Living Plan B: Magnus's Welcoming Ceremony

Matt here.

Earlier this summer (it is still summer!), Ross (Karen's dad) hosted her and my family on his farm for Magnus's Welcoming Ceremony. Not sure what a "Welcoming Ceremony" is? Well, neither did we, really, but we knew that we wanted to get both families together to meet and officially welcome Magnus to the clans. As I said to the audience at the farm, "For everyone but Magnus, there are two families here today. For Magnus, there is only one: his."

In the Raz clan, typically both families of the newborn get together at a baptism. In our case, we wanted to keep organized religion out of the picture at this point. Just in case you haven't been keeping up with the news over the past, oh, I don't know, 2000 years, organized religion has been tied to some pretty nasty events.

Still, besides getting the two families together to meet, we did want Magnus to get started on his spiritual journey. We asked our friend, Brent, to be his godfather and each grandparent to pass on their wishes to Magnus in terms of his spiritual life. I think that my father summarized the theme of the event well when he said to Magnus, "Do not confuse religion with spirituality".

Magnus with his folks and the Godfather

With the quasi-formal stuff out of the way, we spent the rest of the afternoon eating, playing, relaxing, and riding on large vehicles.

I pity that soccer ball

Hanging with the boys at the BBQ

Everyone enjoying the feast

No shame: it's my party

Ross was kind enough to take the kids on both a hay ride and a ride on his float that is used in summer parades around Elgin. After the ride on the float, I'm pretty sure that my brother Karl and brother-in-law Kevin were the most excited of all the participants. They were very impressed with the float's speed. Although, probably a little disappointed that they could no longer feel the breeze through their hair(s).