Friday, January 16, 2009

Update: Sam a Surviving 3 1/2 year old Thanatophoric Dwarf has Fun at Sea World & Disney



Update: 1/16/09

Hi Everyone,

This is another Update on the wonderful and amazing life of Samuel who was born with Thanatophoric Dysplasia. He is surviving, thriving, full of life and doing fantastic. Here he is in his shades on his trip to Disney & Sea World. The wonderful Make A Wish foundation granted this wish for Samuel and his family. I want to let families know that if they ever have to face the choice of whether to put their child on a ventilator that these children do not live in pain and do have a very wonderful quality of life. I don't always think doctors give parents all the information necessary to make an informed decision. I think doctors in many cases scare people away from life saving procedures especially when they feel there is supposedly no hope. I want to let parents know they do have options. Choose life.


He is a giggly, happy toddler who does interact with his environment.
Samuel and His Mom at Disney & Sea World in Orlando Florida
A Wish Granted to Him By The Make A Wish Foundation

Samuel's Website
Sign his Guest book


A Sampling of Pictures From Samuel's Trip















Tags: long-term thanatophoric survival, living thanatophoric dwarf, thanatophoric dwarf turns 3, laughing and happy child with thanatophoric dysplasia, Living with thanatophoric dysplasia, surviving thanatophoric dysplasia, living on a ventilator

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

My Show Girls: Sadie and Roxie




My Miniature Pinscher: King's Little Lady Sadie
My Maltese: Sweetie's Foxy Roxie
Sadie and Roxie for short

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Most Comfortable Shoes, They Cured My Plantar Fasciitis

Move over Birkenstocks, these are awesome shoes. I just got 2 new pairs yesterday. They are different styles, but they both have the same foot bed. I wore out my old pair after 2 years of continuous wear. I was having really bad foot/heel pain. It is a condition called
Plantars Fasciitis. I was ready to go to the podiatrist. On the advice of my friend, I gave these shoes by Think a try first. I noticed the minute I tried them on that they were very comfortable. I could sense an immediate improvement. My plantars fasciitis did not go away imediately, but aparently these shoes gave my feet time to heal. With wear, the footbed molds itself to your foot for a custom fit. I don't know what this company did, but they got shoes right. The company is called Think Shoes. I got mine at a local store called Happy Feet Plus but you can get them from several places online.
     After four months the condition was tremendously improved and the pain was pratically gone even after long days of walking. After 6 months I would say they cured my Plantars fasciitis. The pain is totally gone. The shoes are pricey. I got these two pairs on clearance and they still were pricey. However the cost is worth it. I know it saved me a ton of money in podiatrist fees and orthodics. They do have dressier shoe styles, but they don't have tennis shoes. Now I just need to find a good pair of tennis shoes. Another friend recommended I try New Balance shoes for that. So that will be my next shoe purchase.




The Sunny South In January

This is the beginning of strawberry season here.






Hubby and Son working on the Jet Ski

Monday, January 12, 2009

Home Management Binder- My Schedule -- Under Development

Ok another attempt by me at better home management by once again working on a type of home management binder in the quest to find something that works for me.

I am not a schedule person, but I have discovered that as a Stay at Home Mom I do need some kind of schedule or plan else I don't make good and productive use of my time. I am a procrastinator and a time waster.

One of the smartest things I have learned from my engineer husband is to get the machines up and running. When the machines aren't running at my husbands plant it means less productivity. The machines can be running while you get other things done.

My Early Morning Schedule

My early morning schedule consists of getting breakfast or having breakfast options for hubby and the boys. I get up first and help my special needs student get dressed. I also pack everyone's lunches however the boys do help with that. Everyone makes their own beds and hopefully keep their bathrooms tidy. I'll check tidiness of bathrooms later in the day.

After everyone has had breakfast, is dressed and off to work or school. I am going to sit here and have a cup of coffee, (ok I don't do coffee, it is actually a diet coke) and typing this post I am going to do the following (hopefully);

My Morning Schedule:
(I will have to see how long all this takes and adjust accordingly)

1.Unload and load the dishwasher
(I was lazy last night and didn't quite finish cleaning all the dishes. Yes I left a load over night.)

