This past June, Shannon gave birth to our second boy…Mason Lee David Qualls.  While Mars Hill Church doesn’t believe in Infant Baptism, we do have baby dedications.  This Sunday (Christmas), our church will be having baby dedications.  If you aren’t familiar with baby dedications, this is where the parents present the child to the church, the church and the parents promise to raise the child to know about Jesus, and they pray for the child and family.

There isn’t anything magical about a baby dedication. It doesn’t make the child a Christian (only Jesus can do that).  It’s actually more for the parents and the church.  This isn’t to try to secure the child a place in heaven, but it’s to set in the heart of the parents and church how the child should be raised. If it doesn’t save the child, why should you do a  baby dedication?

Well here are the three reasons, Shannon and I are doing it.

1. It’s Biblical

You see in the Old Testament that God gave Abraham a sign to show that he and his family were dedicated to the Lord (circumcision).  As we entered the new covenant, we see that this particular symbol was done away with as the sign. Baptism replaced it as the sign of someone that has believed in Jesus for their salvation.  While some would now say that we should now baptize infants because of this, I don’t see enough in scripture to support baptizing children (another topic for another time).  I see baptism consistently happening when someone comes to a personal faith in Jesus.

What I do see constantly in scripture though is parents being dedicated to raising their children to know Jesus.

• Deuteronomy 6
• Proverbs 22:6
• Luke 2:22-24

2. It’s Counter-Cultural

Where I live in Albuquerque, NM, it seems like you generally have three options when it comes to the subject of dedicating your child –   Abandonment, Religion, or Spirituality.  The majority of kids in Albuquerque will grow up without a dad in their house.  They will never know what it means to have the daily influence of a man in their lives.  They will grow up having daddy issues that only Jesus can save them from.  By the grace of God, my boys will not have to experience that.

To say that Albuquerque is steeped in Catholic tradition would be an understatement.  While I believe there are a lot of Catholics that love Jesus and I’ll be hanging out in heaven with, there are a lot of Catholics in this area that feel they have get in to heaven free ticket.  They will site that they were baptized as an infant and took their first holy communion at such and such an age.  There faith is based in a ceremony and not in Jesus.

If you’re not abandoned or religious in ABQ, then you’re left to be raised in some vague spiritual system.  Children are raised with a mix of various religious, spiritual, and demonic rituals.  This leaves the child finding their righteousness in anything and everything…other than Jesus.

I want Mason’s dedication to be a counter-cultural witness to the saving grace of Jesus alone.  We are dedicated to Jesus alone, and we dedicate Mason to Jesus alone.  By the grace of God, we are raising him to trust in Jesus and not religion or spirituality.

3. It’s Familial

Shannon and I want to build a legacy.  We want the name Qualls to decrease and the name of Jesus to always increase. When I hear the name Graham, Wesley, Spurgeon, and Edwards, I think of Jesus.  I want the name of Qualls to be synonymous with Jesus.  The sad thing is that it only takes one generation for this to stop.  Therefore, it is my hope that some day I will get to be at the baby dedications of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  But it must start with me.  So this Sunday I am pumped that we get to dedicate Mason Lee David Qualls to Jesus. Come join us if you are in town.

Had a great time in the park tonight with Asa. The boy is fearless. He was climbing thing the 4-year-olds were scared of. We better buy some more health insurance.

Haven’t shared anything about Asa in awhile.  So I thought I would put up a quick video.  The boy is talking and being his typical awesome self.  I love how he says “cow.”  It’s like he’s from Boston.  Enjoy.

I can’t believe that it was only a year ago that we got in a car wreck, went in and out of labor for 30 hours, found out Asa was breach, and had an emergency C-section.  Now our little bundle of joy isn’t so little anymore.  He was born 6 lbs 11oz and now weighs over 22 lbs, and you can ask anyone that has held him that he is pure muscle.  The only thing squishy about the boy is his poop.

He can crawl. He can pull himself up.  He can walk while holding on to things. He will eat ANYTHING you put in front of him.  He smiles anytime you point a camera at him.  He can do sit ups. He babbles all day long.  He is always smiling (even when he cries…it’s weird).  He is a sharp dresser.  He speaks three languages.  He paints and I’m pretty sure he knows how to do long division.

He is a blessing from God and Shannon and I thank Jesus every day for the gift that we have gotten in Asa.  Happy Birthday Asa!

Here are some posts from the past that I would recommend checking out if you want to be nostalgic. 

• Video from Asa’s Birthday 
• Air Bag + Face = Pain
• Asa in the Morning
• Asa in His Bumbo for the First Time
• Asa is Crawling!!!!

Also feel free to leave a comment below to share your birthday wishes for the boy.

He is a total rock star!

