Jade's Baptism

Jade was baptized last Sunday, October 19th. It was a beautiful day that just so happened to also be my in-law's 41st wedding anniversary, making it all the more special.

The service was at our old church, for reasons I explained here. Worship was wonderful. I really enjoy the "contemporary" worship style (for lack of a better word) at our new church which we love dearly, but still have a great appreciation for the pipe organ and hymnbook. I also enjoyed being in worship with all of my closest family members. I'm so thankful to be surrounded by a family of believers.

Remember how I was in need of a sweater for Jade? Not because it was chilly, but because the familial baptismal gown was designed for infants, and she hasn't fallen into the infant weight class for about a year now. When I had tried it on her the previous week I was unable to button the back, so I needed a sweater to cover the gaping neck line. I'm not sure if I stretched it out while ironing it or what, but it fit perfectly that morning. I was glad to not have to cover up any of the 60 year old gown.

The girls did beautifully up in front of the church. I wasn't sure if Lily would be intimidated and clingy or if she would see this as the perfect opportunity to break out into some of Ariel's greatest hits while she had the stage and a captive audience.

At one point she got a little restless and started up the stairs to the choir loft...where there are lots and lots of microphones. I was relieved that she was easily reined back in and even let me hold her during the other baptisms. Of course then she discovered my silver necklace (I rarely wear jewelry) and proceeded to thump it repeatedly against my chest. I just ignored it and I'm sure everyone on the first row mistakenly now believes I have the patience of Job.

Our standards for her have been lowered after the flashing incident at our new church. I don't think I've aired that news on the blog yet. Let me flag this post as one to remove before she's a teenager.

A few weeks back we had a meeting at our new church with a couple of ministers to discuss our views on baptism and how it might affect our ability to join the church. They graciously offered to provide childcare for our kiddos while we met. Just prior to that meeting Lily had been down for rest time. At rest time (notice I don't call it naptime anymore), we always put her in a pull-up just in case the Lord hears our prayers and she actually falls into a long deep sleep and has an accident. When she got up it was time to go, so I told her to take off her pull-up and get some panties back on.

We got to the church and were surprised by how many people...staffers and volunteers...that happened to be gathering in the foyer during the gap between morning and evening services. We began introducing ourselves to some of them, all the while Lily was twirling around in her favorite dress. Then she loudly announced to the whole group, while lifting up her dress no less, "Mommy, I don't have any panties on!"

That's when I remembered that kids need ONE instruction at at time. She had at least gotten the pull-up off. Step TWO...oops. This would have been one instance where I wouldn't have minded if she hadn't listened to me at all.

I'm sure the first impression they had of us was just excellent. There we were trying to join a Baptist church while holding to paedobaptist beliefs and our four year old flashes the whole foyer. Fun times.

Anyway, back to baptism Sunday. Jade was a breeze. No problem being handed off to the pastor or anything. She was in the I'm going to suck my thumb, hold my blankie, and not give anyone a smile type of mood...which is evident in all the pictures below. I didn't care though. I was just glad that we didn't have to enact any of the "hollering baby exit strategies" that they had gone over with us before the service.

A few of you had mentioned being curious about why we believe that the Scriptures teach not only the baptism of believers, but their children as well. My husband found a link to a site that has 3 brief articles written on the topic. One of which is a letter from a father to his college age daughter...written to explain how his views had changed when she inquired. Click here if you're interested.

And remember, my blogoversary giveaway is open through Friday at midnight.

Little White Dress...Pretty Pink Shirt

Well, the dress actually isn't that white anymore, but I'm sure sixty years ago it was. It is the familial baptismal gown. It was worn by my dad, my sis, myself, Lily and Jade. The only weird thing to this story is that Jade actually wore it a year ago to be dedicated, not baptized.

Here we are a year later, and I think I just grew a grey hair for each year of its age as I ironed it in preparation for Jade's baptism tomorrow morning.

I'm sure I've just thrown a few of my church buddies for a loop. We attend an amazing reformed baptist church. We've been going there a couple of years now and got Jade dedicated there last fall. We're actually going through the membership class right now and through that process, the issue of baptism has been raised. After careful prayer and much study, we've decided that we truly believe that the scriptures support covenantal infant baptism. So, since we are still technically members of our old church, where Jerry was on staff for many years, we decided to get Jade baptized. We made it fully clear to the old church that our intentions are to leave membership there and join The Village Church.

That is, if they allow us. We've met with a couple of pastors there twice and will probably be going before the elders at some time in the future to plead our case. Will they allow these two paedobaptists and our young children become members? That is still an unknown. Our pastor's wife mentioned that she occasionally keeps up with my blog...so Lauren, if you're out there, we're the crazy couple that is trying to join the church while maintaining our views on this issue.

