Baptism Day

The main reason for my parents visit last month was to be here to celebrate the baptism of all 3 kids with us!  Our family was so excited about this day and had been looking forward to it for a long time!

I was always sad that we never got Chase or Brady baptized as babies but there were a few factors weighing in that always stopped us from doing it.  Craig is Catholic and I am Christian and while I support his religion and have been to Catholic church many many times through the years, I knew that I did not want to become Catholic or raise my kids in a religion I was not a part of.  So for the past 5 years we have been on the hunt to find a church that would work for both of us.  After visiting churches that were too strict for me, too modern for Craig, or didn't have Sunday school (which was a quick deal breaker) we finally found a Lutheran church close to us that fits our needs right now perfectly!  The church has a great Sunday school program, is structured for Craig yet the pastors make all of the sermons incredibly relateable and real life and we leave every Sunday really gaining something out of it.  We have also really enjoyed the people we have met there and it has become a really great routine for our family!

The biggest factor to us finding a church was Christmas 2012 I realized that my kids did not know that the true reason for the holiday was Jesus' birthday.  I knew we had to find a place for them to gain that spiritual knowledge.  We pray every night before dinner and our kids say what they are thankful for or they pray for people in our life to get healthy, feel better, stay safe, etc (and sometimes Brady will thank God for us playing with him or buying The Lorax, lol) but it is really cute to hear.  Going to church and watching them learn the true meaning behind Christmas and Easter, etc has been a very fulfilling experience as a parent!

So thankful my parents made the trip to be a part of our special day

Marae & Brady before the service

We opted to do a private service after church instead of during a church service for a few reasons:

1) To save the congregation from the unknown madness my kids could possibly cause - lol - I wasn't sure if Brady would behave or go running down the aisles ;)

2) To have a more private, interactive and special moment with just our immediate family

Here is Pastor Ryan explaining holy water to all the kids and Brady of course tested the limits of how much he could touch it!

It was very neat to be able to have all the nieces and nephews circling the kids and to have everyone be so close throughout the ceremony!

Brady was amazing and was so well behaved and was the first one to be baptized...

Chase jumped right up to be next and was so proud of himself, it was amazing

And sweet Hads looked right at Pastor Ryan and was so sweet and calm 

Love this photo!

Candle ceremony with the godparents

Brady with his godparents, Uncle Brad & Aunt Melissa

Chase's godparents are Christine and Jim but since they just had Oliver it was just too difficult to fly out from CA for the weekend.  We were sad to miss them but completely understood and we asked some of our dear friends, John and Gretchen, to stand in as Chase's sponsors for the day :)

Hadley's with her godparents, Uncle Don & Aunt Jill

The whole crew!

I love my family and was so proud of my kiddos!!

One thing that made this day even more special was that Hadley was able to wear a dress my Mom gave us when Chase was a baby.  She actually had her wedding dress made into 2 baptism gowns and gave one to me and one to my sister.  I was so so sad that we never got to use it with the boys so it was one of the highlights of the day for me to see Hads wearing that special dress :)

Back at home we had a relaxing lunch reception with the family.  We brought in sandwiches, had cake, the kids played, we watched March Madness and opened some very thoughtful gifts! 

I'd say she has everyone wrapped around her finger ;)

It wasn't our plan to wait and baptize all the kids together but there is a reason people say "everything happens for a reason."  I am actually very glad that we did it when Chase and Brady actually knew what was going on (Chase more so).  Chase was so proud of himself and you could really see how special he felt with all his family coming and supporting and celebrating him.  But I am also so happy Hads was a baby and to see how beautiful a baby baptism is as well.  We got the benefit of different stages in one day and I wouldn't change it for anything!

SPECIAL THANKS to my Dad for being our photographer throughout the ceremony and capturing so many great shots!