2. Load the washing machine with a towels load and get it going.

3. Start dough in the dough maker for rolls (I am only going to use half the amount of butter because I think my roll recipe is too rich for every day.)

4. Start Dinner in the Crockpot.

Da Da
All the Machines are Going.


5. Exercise - this amounts to my walking tape. It is only a half hour. I have to start somewhere.

6. Shower/ Dress/ makeup (Only included so I can calculate a time frame)

Hmm what next?

7. fold and put up laundry that is sitting in the living room.

8. Work on a needed organization or deep cleaning project
Today will be to tackle the dismantling the Christmas tree and putting away rest of Christmas decorations.I took down all the out door decorations and lights yesterday.

9. I am guessing it will be about lunch time now. Fix healthy nutritious lunch for me.

10. Make a batch of cookies so I have a supply for lunch boxes.

11. Finish rolls up throughout the day, attending to as needed.

12. Straighten family room and spruce up kitchen.


OK That is all I have so far for today.
Now that it is such a nice list I guess I should follow it.

Please share tips and ideas.

Friday, January 9, 2009

What did you study to bring you out of the Southern Baptist church and into the Catholic faith?

This post was originally an email that I wrote for friend who asked:

"I am VERY interested in knowing what you studied to bring you out of the Southern Baptist church and into the Catholic faith. Would you mind sharing? I read the story of your journey on your blog and enjoyed it very much. "


As I mentioned in my other posts,

First Half of My Christian Faith Journey and Christian Testimony

& My Faith Journey to the Catholic Church from Fundamentalism/Evangelicalism

I had nagging questions for many years.

Throughout the years I have read many anti Catholic sites on the web and a few anti-Catholic books. Some claims just seemed so outlandish, but I was buying into some of it. I also knew that there had to be another side to the story. I started my search on the web looking for refutation of those sites. I wanted the other side of the story from real faithful Catholics who knew their faith. I came across some awesome Catholic sites and they helped to give me a more a balanced view. I'll give some of the sites at the end of is post.

In 2001 we moved to our new neighborhood and began looking for a new church home. A year later we joined a cub scout pack that was affiliated with the elementary school my youngest was attending. This was a non-denominational pack but was sponsored by the Catholic church. There were kids from all faiths in it even Jewish. Because of it, I did meet many Catholics.

Around this time I started reading some convert stories on the web from fundamentalists who had converted and their reasons why and that intrigued me.

Then I started reading the following books pretty much in this order in addition to reading the Bible:

I started with a book about the Bible published by the Moody Press (written by fundamentalists so can't claim Catholic bias)--

A General Introduction to the Bible by Norman Geisler and William Nix
This as a book about where the Bible came from - Who wrote it, its transmission, how it was translated, different Bible translations etc. I did not read this cover to cover but read great portions of it. This was a book that I had for many years and revisited at this time

Surprised by Truth: 11 Converts Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic by Patrick Madrid

A Biblical Defense of Catholicism by Dave Armstrong

Catholicism and Fundamentalism: The Attack on "Romanism" by "Bible Christians" by Karl Keating

Evangelical Is Not Enough: Worship of God in Liturgy and Sacrament by Thomas Howard

Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism by Scott Hahn

Born Fundamentalist Born Again Catholic by David Currie

The Lambs Supper by Scott Hahn

By What Authority?: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition by Mark Shea

Upon This Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church by Stephen Ray

Catechism of the Catholic Church: Second Edition by the Catholic Church (I have not read it cover to cover yet, but have read great portions of it and use it as a reference book)

A Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross

Writing of the Early Church fathers such as Augustine, Origen, Justin and Ignatius from varying sources