I realize this deserves a weighty theological discussion, however this little blog just isn't the place for it. Feel free to comment away, by all means, but I just don't feel like hashing out the whys and hows here myself. There are a ton of great books out there that discuss this issue, and I'll give links to two written by former Baptist ministers who through study of Scripture became paedobaptists: Children of the Promise and The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism.

Now on to the lighter side of things. The little white dress.

Okay, so obviously baptismal gowns are usually worn by infants. Please click over to the post where you can see Jade wearing the gown when she was dedicated as a 4 month old. I would repost the pictures here, but we didn't have a digital camera then and I'm not in the mood to scan. So just go...real quick.

She has always been off the charts on height and weight and I was really worried about her even fitting in the dress then. Fast forward to now when as a fifteen month old she is tipping the scales at almost 27 lbs, I knew wearing the gown would be out of the question.

So, I was on my way to buy a new gown and I was feeling a little sad about the fact that I wish she could have worn the same gown that all of us had...especially since she was being baptized in the same church as Lily. I decided to pull it out and just try it on her for fun.

To my surprise, it actually went over her head. And with a little tugging, I actually got her chubby arms through the holes. I was giddy. Then I realized I couldn't quite button the neck and I wasn't sure if it would even be long enough to cover her thighs. I'm sure she is 32 or 33 inches tall by now. I decided to stand her up and give the whole thing a look over. It went down to her knees. A far cry from most baptismal gowns which at least go to the ankles, if not many inches or even feet past. My heart was pounding so I snapped a few photos and shot them off to my a few family members cell phones. 1 no, and 3 yeses later, it was decided. She'd be wearing the gown.

Now all I had to do was find a little off-white sweater to cover the gaping neck and some good tights to draw eyes away from the fact that the gown was too short.

Finding the sweater was easy. Finding the tights really stressed me out. On my way to the third different Target store a couple of towns over from here I totally got lost. The little inventory receipt thingy said they had two pairs left in her size and by golly I was going to get my hands on one of them. I went to turn around and apparently made an illegal u-turn.

You guessed it. Sirens and lights. Great.

As the cop asked for my license and insurance I really started to worry. My license had expired oh, lets see...back in mid-August. Not just like a couple of days ago...I really don't know why I haven't renewed it. Maybe it is just the thought of standing in those long lines and trying to get photographed with two kiddos in tow. Just. does. not. sound. fun.

Then as I reached for the insurance, I immediately remembered getting our new cards in the mail recently. Did I put them in the glove box though? Nope.

Double great. Expired license and expired insurance...all while supposedly making an illegal u-turn. I envisioned them announcing to the congregation how sorry I was that I couldn't attend Jade's baptism due to my recent imprisonment.

I got off with a warning. A WARNING. That just doesn't happen to me folks. I have been 8 months pregnant, bawling my eyes out, laying my head on the steering wheel trying to get out of a ticket before and NEVER gotten off with a warning. Maybe it didn't help that in that instance, when I laid my head on the steering wheel I actually honked my horn with my head. Kind of ruined the moment. Nevertheless, I was thrilled. And, to top it off, he told me how to find that elusive Target.

Unfortunately, all of this stress has wrought havoc on my face. I have a very large pimple that I am not happy about. Debbie saw me earlier today and can attest to its vastness. And to top it all off I ran out of my foundation today. A little before ten tonight I remembered that I was in definite need of some makeup to cover this sucker up.

I grabbed my keys and headed to Walgreens. Wouldn't you know that once again they changed all the packaging and naming on the brand of makeup I like? I don't know why I haven't learned to buy multiple bottles when I find one I like. Sigh. I picked out a few different shades in hopes to camouflage my little visitor and headed to the register.

And that is when it happened. I got hit on by my local, and might I add young, Walgreen's cashier. It was awful. I don't know if my pimple resonated with him and made me seem more young? I felt him staring me down as I searched for some cash and then awkwardly trying to make too much eye contact with me. I looked down at my ring finger and noticed I had left my wedding ring at home. Apparently I looked really hot. Maybe he is studying to be a dermatologist or something. But he just really liked my shirt. My shirt looked really good on me and it was really cute. Did I mention he really liked it? Yeah, well he said all of that while looking at my girls. Not Lily and Jade. The other girls.

I really don't think that I own even one piece of provocative clothing. The shirt I had on? It was the one I wore to Jade's first birthday party for heaven's sake. And something tells me that if I had my real girls with me...like Jade on my hip and Lily running the aisles wildly...he wouldn't have noticed my shirt or anything within.

I don't know if I'm more thankful that Lily and Jade are usually with me or the fact there is a Walgreens on every corner. Either way I'm pretty sure this was the last time he'll be seeing me or my pretty pink shirt.