{"id":65,"date":"2007-01-08T01:15:44","date_gmt":"2007-01-08T05:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/derekandevonne.com\/?p=65"},"modified":"2007-01-08T01:15:44","modified_gmt":"2007-01-08T05:15:44","slug":"erica-and-evonnes-baptism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/derekandevonne.com\/?p=65","title":{"rendered":"Erica and Evonne's Baptism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"yahoo!!<\/a><\/p>\n

Today, my wife and baby were baptized; and for me, my past met my future…<\/p>\n

This morning we got up, dressed baby in her baptism dress, packed her up in the car, picked up Grandpa, and went to Chown United for the 11:30 service.<\/p>\n

Some of my earliest memories are of Chinese United.\u00a0 My Grandparents have been going there since the 60’s.\u00a0 My parents, Uncle Ron\/Aunt Joanne, and Uncle Albert\/Aunt\u00a0May were married there.\u00a0 I\u00a0was the ring bearer for Uncle Albert’s wedding, and all I can remember is being directed down the aisle with an older girl who knew what she was doing, and looking at a packed church.\u00a0\u00a0I\u00a0freaked.\u00a0 Thankfully my Uncle Foo grabbed me and kinda directed me to where I should be standing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vennie and I, and\u00a0most of my cousins were baptized at CUC.<\/p>\n

Years later when I moved back to Vancouver from\u00a0Calgary, I attended fellowship, met a lot of great\u00a0families and friends, and was confirmed\u00a0at 19.\u00a0\u00a0I left\u00a0CUC and went to Burnaby Alliance a few years later.\u00a0 As\u00a0it was there I met Evonne, I’m guessing it was the right move.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Now that I think\u00a0about it,\u00a0the church\u00a0actually has been an important part of our lives.\u00a0 Reverend Kao married Evonne and I in 2002, and now he is about to baptize Evonne and our daughter into the Church.<\/p>\n

When we arrived, we had some drama over the parking arrangements.\u00a0 The entire area is a bit chaotic due to the RAV line construction.<\/p>\n

We were a bit early, so we made our way downstairs to have a seat.\u00a0 The 11:30 service is all in Chinese, and most of the attendees are those in my Grandparent’s generation.\u00a0 A lady came up to us, and she said to me: “I delivered you!”\u00a0 Although it’s been many, many years, I immediately recognized Dr. Madeline Chung, and yes, she did deliver me way back when.\u00a0 It’s not often you get to meet the doctor who helped bring you into the world!<\/p>\n

She is now one of the elders, and helps Rev Kao with the service.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As 11:30 approached, more familiar faces- Mr. and Mrs. Ng; Mr. Steven Ho- my Grandfathers long time friend; Mr. and Mrs. Seto; Auntie Garbo; Mr. Henry Ho…<\/p>\n

It’s been years, but I remember each of them from when I was growing up.\u00a0 I know their kids as well, but they attend the earlier service in English.<\/p>\n

Erica was on her best behaviour- ever alert and ready with a smile or gurgle.\u00a0 We weren’t sure what to expect from her during service, but she’s handled busy public events before.<\/p>\n

Back in the 90’s when E and I went to service, we sat in the back, but because we had e, we were asked to sit right at the front.\u00a0 I had my camera all charged up and ready to go when I was instructed to go up with E and e… meaning I had to let Uncle Ron do the photography.\u00a0 Believe me, I had to really look for the best shots.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42\u00a0<\/p>\n

After years of not attending, it wasn’t a strange feeling to follow the service rituals- we found the right hymns to sing and\u00a0the proper passage to read.\u00a0 Everytime I attend an all Chinese service, I do struggle with comprehension because they use the really big words.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Erica really was on best behaviour- a few gurgles and shrieks when the Choir was singing, and during the baptism she just looked at us and Rev. Kao.\u00a0 She took and nearly finished her bottle during the sermon.<\/p>\n

Why did I\u00a0ask to\u00a0have\u00a0Erica and Evonne baptized?\u00a0 Well faith is the first reason, but also continuity.\u00a0 It was nice to come back years after, and still see the\u00a0family friends.\u00a0 Everyone is getting older of course, but that’s all a part of life.\u00a0 During the service, Dr. Chung made the announcements, and said some nice words about\u00a0Grandpa- that he was a longtime member, and how this was a\u00a0joyous occasion because his Granddaughter-in-law and\u00a0Great-Granddaughter were baptized today… and mentioned how she delivered his Grandson- 30 something years ago.\u00a0 She got some polite applause for this comment.<\/p>\n

She then spoke in remembrance about my Grandmother-\u00a0about how she was a long time, active member of the\u00a0Church who helped in many events.\u00a0\u00a0We were genuinely touched by this.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Erica's<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Rev<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"Dr.<\/a><\/p>\n

So why did I ask to have Erica and Evonne baptized?\u00a0 For me, I was baptized as an infant, and although I spent years away from the Church,\u00a0here I am many years later, bringing my daughter and wife back to the Church to be baptized.<\/p>\n

For Erica, her whole life is ahead of her.\u00a0 We’ll encourage her to keep an open mind and encourage her to find her own path through life… but that she will always have the\u00a0Church, and Faith, and\u00a0friends\/family who will always accept and support her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, my wife and baby were baptized; and for me, my past met my future… This morning we got up, dressed baby in her baptism dress, packed her up in the car, picked up Grandpa, and went to Chown United for the 11:30 service. Some of my earliest memories are of Chinese United.\u00a0 My Grandparents […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekandevonne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekandevonne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekandevonne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekandevonne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekandevonne.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/derekandevonne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekandevonne.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekandevonne.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekandevonne.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}