The Fathers of the Church, Expanded Edition by Mike Aquilina


Then after a few years of church hopping and hubby not really liking any of them, I began discussing some of these things with my new Catholic friend Maura from Scouts. I finally decided that I wanted to start visiting/ attending the Catholic Church. I initially asked Maura to invite me because I wasn't sure how my hubby was going to react. He still had the maybe the Pope is the antichrist mentality and well they don't do things biblically misconceptions. After a few weeks Hubby and the whole family were attending with me. Remember I grew up Episcopalian so the Catholic Mass being similar was very comfortable for me, but it was new to hubby. To my surprise he really liked it. He was amazed at how much direct scripture was read every Sunday and the Priest didn't put a whole lot of spin on it in his sermon/homily. He still wasn't ready to become Catholic yet. He still had a lot of misconceptions, but I told him I wanted to start the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults)process. Basically RCIA is the Catholic version of membership classes. I was pleasantly surprised to discover they already considered me a Christian because I was baptized. They recognize all Christian baptisms that are done in the triune formula of "in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost". Anyway I was received into full communion into the Catholic Church November 2007, Hubby was received into full communion in July 2008, My 19 year old daughter was received into full communion this Nov 2008. My boys are in the First communion classes and will be baptized in February.


Catholic Websites: I have tons bookmarked but these are some of the main ones.
Catholic Answers
Scriptures Catholic
Fr. Roberts Answers Fundamentalists
St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology
Bible Christian Society
Jimmy Akin
Apocalypsis
Catholic Converts

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Our Computers From About 1986 To The Present. Or Let's Look At Some Very Old Computers.

My IMac Running Leopard OS X

We spent Christmas 2007 gift money on a brand new computer. We did not need another computer. This makes 5 we have at present. This does not count the many computers we have laid to rest over the years. The first computer we owned, we got in the 80’s. It was a hand me down Radio Shack computer that my parents had bought new in about '79, but gave to us about 1986. I want to say it was a Radio Shack TRS -80 something. Notice it was cassette load. That was before floppies were even popular. Can you believe that? Wow! It was only a 64K or was that 16K machine? I can't remember. Anyway the memory was ridiculously low. Memory for the word processor program we had for it only held about 16 pages of typed text. Well anyway, that computer didn’t last long.
Next came another hand me down computer from my parents. The Trs-80 model 3 first came out in 1981. We got this one about 1989. Hey we got it for free. Back then free was very very good. Actually free is always very very good. :-) My dad really liked computers too. He passed away in '94. He would be amazed at today's computers. This was a Radio Shack TRS-80 III. We have moved from cassette load to floppy disks.

Our first real computer was a Mac Performa 550, circa ’93. Move up to 3" hard disk drive and new CD drive. I think CD drives had just really come out.
Next I believe came my Mac Powerbook 540c circa ’94.

Then came the Power Mac 6500 (The only Mac I didn’t Like) around ’97.
Next was the Power Mac G4 that we got in 2000.

It is still an awesome computer and has been viable for over 8 years with hardware and OS/software upgrades. However it is a little slow and gets bogged down with all the web media today, but is still useful and works just fine for most things. Next was Hubby’s Windows Dell laptop machine he got from work for work. Then around 2002 or 2003 we broke down and got a very inexpensive windows Emachine. We only needed it for a few programs that we couldn’t get for the Mac at the time. I hate the windows machine. I am definitely a Mac person, probably because I have had them forever and I am very comfortable with them. There is not a problem getting any kind of program for the Mac these days, and almost all the programs are universally compatible with windows now. So this year darling daughter started college and we got her, her own laptop, also an inexpensive windows machine. She wanted a Macbook for her art classes, but the windows machine will have to do. She actually likes it now. So recently we just purchased my dream machine. A 20” IMac running Leopard OS. So I am happily playing with IWeb today and blogging among other things. :-) Have a great day

Saturday, January 3, 2009

The Quintessential 80's movie list

For Amanda (And anyone else who stops by)

The quintessential 80's movie list --Created by Me
I am an 80's junkie- I graduated high school in the 80's, Went to college in the 80's, Met and married my hubby in the 80's, Had 2 of my 3 children in the 80's. (I have indoctrinated my kids with all things 80's so they have seen most of these with the exception of the rated R ones. Well except my daughter who is almost 20 has seen the R ones)

How many have you seen?

What would you add?




Any Way Here's My List
(They are not in chronological order - I'm too lazy to put them in chronological order. They also are not in order by favorites. They are in the order off the top of my head.)

