Baptism

On Saturday, August 15, 2009 Jackson was baptised in a private ceremony at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church by Father John Schmeidler. It was a small celebration, but a lovely one. While we understand completely, we missed having his godparents (Abby Bartel & Matt Wagner) there. Since neither of them were able to attend the ceremony, my Mom & Dad stood in as proxies. Drew's parents were also there.

Some of the more memorable moments:

The outfit. I struggled with this. I wasn't about to put my 8 month old boy in a baptismal gown. I probably could have gotten away with it if he was still a newborn, but not so much now. Of course, they make adorable little white tuxedos but they are quite expensive. I just couldn't justify spending $50 or more on a totally impractical outfit he would wear for less than 30 minutes. I ended up finding a white onesie with a cross embroidered on it and a pair of white "beach pants" (on clearance, that he can wear again). The total cost of the outfit was $15 and I have to say - he looked absolutely adorable!

The ceremony. It was a really nice ceremony - and a really fast one! My favorite part was immediately after Father John poured the water over Jackson's head (who handled it quite well I might add). Jackson was curious about where this water was coming from and tried to dive out of my arms and into the fountain of holy water. Horrified I looked up at Father who just laughed and told me to go ahead and let him play in it. I almost fell over. But I obliged and Jack proceeded to splash his hands in the holy water. Kind of crazy.

The cake. We almost lost the cake. You see, there are these weird bumpy bricks right outside the door of the grocery store. I've never even noticed them before. But as we pushed the cart over the bricks the massive pile of whipped frosting on top of the cake shifted forward and fell halfway down the front. Fortunately, Mom & I were able to reconstruct the damaged section and no one even noticed (I think).

The party. Following the ceremony we served lunch at our house. Naturally, any excuse for a party is a good enough one for me! I was really pleased with how it turned out. And even more pleased to be able to share the day with all 4 of Jackson's grandparents. I hope that was the first of many more similar celebrations!

Click here to see the entire photo album (including some tips for easy and affordable party planning!). You can see where my priorities lie...there are twice as many photos of the party preparations as there are the baptism itself. Drew's Mom got some great pictures of the ceremony, but I totally screwed up and forgot to take family photos at church while we were waiting. Oops.

So there you have it. In my Nana Diers's words, Jackson is now "a child of God". And while Drew & I were both somewhat ambivalent about this entire process, I have to admit I am very glad we did it. And someday I hope Jackson is, too.