The Boy is Baptized

Sunday, September 11th is now a special day to our family as it is the day our boy was Baptized and welcomed into our Church as a Son of God. We also celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Abby & Ellie's Baptism just 3 days prior.

This photo is of him at our house after the service. His Christening outfit is courtesy of Grandpa and Grandma Siebe. We opted to not use the hat and bib, but we did use a practical bib to catch all his drool.

As we celebrate, it is also a day we hold deep in our hearts as we remember the tragedy of September 11th and all those affected. We hold my Uncle Major Michael Booth, his wife, and three young children deep in our hearts and prayers as he is currently stationed somewhere in Iraq with far too many months remaining before he can come home. We also take a moment to pray and think about how we can help in the recent devastation of Hurricane Katrina. So many families affected by this natural disaster.

Amongst all these really hard things going on in life, it was a great day for us. A day where our families came together for worship, celebration, and fellowship.

The service was wonderful, as usual. The Baptism occurred later in the service, which turned out wonderful. Spencer took a very unusual nap during Church... not so unusual if he were at home or in a quieter place... beginning around the time of the Children's time. Unfortunately I accidentally woke him shortly after the Sermon as we were preparing to go up for the Baptism. Fortunately he did have a nice snooze and it was nice for him to have a chance to wake up before water was sprinkled on his head.

The ceremony took place in the back of the Church, which was great and yet not so great. The wonderful thing about having the ceremony in the back is that we used the beautiful mosaic font that is a permanent fixture in the back... which everyone walks past upon entering the sanctuary. It is absolutely beautiful and I wish we had thought to take pictures next to it after the service. The unfortunate thing about doing the ceremony in the back of the Church is that our entire family, except Sponsor's, were packed in the front three pews of the Church. So, they had a bit of a hard time seeing.

We were blessed to have Grandpa Walles perform the Baptism, as he also performed the girls' Baptism 3 years ago. It is special to us, and hopefully to our children, to have Carie's Dad and their Grandpa be the one who baptized them. Also participating in the ceremony was our Senior and Associate Pastor. It was a great to see them all work in unison and pull it off wonderfully.

After the service, and after many photos, we headed back to our house for a luncheon. Fortunately we arranged a menu, which required little to no work on our part on our arrival. The brisket was in the roaster ready to go, with buns and bbq sauce ready to accompany it. Baked beans were in the oven ready to pull out and serve. Pasta salad and Cantaloupe were in the refrigerator ready to pull out and serve. An assortment of chips was ready to open and beverages were made. Okay, so it was quite heavy in the carb area, but it was easy and appealing to the masses.

After Carie's Dad's wonderful prayer, it was time to dig in. Spencer was also ready to eat and crash for a much-needed nap so he and I disappeared. All was going wonderfully in the nap department, much better than I had expected, until an inconsiderate 9 year old barged into his room for no apparent reason and startled him awake. Nap was over and we were less than happy with our niece. Fortunately, he got over it (the moms' took quite a bit longer), we opened an assortment of wonderful gifts, and he took an awesome nap later that afternoon.

By late afternoon everyone had dispersed and we were ready to crash.