1. Fast Times At Ridgemont High
(Because my English teacher, believe it or not, had us read the book. This movie came out during my senior year in high school. I knew a person like every character in that movie. I also like the movie because it is one of the few movies that I have ever seen where a character from that movie has my name. One of the cheerleaders in that movie has my name.)

2. War Games - The movie that started Matthew Broderick's Career

3. Footloose --- Sarah Jessica Parker before she was famous

4. Splash-- The movie that started Tom Hanks Career

5. The Breakfast Club (Because the whole movie takes place in a school library- talk about a cheap movie to make- but again brings back memories of high school in the 80's)

6. Sixteen Candles

7. Terminator

8. St. Elmos Fire

9. Gremlins

10. Blue Thunder

11. Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Kahn

12. Star Trek 3 The Search For Spock

13. Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home (My personal favorite)

14. The Empire Strikes Back

15. The Return of the Jedi

16. Ghost Busters

17. Raiders of the Lost Ark

18. The Last Star Fighter (Not a block buster but very cute)

19. National Lampoon's Vacation

20. National Lampoon's Christmas vacation

21. Ferris Bueller's Day Off

22. Lady Hawk

23. Working Girl

24. Mister Mom

25. Batman (The one with Michael Keaton)

26. The Money Pit

27. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (Before Keanu Reeves was cool)

28. Back to the Future

29. Back to The Future 2

30. Back to the Future 3

31. Top Gun

32. The Princess Bride

33. Willow

34. ET

Added by Commenters

35. Valley Girl added by The Prodigal Daughter

36. Adventures in Babysitting- Added by Rachel

37. Weird Science-- Added by me

38. My Step Mother is an Alien-- Added by me

39 Crocodile Dundee- Added by me

40. An Officer and a Gentlemen

41. The Karate Kid

42. Arthur

43. Airplane

44. Pretty in Pink- added by the Prodigal Daughter

45. Three Men and a Baby

46. Blade Runner

47. Die Hard

Added by Jessica

48. Girls Just Want to Have Fun (another SJP one with lots of dancing)

49. Top Secret (probably obscure, but Val Kilmer is in it)

50. Real Genius (another Val Kilmer one... VERY eighties music, hairstyles, etc.)

51. Spaceballs

52. Dirty Dancing

Added by Anonymous

53. THE GOONIES! Your forgetting The Goonies!

Added by Tia

54. Some Kind of Wonderful

55. White Nights (I know I mentioned this one on "that other site")

56. Mask (yeah, I'm an Eric Stoltz fan)

57. Aliens!

58. Bull Durham

59. When Harry Met Sally

Added by Cathy

60. Ice Pirates

61. Lethal Wean

62. Lethal Weapon 2

63. Beverly Hill's Cop

64. Trading Places

65. 16 Candles (Wow how could I have left out 16 Candles- Sorry Don that was an oops on my part)

Added by Don

66. Where the boys are 84

67. Vision Quest

68. Roadhouse

Added by Me

69. Hard Bodies
(No I actually have never seen it- But it played at the movie theatre I worked at in '84 and I remember the line being out the door Hmm maybe I did peek in and saw bits of it? I have a bit of deja vu )

Friday, January 2, 2009

Why I came to the conclusion that infant baptism is scriptural, and is what the early Christians really practiced and taught.

Why I Came To The Conclusion That, Along With Baptism For Adult Converts, Infant Baptism Is Scriptural, And Is What The Early Christians Really Practiced and Taught

First:

I have been on both sides of the fence on this issue. For many years I too believed infant baptism was not scriptural and not what the early Christians did. Back in college studying the Bible with the Church of Christ I was convinced that my infant baptism (which was actually not as an infant but at age 5) was non scriptural and I was re-baptized by submersion as an adult.
(Technically to be immersed is not the same as submersion- Many churches that say they baptize by immersion only, actually mean submersion only. As interpreted by other churches immersion just means water flowing over the head and down over the body and does not necessarily mean submersion)

