Baptism!

Isabelle's baptism took place on Sunday, May 31st, which was Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is my very favorite day of the church year and (no coincidence, I believe) Isabelle was born on Pentecost. The date for Pentecost varies according to when Easter falls, so it isn't always the same. When I realized that Pentecost would be the Sunday after her birthday this year, it was an easy decision for her baptism!

Pentecost is the day that the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples after Jesus was taken up into heaven. Basically, the way I see it, it was the day the church really came to life for the first time. So to me, it's pretty much a core part of who we are as Christians :) Enough pastor lecture...
Isabelle's baptism and all of the festivities that went with it were absolutely perfect! I had invited close to 50 friends and family, and just about everyone was able to be there! In our church, baptisms are a part of the regular Sunday morning service, so Isabelle, my parents, and I came forward and she was baptized by my friend Hurley, who was my first senior minister at my first church and who has been a great mentor to me for over a decade.


We had all of the kids come and sit on the front pew and in the floor, so Isabelle's baptism took place with her surrounded by all of her guatetot friends (as well as many of their parents, who ended up sitting with them on the floor!) and the kids from church.


I never would have had the courage to go forward with Isabelle's adoption nor would I have made it through the pain and heartache of the entire process if it had not been for my friends and family, and it was really special to be able to have everyone to witness and celebrate her baptism. My church has loved on her and doted on her since the first time I brought her in the door, and it was great to celebrate together!


Oh, and the bonus was the fact that she actually stayed still and let me hold her! No luck getting her to go to Hurley, but she didn't run away or scream, so I'll take that!


Here's Isabelle and I with Hurley after the service (sorry, no actual pictures of the baptism...I really hate it when people take pictures during church, so I had printed in the bulletin asking people not to do it...)
My family! My parents, my brother Kyle and sister-in-law Stacey (with baby Grant), my aunt, and my grandmother. It was great to have everyone together!
My grandmother with her grands and great-grands :)

Of course I had these visions of getting to take beautiful pictures of Isabelle in her beautiful dress after the service, but that didn't happen! Sitting on the fireplace is the best shot I managed...

After church, I had a bunch of friends and family over for lunch, so the partying continued! I'm so thankful that my friends were able to get Isabelle's swingset up last weekend so that all her little buddies could get it well broken in today! I don't get many opportunities to have my friends from all my various churches and other parts of my life together in one place and it was wonderful. A real gift.
I hadn't asked for or expected people to bring gifts, but between her baptism and her birthday, Isabelle was showered with love and presents! I am so blessed. I had been looking forward to this whole weekend for so long and having been so sick I never could have pulled it off on my own. I had friends who fixed most of the lunch and all of the desserts, friends who left church early and did all of the setup at the house, friends who stayed and helped clean up and take all of the tables and chairs back to the church, and friends (and family) who stepped in and did so many different things I can't even name it all. I am so grateful. Thank you to all of you.