Baptism (for Jim)

So I am a little out of order, and there will more than likely be more pictures of this event to come but for now....here we go.

This little adventure in family life started back in September or October, which at the time seemed like a long ways away from Epiphany.  GG (great grandma Dorthy) was still in the hospital and not doing all that well, when Father Mike approached me one Sunday and offered the idea of a little carrot for her. If she was well enough by Epiphany, would she like to help perform Lydia's baptism. We had known for awhile at this point that she had not actually been baptised as we initially thought and I guess Fr Mike was in a bigger hurry to have it done than we were, seeing as that she was already partaking of the communion and participating as an acolyte in church services.  GG's response was that she would BE there and no, dammit, she wouldn't need a wheelchair.

And she was.

She did a beautiful job of not only baptising Noah and Lydia both (yes, turns out Noah wasn't baptised yet either, whoops!) but she also read the Gospel, forgoing the actual processional to just "step out" from her place in the congregation. She was NOT going to use that wheelchair!! And she didn't need it, nor the microphone, nor the stool that was provided just in case.  GG is, after all, 88 and still recovering from a 5-vessel coronary bypass. But she was cool as a cucumber and did a wonderful job. I don't really know what I was more proud of, my kids for being so grown up and excited for this moment, or my grandma, for just being there and being able to be such a big part of this momentous occasion. How many people can say they were not only married by their grandmother, but that all four of their children were baptised by her? 

The service itself was wonderful. Fr. Mike called all three children who were to be baptised up to the front of the church and in lieu of a sermon he explained to them just what it meant to be baptised. Of course, when he explained that they were being baptised into the family of their church and that he was now not only their "Father" but also their "brother", Lydia started to back of a bit with the rather startled remark, "I already have too many brothers!".

The rest of the service went along quite smoothly. The kids were, of course, greatly excited to be handed a lit candle at the end of the baptism and were equally bummed that it had to be blown out before they could go anywhere with it.

Jeff and I were very pleased, excited, and just darn super happy that Jim and Nancy were willing to be godparents to both children, because honestly, who would be better? Okay, so they didn't know they were going to be godparents for Noah until they showed up at the church, but they handled the news with great aplomb and everything went off without a hitch!

After the service, we all met back up at the Family Pancake House (loving known by locals as the FPH) for bottomless hot cocoa, pancakes, fried shimp, omelettes, bacon and the works. I think we literally rolled back out a few hours later.

All in all, a wonderful day and one that I will remember with fondness for Grandma and pride for my children.

Finishing up the paperwork, a Deacon's job is never done.