For many reasons as an adult I began to question this. One of the reasons that led me to look back into this was the fact that my oldest was blind and mentally handicapped. I was basically told at my Baptist Church that since he had the mind of a child that he had no need for baptism. There was an age of accountability. Now I never read anything about an age of accountability in the Bible and other problems with this concept emerged. When is the age of accountability? Well I was told it is different for all children. Ok so how is a loving parent suppose to know? My young child then in theory could be out of God's grace and not saved and I wouldn't even know it. So with this type of reasoning most good Baptist parents want their children to come to salvation early. Since they believed in once saved always saved (which is another discussion), parents tended to push their children to make a profession of faith or say a sinners prayer much too early before the child really understood it. Also they preached an adult believers baptism but I still saw children as young as 4 being baptized. However, that wasn't the norm. My child was mentally handicapped. He understood things as a child and has the faith of a child. I also began to wonder about only submersion as a means of baptism. That actually is a separate discussion from infant baptism so I probably should stick to just one issue for this article. But I did wonder about all the adults back in Christ's time and today that couldn't be Baptized by submersion, due to age and or disabilities. I began to wonder about different parts of the world where it is too cold most of the year etc. Why would God ask us to do something that was so impractical for so many?

Anyway, I started to revisit the issue since many churches, not just the Catholic Church, still baptized infants. Why did they do this, especially if it is unscriptural? Some denominations that baptize infants that I can think of off the top of my head are; Catholic, Anglican, Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Orthodox, and Lutheran. The majority of Christendom baptizes infants. Actually in the record of documented church history, adult only baptism by submersion only is a relatively recent thing beginning with the anabaptists.

Second:

I went back to the scriptures.

Paul notes that baptism has replaced circumcision (Col. 2:11–12). In that passage, he refers to baptism as "the circumcision of Christ" and "the circumcision made without hands." Of course, usually only infants were circumcised under the Old Law; circumcision of adults was rare, since there were few converts to Judaism. If Paul meant to exclude infants, he would not have chosen circumcision as a parallel for baptism.

Peter explained what happens at baptism when he said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). But he did not restrict this teaching to adults. He added, "For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him" (2:39).


Comparison of Circumcision to Baptism
We know that all who were circumcised in the Old Testament were not believers or did not grow into adulthood believing in the Jewish God –

Rom. 2:28, 29: "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."
There were many who did not confess their sins and walked contrary to the will of God. They received punishment due to it.

Lev. 26:40, 41: "If they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity."

Knowing that not all those who receive the circumcision will be believers, the Lord gave the sign of circumcision even to infants.

Now from the description of the sign, it is evident that both the signs – circumcision and baptism – have exactly the same meaning viz. repentence and turning back to God.

Old covenant : Circumcision
Deut. 10:16: "Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiffnecked."
Deut. 30:6: "And the Lord thy God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed to love the Lord thy God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live." .
Jer. 4:4: "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and take away the foreskin of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem

New Covenant: Baptism
Acts 2:38: "Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost
Act 22:16: "And now, why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." 
Rom. 6:4: "Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life."
Gal. 3 :28: "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ

Apart from the comparison between the signs Paul actually equates them in the following passages:

Col. 2:11, 12: "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; buried with him in baptism, whereas also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead." .
Phil. 3 :3: "For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."

Third:
An argument I use to hear as a fundamentalist was baptism requires faith and since infants and very young children (Also the brain injured and mentally handicapped) are incapable of having faith/understanding they cannot be baptized. It is true that Christ prescribed instruction and actual faith for adult converts (Matt. 28:19–20), but his general law on the necessity of baptism (John 3:5) puts no restriction on the subjects of baptism. Although infants are included in the law he establishes, requirements of that law that are impossible to meet because of their age are not applicable to them. They cannot be expected to be instructed and have faith when they are incapable of receiving instruction or manifesting faith. The same was true of circumcision; faith in the Lord was necessary for an adult convert to receive it, but it was not necessary for the children of believers.

