Family outing

This evening, we took Simon to Old South Church for the first time! We were so excited to have everyone there meet him, but we'd been nervous to do it, as we're still supposed to be avoiding "crowded indoor spaces" with lots of people. Even a simple cold would be a huge problem for Simon given all of his respiratory issues, so we have to be really careful. But today, they had decided to hold their regular Thursday evening jazz service outside, so we decided to take him! Diane took this photo of all three of us in front of the award-winning Old South gardens:

The entire Old South community has been so wonderfully supportive since Simon was born. Associate minister Quinn visited us in the hospital the day after Simon was born, and he returned the next day with Nancy (our senior minister) to perform a blessing for Simon. (The NICU nurses let us break the 2-visitor only rule and allowed all four of us to be there, for which we were extremely grateful.) The blessing was such a moving experience that gave us a great deal of comfort. Earl and Diane also came to visit us in the hospital, which was beyond wonderful for us as well. We also had dinner prepared for us, and received countless cards in the mail, many from people we haven't even met. And we received a beautiful prayer shawl fro the Old South knitting group! So it meant a lot to us to be able to finally bring Simon there to meet the people who have been praying so hard for his recovery. And it was so great for us to be there for the jazz worship again - it's such a unique and wonderful service. If you're ever in Boston on a Thursday evening, especially if you like jazz, you should check it out!!!

For his part, Simon did wonderfully, sleeping through the car ride there and then through the entire hour-long service. (This from a boy who normally refuses to nap longer than 45 minutes during the day.) He woke up just in time for us to leave, and then had a massive blowout in the car on the way home. And he realized he was very hungry. So there was quite a bit of screaming. Oh well... :)