Baptism for my nephew

I was so honored and blessed to be asked to be the godmother of my brother in law and his lovely lady's little one.  Evan and Jessica, you are amazing and you have the cutest little curly haired baby boy ever.  

I was fortunate enough to fly in a little early for the baptism and spend some time with one of my favorite people ever-- Chris' great Aunt Winnie.  She is one of my fav people in the whole wide world.  

On this particular trip, we had the time to enjoy some front porch sitting and great conversations. 

 We also succeeded in being the worst at opening a bottle of wine.  Two grown women and we failed miserably at the task.  What we did not fail miserably at was laughing at ourselves and having a blast.  We enjoyed that corky glass of wine we had together and we laughed ourselves silly.  

Then it was time to go out and play my first ever game of shuffleboard.  

Spoiler: I did not win.  I was not great.  But I did laugh a lot. 

We also played this really silly drawing game.  More laughing.  This trip involved a lot of laughing. 

I went to a local church festival with some of my brother and sister in laws. 

We definitely didn't have any fun.  haha

Christian's baptism day. 

Evan's twin was the godfather.  

I get distracted easily by small children.  

Parents and godparents with sweet Christian

What a beautiful and blessed day.  Welcome to the Church, Christian.  You are so very loved by all of us and by an amazing God.  love and prayers always. 

Baptism after party!

Laura squared

 After after party at a fun local brewery

What a fun little weekend trip.  It was so much fun hanging out with each and every one of you.  

Kolbe's Baptism

What a beautiful day and so filled with love, beauty, peace, and joy as we welcomed our son into the Church.  

 

His godparents are dear friends from Southern California, Jonny and Crystal.  They flew in for the occasion.  His baptism was during the 11:30am Mass at our parish (we generally attend the 9:30 am though), but he was the only one being baptized so it was quite special to have the whole church in attendance to welcome him.  Of note, we brought our neighbor (who is recovering from a stroke) to Mass with us, but I realized once we arrived that there would be no one who could take pictures...

But when I turned around after Mass, who was there, but my dear friend Megan, who had not only come to pray and be part of Kolbe's special day, but took pictures for us.  (So all the pictures from his special Sacrament are courtesy of Megan- thank you!!!)

 

After the priest processed in, he called us up to do the initial blessing and Kolbe was smiling and cooing.  Fr. Javier was so full of joy and smiled right back.  

 

Later after the homily, was the part where he was actually baptized.  It was so touching, though he did cry during that part.  

 

 

Welcome to the Church, little man!

 

 

After Mass, we took a few pictures....or rather, Megan did...

Parents and godparents

 

Just a few candids...hahaha

and a nice family shot

 

the whole family and the godparents

 

I snapped a couple.  One of Kolbe with Megan and one of him with Clare (who purchased his sweet little outfit by the way!)

 

Later in the day, we had a soup potluck with several families in the area to celebrate, and I'm lamenting not taking any pictures except this one of the kids decorating Christmas cookies.  Yummy soups and breads (for those who could eat it!), and Chris had some delicious brews on tap.  The kids colored pictures of the Nativity, decorated cookies, and watched a little movie.  It was such a wonderful time spent with dear friends who have been so loving and supportive for our family.  Thank you to everyone for the wonderful food that you brought to share and for your love and friendships.  And to all of those who couldn't make it, thank you as well for your love and prayers.  It was a truly incredible day.  

During consecration (just after Kolbe decided to let out a LOUD burp and spit up all over me), I was able to pause for a moment to reflect on the beauty of our faith and the gift of the Eucharist, and I felt as though Kolbe's patron (St. Maximilian Kolbe) was there celebrating with us and welcoming him to the faith, together with Mama Mary and the cloud of witnesses.  It was incredible.  

God bless you now and always, sweet Kolbe Christopher.  You are so loved, by your family and friends, and by Jesus and all our heavenly friends and intercessors.