Today marked our return to church following Calvin's birth, which means it also marked Calvin's first day at church. We were very excited about introducing our son to our church family - all throughout Cortney's pregnancy the different arms of the church were arguing about who held more claim to the Ophoff baby - the office staff? The deacons? The choir? To us they are all one big family, and today Calvin got to meet many of them. It was a successful return, too. While Jon played for the 8:00 service, Cortney and Calvin parked themselves in the lobby area and got to greet a lot of choir members and ministers as they came in the door. During the 9:30 service we sat in the very back, which made it easy to step outside to feed the little guy when he got hungry and then back in again when we were done. And Calvin was a big hit during coffee hour, too. In fact, it just so happened that today was Calvin's introduction day, so he was announced in the bulletin and greeted by a red rosebud on the organ as well.
Today was also a return on two family fronts. On Calvin's maternal side because we stopped at Cortney's parents for what used to be a regular post-church brunch of scrambled eggs with hash browns and salami, toast with jam, and good coffee. This was something we haven't done in a while, and something Calvin, of course, had never done, so it was also a wonderful return. It was also a day of returns on Calvin's paternal side because Jon's parents had just returned from a trip to The Netherlands and got the chance to see Calvin for the first time since they visited him in the hospital. So Calvin got to hear all about this other country and even got to see his aunt again while we were there for dinner. Yes, it was definitely a day of returns for us and firsts again for Calvin.