Immunization and Anemia

Wow! It just took me forever to do that last post. I still haven't figured all of this stuff out! This is my 3rd post. Gary did all of the others (it's pretty obvious by the number of words used).

We took Ethan to the doctor this week for an immunization and for the doctor to see if he still has anemia. The doctor wasn't able to find any blood vessels that were visible enough to take his blood. She tried in 3 different places before quitting. The poor little guy wasn't happy at all getting poked, prodded, and sqeezed. Course, the immunization shot was nothing to him after all of that. The doctor said that she will try to take his blood at his 4 month check-up. Hopefully his blood vessels will be more visible then (and he won't have anemia anymore).

We weighed him while we were there. He weighed 6.9 kg (15 pounds) wearing a diaper and onesie.

I like seeing pictures on here more than just words, so here's another pic of Ethan. I hate it when people just have pictures of their kids everywhere and not them too, so I don't plan for this blog to be that way. But, our intention in creating this blog was for our family and friends to see and hear more of the personal stuff and specifically with Ethan since we won't be talking about him through our entire prayer letters.

This picture was taken on May 8th, a week before he turned 3 months old.

Cultural Experience with Baptismal Service

Because our church here in Budapest meets in a college dormitory we have to go to actual churches for anyone to be baptized. Last Sunday was one of those times, and it was very interesting.

One of the guys who wanted to get baptized is Hungarian. He requested the pastor of our church to baptize him at the Baptist church where he grew up in Budapest. So, this guy and 6 others were baptized at this church last week. Several of the people who were baptized were students from our school.

We thought that we were just going to be using the church facility for the baptismal service. Even our pastor told some people that the whole thing should only take about 30 minutes. Well, we showed up, and the church was full, with lots of Hungarians. Our pastor shared from scripture and there was some singing, but their pastor also shared and had some of the teenagers come up front to sing some songs. Gary said that it was similar to some Czech churches, where it seems that they don't know how to end a church service (prayer, singing, prayer, hmmm.... which to end with??). After the service, the Hungarian church had refreshments waiting for everyone outside.

When one family, whose daughters were getting baptized, arrived early, the Hungarian pastor asked them if they wanted to go change into their white clothes. The guy who grew up in the church was wearing white pants and a white shirt. The other 6 people were wearing dark colors. As Americans, we normally wear dark colors to be baptized, so you can't see through the clothing after it gets wet. Evidentally it is a custom, at least at this church, to get baptized in white clothing.

I needed to change Ethan's diaper so asked one of the women where I could go. She told me just to use the chairs in the church. She walked me back in the church and put two chairs together facing each other. I just thought, "Ethan, please don't pee all over the church chairs and floor". The woman didn't speak any English, but stayed with me while I changed his diaper and just gooed and gawed over Ethan. After I changed his diaper, she asked if she could put his pants back on him. Then she asked if she could hold him and take him back outside. I agreed. When I went out, there was a circle of about 4 or 5 Hungarian women standing around Ethan. When I walked up to them, one was insistent that I eat and drink (I'm sure because I'm nursing... the Hungarians want to make sure nursing moms get enough to drink- which is a good thing). One asked me about Ethan not wearing socks (he was in short sleeves and pants). Most Hungarians have hats and socks on their babies even if it's in the 80's outside (which it was over 70 degrees on this particular day). I just tried to explain to the group of women that Hungarians have the babies wear socks and hats, but Americans don't normally do that when it's not cold. I've had many friends get a good scolding from Hungarian women (especially the older ones) for not having a hat on their baby. Gary and I have just been waiting for it to happen to us.

I put this picture in because this is probably something similar to what Ethan was wearing when the Hungarian women were concerned about him getting cold. Also, I should have some more pics of him on here. This BeBe Pod is something that my mom got for Ethan. This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago, just a few days before he turned 3 months old. He's actually almost too big for this thing now.

Surprise Baby Dedication

Gary and I arrived at church on Mother's Day. As we were about to sit down the pastor asked us if we wanted to dedicate Ethan since it was Mother's Day. We already had a dedication for Ethan planned in Boone when we will be there in November, so Gary asked Ronnie if it was fine to dedicate him more than once. Ronnie said that it was, so we decided to go ahead and dedicate him. Ronnie asked Gary to share a little, so Gary had a few minutes to decide what he wanted to say. We weren't sure at what point in the service the dedication would be, so Ethan was still asleep in his car seat when Ronnie got up front and asked us to come up. Thankfully, I had my camera in my pocketbook and was able to give it to a friend sitting in the front to take pictures. Sadly, since Ethan was just waking up and still moving his head all around in my shoulder, the picture is just of his back. Gary read the first two verses of Psalm 89, which was written by Ethan the Ezrahite. After church, when I told a few people that we hadn't planned on doing the dedication beforehand, they said that they would have not had any idea... so that was good. Those of you who know how I like to plan ahead for things would have been proud of me for being willing to do this on the spur of the moment (especially since Ethan was wearing a t-shirt and no shoes - he probably looked worse on that Sunday than any other Sunday that he's been in church). Of course, God doesn't care whether Ethan looked cute or not. I'm glad that we were able to dedicate him to the Lord here in Hungary as well as in the States.

After church we met our friend Heidi for lunch and then went to a nearby coffee house for hot chocolate.

At the Danube Church Retreat

After months of preparation on our part, the church retreat that we were in charge of finally took place on April 17-19. By all accounts it went well, for which we were grateful. The weekend was a good opportunity to meet new people and to develop friendships with those we already knew. Probably the biggest surprise was on Saturday afternoon, when some middle school students, at the prodding of an adult who shall remain nameless, decided to throw Gary into the swimming pool fully clothed. Unfortunately that moment was not caught on film. However, he ran after them and jumped into the heated pool where the other kids were gathered to watch. Gary also learned from this experience that mobile phones are not generally waterproof and that he should take his out of his pocket, if need be in midair while being tossed into the water.

Everybody at the retreat wanted to hold Ethan. He did great there, not phased at all by having so many people constantly around him. We think he is an extrovert, since he does so well around groups of people.

The shirt says it all.

Ethan's first hike

On Ethan's two-month birthday today, we went for a pediatric check-up. He now weighs 13 pounds and is doing well. Afterwards at lunchtime we went for a short hike in the Buda Hills near the doctor's office.








We hiked up to a shelter with a beautiful view of Budapest, including the Danube, its bridges, and the parliament building. Ethan took no notice.

Easter Sunday

We spent Easter Sunday afternoon at our team leaders' house with nine other guests. There was a family from Romania, another one that is half Romanian, and a lass from Scotland.

This spring in Hungary has been unusually warm and sunny. It was a beautiful day to be outdoors.

This is the first time we ever gave Ethan a bottle, at age 8 weeks.

He was probably thinking, "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy."

A candid shot - the other side of feeding.

First smile on camera

We wanted to send a photo to Lori, Gary's sister-in-law, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. So we wrote out this message, had Ethan "hold" it, and we started snapping pictures. Without any prompting from us he smiled briefly at one point. We had seen him smile a number of times, but this was the first time that we caught it on camera (age 6 weeks).

We would appreciate your prayers for Lori, who has a long road of treatment ahead of her, and for her husband Bret, Gary's brother, and their two children, Seth (15) and Kenna (11). The disease has spread to several bones and other locations in her body. They are experiencing the grace of the Lord through the help and presence of many around them at this time.