Baby # 2 is on the way

Just one week after Joni's first birthday, we confirmed that baby #2 is on the way!

Click on the small ultrasound photo to see a larger version.

Joni's baptism

I baptised Joni at home since we are currently members of a Baptist church, and Baptist churches will not baptise babies.

Baptists practice "believers' baptism" which means that they will not baptise babies because the baby is too young to understand enough to believe for themselves.

Most other Christians -- Anglicans, Methodists, Lutherans, Catholics, Orthodox, Reformed, Presbyterians, etc. -- baptise babies because babies born in Christian families are considered part of the Christian community, and also because we believe that baptism is a sacrament -- something holy which God does -- while Baptists believe that it is purely symbolic.

However, I consider this point (sacramental vs symbolic) a belief of secondary importance. This is why I am happy to be a member of a Baptist church in spite of my disagreement about this. I believe that our unity in Christ is more important than these secondary issues.

Please feel free to ask me if you are puzzled by this difference, or why I believe in the sacramental view.

Click on the photo above for the other photos of the event, as well as the liturgy I used for the baptism.

Joni's 1 year old!

Joni's grand day out

For a long time, Joni refused to sit in her pram, but recently, she started sitting in it again, so we took the opportunity on the Deepavali holiday to take her to Sunway Pyramid.



For the photos, see here.

Joni all dressed up for church

Wow, Joni looks so grown up dressed for church!

Click on the photo for the full album.

Joni as Little Red Riding Hood

Grand-Aunt Lee Lee made this little red riding hood for Joni's cousin Sophie, but Sophie is too big for it now, so it was passed to Joni.

Joni started walking last week, at almost 11 months.

Click on the photo to see the rest of the Little Red Riding Hood photos.

Merdeka!

It's baby Joni's first Merdeka! (Independence day in Malaysia is 31^st August)

We pray that by the time Joni is old enough to vote, Malaysia will have had many years of being a true democracy.

Here're some photos of us outside our house decorated with flags.