Asa turned three months old this last thursday.  The boy is really starting to grow fast.  He has already doubled his birth weight and is over 12 lbs.  All his clothes were starting to get tight on him.  So, we had to pull out all of his 3-6 month clothes that we had stored for just this day.

I can’t remember if we bought this Rock Star outfit for him or not, but we just had to share the picture with everyone.

He is really starting to show his personality.  He is a morning person (unfortunatly for mom and dad).  Afte we feed him in the morning he loves to smile and play.  Most morning he actually greats me with a smile as I come into his nursery.  Oh and he is sleeping through the night now.  Every now and then we’ll have to change his diaper at 4 am, but that’s about it.

Asa practicing for his graduation pictures.

He isn’t enjoying tummy time to much, but we keep working with him.  He does love his Bumbo though.  For those of you that don’t know a Bumbo is a special chair that lets pre-sitters be able to sit up.  He’ll sit in his for hours if you let him.

He is also starting to eat a lot more.  The boy puts down 6 oz easily every feeding.  Mom and Dad didn’t realize if for about a week, but he was really fussy because we hadn’t been feeding him enough (you couldn’t tell from all the baby chub he has).  But we uped his formula and the boy is happy now.

Well that is just about it for now.  We’ll try to keep this site updated as much as possible.  Hope you enjoy.

Or about the baby’s sex.

So we ended up getting in on Saturday to have Shannon’s ultrasound instead of waiting until the 25th. Shannon and I were so excited because we knew that the baby was now big enough to find out the sex (see my previous baby post to find out my feelings about waiting to find out). So we got up early on Saturday and went to Shannon’s appointment.

The whole morning I was anxious knowing that I was about to find out the big news. The lady that did the procedure was really nice (you got to think that is pretty fun part of her job…getting to tell people what they are going to have). The baby on the other hand wasn’t being very cooperative. They kept moving around and had their legs crossed almost the whole time. The lady doing the procedure was having to do some ultrasound gymnastics just to get the pictures that she needed.

She didn’t get a really clear view, but with the shots that she did get, she was 75% sure that we are having a bouncing baby boy (emphasize the bouncing part…that kid was really moving around a lot). There is a small chance that it could end up being a girl…but I saw something purturding in the pictures that she took. We are both excited and really surprised. Shannon was really set on the fact that she thought we were having a girl. I think she is a little depressed, but we will love him just the same. And there is always a chance for more.

We have already picked out the name at the moment and we are calling him Asa Jackson Qualls. Asa is one of my favorite Bible people, and Shannon really liked the name Jackson to go with it. Things are really starting to sink in now. The nicest thing is that we can stop saying “him or her.” It’s going to be nice to just say “him” from here on out.

Today Shannon and I went to the doctor to have Shannon’s check up for the month of January. Before I tell you about the appointment, I must say that I love our Nurses Midwife. She has this quirky Doogie Howser feel about her. You can also tell that she really loves what she does. I just love people who are passionate about what they do (she seems as excited about finding out the baby’s gender as we are). She is also so nice about listening to all of Shannon’s and my questions and answering them. She’s just top notch.Now back to the baby. Shannon is currently in her 19th week. The baby is doing fine and growing at a normal rate. We got to hear his or her heart beat and it’s beating strong. We have an appointment to get an ultrasound on the 25th (we’re trying to get it scheduled earlier). We should be able to find out the baby’s gender at this time.Don’t give me the whole “Don’t you want to be surprised?!” bit. Here’s the deal. We don’t know what the baby is right now. So at any point that we find out the gender of the baby next week or in June, it will then be a surprise.Incase you are wondering, Shannon really thinks that it is a girl. We’ve kinda got our hearts set on it being a girl now because of that. But if we have a boy, I think we’ll be just as happy. As long as it’s not a donkey, I’m ok.

We’re having a baby!!!! Let me answer all the basic questions first:

Due Date: June 6th 2008
Shannon is at 8 weeks
Yes it was planned
Yes we are excited
If it’s a girl we are calling her Addison
If it’s a boy we are calling him Asa
Shannon is having morning sickness, but she is doing fine
Shannon isn’t having really any cravings. She just has some foods she doesn’t like.
We’ve known for a few weeks now, but wanted to tell everyone after we had our first Dr. visit.

We went and had the ultrasound today and it was really cool. I think today was one of the first times that it sunk in. It still hasn’t completely sunk in yet. But I’m pretty sure it will once I’m changing diapers. The best part was getting to see his/her heart beat (we’re to early in pregnancy to hear it). The baby is 1.6 cm long and basically a little blob at this point. But it’s still pretty cool. I’m going to have to clean some crap out of my wallet now so I can fit baby pictures in the there…or I could just put it on my iPhone. I think I’ll go with the latter (I wonder if Apple make baby toys…if not they need to).