows what it's like to be blessed.

 after church we prepared to party!  lowell and dad helped me set up my impromptu deck roof as the forecast was for rain.  shareen made 6 pitchers of deliciously fruity sangria and my mom, julie and our cousin janina were on food prep.

as mentioned above, community is mucho importante to our family, and having such a wonderful group of friends and relatives at our home to celebrate ezekiel and commit to a life of free babysitting and unconditional love was wonderful to behold.

speaking of wonderful to behold, the food was amazing!  our good friend chad is a pig farmer and has a sideline renting and advising whole hog bbqs.  being good friends, we got the VIP treatment, with chad personally roasting and carving the pig, keeping up a running banter on the juiciest cuts and crunchiest tasty bits, while simultaneously dodging the periodic beer showers that resulted from our motorhome's fridge being just a tad too cold.

of course, a party isnt a party without a bouncy castle!  its a good thing there were so many kids around, b/c they had to gang up on the adults and force them out of the castle so they could play.

 lovin the midair query.

as mentioned above, the forecast was for rain, but the blue sky showed itself and our various contingency plans were for the most part unnecessary.  kylie and i did however enjoy our redneck renos for the next rainy week.

 we had groups of people eating, drinking and socializing in various nooks throughout our property.

 it was a real pleasure to witness friends from different circles meet, get to know each other and have fun.  being my mother's son, this has always been a major goal at my parties.  nothing brings people together better than tasty food, sangria, strong beer and...

... a shared purpose!  to mix things up at the end of the day we organized a competition using styrofoam gliders from walmart.  aircraft kits and jiffy markers were distributed to team captains, who were then in charge of assembling, decorating and piloting their gliders between the treacherous trees and out into the open sky beyond the immediate horizon.

 

in the beginning there were many inopportune landings and much gnashing of teeth.  some wondered aloud whether the allotted task was too difficult for untrained amateurs, regardless of their innate talent and western canadian grit.

 soon however, the pilots got the hang of the local convection currents and began to draw a crowd.

in the end, every team succeeded in launching their glider over the horizon.  every crash, every updraft and every loop was accompanied by cacophony of cheers and whoops.  kids were running up and down the street chasing and retrieving errant planes.  guests attempting an early egress were suckered back in by the spectacle.  a rousing end to a fantastic party.

welcome, ezekiel thomas, to your community.  you are more blessed than you will realize until you are 28 (or a particularly introspective 18... here's hoping!)