Faith,  Family,  Marriage Confessions,  Parenting

Amazing Grace

November 16, 2011 /

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This past weekend we had Gracie baptized. Finally. When I called our minister to see if they could squeeze us in for the Sunday service, I told him that we’d like to get her baptized before she goes off to college and I think we just barely made it. I had been waiting on the baptism because I wanted Chris’s mom, Jackie, to be there and her teaching schedule is different than mine, so we could never get our days off to line up. Finally, she told us she was coming to town last weekend and so I was determined that THIS would be the weekend.

True to my last minute self, I called the church on Tuesday to see if I could get Gracie baptized that Sunday, which meant Chris and I had to haul ourselves across town to our church Wednesday night to meet with our minister for a chat (which ended up being such a lovely, lovely conversation about marriage and parenting and family and faith…). With that done, the only thing left was getting a baptism gown for her. I didn’t end up buying that until Friday afternoon and I didn’t get Gracie’s white shoes until 10:00 on Saturday night.

It’s how I roll, people.

In any case, by Sunday morning, Gracie was dressed, shoed, bowed, and wearing her best accessory…that big, beautiful smile.

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See that gold cross necklace she’s wearing? My parents got that for her from the Vatican in September. Isn’t it beautiful? What a perfect keepsake from her baptism!

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Gracie was in a great mood that morning. She and Bean came to “Big Boy Church” with us and they both sat so still and quiet. Well, except for when Gracie was babbling “Dada! Dada!” during The Lord’s Prayer…  Baptisms are one of my favorite things, whether it’s my own babies getting baptized or someone else’s. To me, baptisms are a symbol of God’s unconditional love. They get me all teary.

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For the actual baptism, Gracie did great! She cooed while I held her and the minister blessed the water and she kept reaching out and holding Bean’s arm while the congregation pledged to bring Gracie up in fellowship with God. She wasn’t sure about the part where I handed her over to our minister, though. She never actually cried, but I did have to do some serious silent cooing and smiling to keep her happy.

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By the time we got to the hymn at the end of the ceremony, Gracie had warmed up to our minister and the two of them strolled the main aisle saying hello to people while we all sang, “Child of Blessing,” to Gracie.

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After the baptism, we took a few family pictures outside the church. It’s not often that we’re all together and clean at the same time.

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After pictures, we all headed back to my house where I had a big lunch for everyone. It was a really great day. For everyone except Bean.

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Clearly, situations which put Gracie in the center of attention in a beautiful white dress are frowned upon in Bean’s World.

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