Abraham had faith, but Jewish children were circumcised on the faith of their parents not their own faith. Likewise,why not the Children of believers be baptized on the faith of their parents? I believe handicapped children like my oldest son can be baptized on the faith of us, his parents. Also looking at (Matt. 19:14) His words can be taken to apply to anyone capable of belonging to his kingdom. He asserted such even for children: "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven"

(Luke 18:15–16) "Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God’"

The text in Luke 18:15 says, "Now they were bringing even infants to him" (Greek, Prosepheron de auto kai ta brepha). The Greek word brepha means "infants"—children who are quite unable to approach Christ on their own and who could not possibly make a conscious decision to "accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. notice what Jesus said: "to such as these [referring to the infants and children who had been brought to him by their mothers] belongs the kingdom of heaven." The Lord did not require them to make a conscious decision. He says that they are precisely the kind of people who can come to him and receive the kingdom. On what basis, then can infants and young children be excluded from baptism? If Jesus said "let them come unto me," who are we to say "no," and withhold baptism from them?


The Bible never says, "Faith in Christ is necessary for salvation except for infants (mentally handicapped, brain injured etc)"; it simply says, "Faith in Christ is necessary for salvation." Therefore fundamentalists must admit there is an exception for infants unless they wish to condemn instantaneously all infants to hell. That is precisely what they do. In the Baptist Church I was in they taught the idea of "the age of reason or accountability" to help them explain how infants, who haven't accepted Christ or could not possibly have any faith in Christ, would be saved and not go to hell. They make an exception for infants. This is no different than the churches that allow baptism for infants based on the parents faith and not the child's in my opinion.

Fourth:
There is implicit evidence that children were baptized in the Bible- Whole households were baptized. Yes it is an assumption that in these households were children and they too were baptized.

Acts 16:15 (New American Standard Bible) 15And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay." And she prevailed upon us.

Acts 16:33 (New American Standard Bible)33And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.

Acts 18:8 (New American Standard Bible) 8Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.

1 Corinthians 1:16 (New American Standard Bible)16Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.

Lastly if infant baptism were not the rule, then we should have references to the children of Christian parents joining the Church only after they had come to the age of reason, and there are no such records in the Bible. In the books of the New Testament that were written later in the first century, during the time when children were raised in the first Christian homes, we never—not even once—find an example of a child raised in a Christian home who is baptized only upon making a "decision for Christ." Rather, it is always assumed that the children of Christian homes are already Christians, that they have already been "baptized into Christ" (Rom. 6:3).

Fifth:
Now for History
(This is not extensive or exhaustive research of history as I don't wish at this point to go back through all my notes and books for documentation at this point for my little blog article)
There are many documents and writings that show that the early Church was baptizing children. They may not have been baptizing many children in Apostolic times because most were adult converts, but as those converts had children it became common for the children of the converts to be baptized and this is documented.

Origen, for instance, wrote in the third century that "according to the usage of the Church, baptism is given even to infants" (Holilies on Leviticus, 8:3:11 [A.D. 244]). The Council of Carthage, in 253, condemned the opinion that baptism should be withheld from infants until the eighth day after birth. Later, Augustine taught, "The custom of Mother Church in baptizing infants is certainly not to be scorned . . . nor is it to be believed that its tradition is anything except apostolic" (Literal Interpretation of Genesis 10:23:39 [A.D. 408]).

What actually helped me turn the tide in my thinking was a document called the Didache . It is not scripture, but it is a document of the early church at the end of the time of the Apostles around 70 to 90 ad. It is a document that is more of a hand book for early Christians. I kinda think of it as more of a Church bulletin or finding ancient Pastors notes. The Didache . This document is very interesting and describes in detail how to do baptisms. Actually reading through it again it doesn't directly pertain to infant baptism but does describe ways to perform baptism in different circumstances such as when there is no living water (ie: a natural stream) then household water and pouring over the head can be used.

In Conclusion:
1) We see parallels between baptism as the means of entrance into the New Covenant and the practice of circumcision as entrance into the Old Covenant for infant Hebrew males
2) We know from Hebrews that the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant
3) We also see Jesus chastising those who would forbid little children from coming to him
4) There's scriptural record of entire households, presumably containing infants, that were baptized
5) And we know that the Church can provide witness of the practice of infant baptism from the 2nd century onward.
6) Furthermore, nowhere in scripture is the practice explicitly condemned