S's Baptism

I feel like Sophie and I are in recovery mode still from a long week and a long weekend!  Her baptism was beautiful, the service was great and we were fortunate so many people were able to attend - it never quite works to get everyone on the same date, but this was pretty good!  Sophie has two godmothers rather than a godmother and godfather.

Pastor Kim is a wonderful woman of faith and has a wonderful whimsy about her.  We met during her vicarage at Lake Park.  Together we have retreated and walked, shared ideas about God and life.  She is kind and caring and very attentive to others around her. Though she lives far away in Missouri now, we keep in touch with phone calls and emails, old fashioned letters and of course Skype!  I'm excited that we will get to celebrate with her and her fiance Stephen at their wedding this August!

Dylan with Stephen and Kim after the baptism

Angela and I have been friends for several years.  I met her one of the first times she and her husband visited Lake Park and our friendship really grew when we were both pregnant, me with D and her with EV.  Together our families have camped, retreated and celebrated various events together.  Dylan and I were able to visit Angela at her parents home this past summer in Missouri and Dylan had a fun boat ride with Evelyn.  Angela is a great mom and someone Eric and I both admire in how she interacts with kids (especially as a photographer!). We also both grew up in religious communities other than the ELCA and have family that live further away.  Perhaps most of all, being with Angela and her family is just plain fun!

Angela and her husband Andrew

Sophie had a beautiful day for her baptism.  It was rainy very early in the morning, but then cleared up nicely and it was warm and sunny.  We got to church early to set up the CAKE!  Eric made a four tiered butter cream cake with an amazing butter cream frosting.  We decorated it with pansy flowers (they are edible if you really want to eat them) from our front yard and I picked a bouquet of tulips too!

Dylan had a special job during the service.  He got to hold the candle to give to Sophie.  The other kids in the church then say, 'let your light to shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify their God in heaven"  Here is Dylan practicing with Pastor David before church.

During the service two of our regular musicians and Angela sang a beautiful song called "On Children" by Sweet Honey in the Rock. (See the You Tube Video below for the audio) The lyrics are from the book The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran and were shared with me by two different women at a special blessing way before Sophie was born...

On Children...

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The Archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the Archer’s hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Of course we also have photos of the baptism itself! There are more on Facebook, these are the ones from my camera. Thanks to Stephen for taking most of these!

Angela tried really hard, but she was crying  most of the time...

After the baptism, we move to the altar for a blessing.  All the kids from the church are welcome to come up for the baptism and blessing, some of them do and get to help :) 

Dylan did a great job with the candle

Eric, me, Sophie, Dylan and the godmothers, Kim and Angela

Pastor David with Sophie

My sister and mom and us :)

My cousins and one aunt and uncle - we were only missing one cousin family group .

Bee and Grandpa and us

After the service we had a reception at church and then went out to lunch with Pastor David and his family, Kim & Stephen and Angela, Andrew and their daughter EV at one of our favorite Indian restaurants in MKE.  It has a buffet and generally you don't need to wait long if at all to get a table :) Dylan had a great time with Stephen after lunch!

D's friend EV

Angela and Sophie - not crying this time.

It was a great weekend and a wonderful time of blessings of family and friends. After all of that we went home and Dylan finally napped around 4pm.  When he woke we went for a drive and had dinner out at Alterra - a great ending to a big day!