Newman's Castle & Baptism Revisited

This week we went on a field trip with our CC group to a castle, Newman's Castle.  This man, Mr. Newman, actually built a castle in the middle of the country.  By day he ran his bakery in town, by evenings he built a castle with a friend.  This man allowed our group of 100 to just roam around the whole thing.  Children were running with wooden swords everywhere (provided by Mr. Newman, of course).  He literally lives there, so we were walking through his personal kitchen, bedroom, study, just about every inch of his house.  He didn't mind it at all.  Although it probably doesn't need to be said for a man who lives in a castle that he built with his own hands, but Mr. Newman was not a married man.

The Castle

Since he did own the bakery in town, he provided sandwiches on fresh baked bread for lunch as well as a never-ending supply of freshly baked doughnuts and cookies.  It was so good, I even ate my sandwich with condiments on it.


Josiah made himself scarce for most of the time we were there.  I think he wanted to run with the big boys and we were always trying to figure out where he was.  Henry spent his time between keeping up with Josiah and hanging out with the rest of us.  Caroline and I walked up 4 flights of stairs to the bell tower many times.  By the next day my forearms were quite sore (climbing ladders) and Josiah said his shoulder was sore, probably from wielding a somewhat heavy wooden sword for the better part of 3 hours.

The Bell Tower that we climbed up....a lot!

Caroline hit the tree trunk with her sword.

Josiah and Mr. Newman had something in common - no taste for the ol' ball & chain.

Caroline had no fear of climbing up high things.  She loved being on the giant wheel that opened and closed the drawbridge.  It took a very large man a lot of effort to do it, so there was no issue of her moving anything while up there.

We spent about three hours at the castle, but had to leave to get to karate on time.  By the end of the day, the kids were exhausted.  When we got back to our car after finishing up WAM that evening, Caroline just had a total meltdown because I did not have her water bottle in the car.  It wasn't just, "Gee, I could really use my water bottle at this moment."  It was, "I'm going to scream bloody murder for the whole 20 minute drive home because I'm so tired I don't know what else to do but scream really, really loudly."

This weekend we tried out a new restaurant and after we finished, Henry told me that he really liked it because it was fancy and he liked fancy things.  The restaurant, a Tex-Mex establishment, had hubcaps all over the ceiling in one room, the room we were in had six floor-to-ceiling plastic palm trees, and there was Elvis stuff everywhere.  But it was fancy for a five-year-old.  And what did our boys order in a Tex-Mex restaurant?  Cheeseburgers and fries.  They did look good, though.  Henry asked if we could go back the next day because he wanted to have a fancy meal again.

For church this morning, the boys wanted to dress alike.  They deemed it "red day" and they made up their own pose to go with it.  I've been told tomorrow is "green day" and then "blue day" after that.  I don't know if each day gets its own pose, though.

Caroline wasn't to be outdone by the boys and wanted her picture taken.  Notice the sweater!  We have finally had two cool days.  It is glorious to feel cool air.

But, one of the best parts of the week was that we got Josiah's baptism pictures from the church.  So, here's more of the story of that day:

The morning of Josiah's baptism, I woke up at 5:00 a.m. because that's what I do on big important days.  It was thundering and lightning pretty bad out, which may not be a huge concern except that our church's baptismal is outside.  When 9:30 a.m. rolled around, it was sunny, hot, and about 90% humidity.  One of the pastors said they didn't have to warm the baptismal waters that day (hardy har har) and Todd mentioned how warm the water was.  That would be Texas.  I'm guessing they only have to heat that water maybe one month out of the year here.

Todd got to baptize Josiah.  He said, "Josiah, Do you believe and confess that Christ died for your sins and rose on the third day according to the Scriptures?"  Josiah emphatically said, "Yes, sir, I do Daddy."  (which elicited a laugh from the folks in the sanctuary, which we heard for the first time on the DVD.) Then Todd dunked him.

We do baptism this way because the word baptize literally means, "to immerse."  So, that's why his body is fully immersed.  Also, in the Bible, baptism is always done after a confession of faith.  That's why Baptists don't baptize babies because they cannot confess faith in anything.  The baptism is just an outward sign that you are telling others you believe in Jesus.  Just the same as a wedding band is a sign of marriage.  The pastor told the kids this before they were baptized.  He took off his wedding band and asked the kids if he was still married with it off.  All the kids said, "Yes," except Josiah.  He shook his head, "No."  Basically, we wear the ring as a sign we are married, but it doesn't have any magical powers.  Just like baptism.  It's a sign that we're a believer, but there's nothing magical about getting baptized.  But it is an event to be shared and excited about (much like a wedding ceremony to most).

That evening of Josiah's baptism, Henry called me into the bathroom because he had something to show me.  Once in the bathroom, he proceeded to baptize himself in the water.  I guess he was inspired.

Romans 6:4 "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."