Back to Normal

Well, we welcomed Mommy and Charis back home on Friday afternoon so we're all back to normal now!

The kids made the banner above (except for the large letters, which I drew and they colored in). One of the surprises for me was finding one of Dietrich's messages:


I was struck by how true this was. In a very real way we are God's way of being in the world. As Christ was the image of the Father so we bear his image. So while there is, of course, a difference, Dietrich is right, "It's almost the first Christmas all over agin" - especially perhaps when her name is Charis.

Speaking of whom, here's another picture of her wrinkled little foot. :-)


Friday night, about an hour after Mommy and Charis came home, Dietrich and I headed out to Delano for the Delano Open. He won his bracket with a fall in the third period and a tough 6-3 victory in the final, so he qualified for the Northland Youth Wrestling Association's Lakeville Regional Meet in two weeks. The top three places will advance to state, but the competition will be very, very stiff. He finishes out his North Saint Paul Suburban League season this week with the final four dual meet Wednesday (Trinity is seeded first) and the individual tournament Saturday.

If it wouldn't have been for my neglecting to turn on the alarm clock (honest, it was neglect) Charis would have had her first day of church today. As is, she had her first People of Praise meeting (Campus Area) and her first trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, where we introduced her to Frank:

Nora took in a little abstract art:

We all looked for a while at Damien Hirst's The Death of St. John from his "Romance in the Age of Uncertainty" exhibition. Hirst is one of my favorite postmodern artists, and I'm interested in his turn towards the religious -- though it's a bit hard to make out what he's doing.
And then we took a couple of family poraits:


3 comments:

Lisa said...

Balsbaughs, I love reading your blog and seeing the great pictures that you take! I'm glad that I can see Charis even though I'm not in MN. God bless you all!

Mainely Me said...

What a wonderful "reaction" to a new baby in the family in a culture where children are not cherished for the gifts that they are. Dietrich, you said it better than I can. It's feeling a lot like Christmas for this Grammy, too. Thirteen (and counting)beautiful Works of Art straight from the hand of God! And that's on top of the four I received first hand. Rejoicing with you!

Justin said...

Hey I have a personal connection to over half this post! Whoa!

Jon it was great to see you and your family at the Campus Area meeting. We had a blast all weekend and that was like the grand finale, to experience an "up close and personal" area meeting. We also really enjoyed Frank @ the MIA too, he is very interesting to study up close.

Lastly, I completely forgot to mention to you, that I checked out "The Road" from the library, and finished it quickly - thanks much for the recommendation, I will be watching for more!