Last Sunday, Jacob was baptized at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Richmond. St. Martin's is the church that Keith and I belonged to before we moved to Charlottesville. Keith attended the church for ten years & I went there for three years. We really miss that church and all of the wonderful people that are involved there. We have been attending a church here in Charlottesville but we haven't gotten very involved or met very many people. And, I think even when we do, it will be really hard to replace the memories and friendships that we have at St. Martin's.
Back in the Spring, when I was pregnant, we visited St. Martin's one Sunday when we were in Richmond. We had numerous people tell us that we had to have the baby baptized at St. Martin's. They made it very clear that they wanted to be involved in this spiritual event and Keith and I were really glad to share it with all of them. It was also awesome, in my opinion, to have Fr. Lee, who is the priest that married us, perform the baptism. It just seemed appropriate.
For anyone who is not familiar with the Episcopal church, we believe that "Infants are baptized so that they can share citizenship in the Covenant, membership in Christ, and redeption by God." The baptismal promises are made for infants by their parents or sponsors, "who guarantee that the infants will be brought up within the Church, to know Christ and be able to follow him". [Excerpt taken from HERE]
Keith and I asked my brother & sister-in-law, Mike & Blakely, to be Jacob's Godparents. We believe that they are faithful people who have the same religious beliefs as we do. They will be good examples to Jacob and will pray for us, and him, as we strive to raise him to be a loving and faithful Christian.
Unfortunately, Jacob missed his morning nap due to the timing of the church service so he was pretty cranky during the entire thing (except for the actual baptism). He had a bit of meltdown in the beginning of the service because he was hungry. I tried to give him a bottle in the pew, but he was not happy with it. I took him out and breastfed him in a private room and we returned to the sanctuary just when we needed to go up on the altar for the baptism.
Thankfully, he did really well when it was time for him to "shine" up on the altar. He didn't cry at all when Fr. Lee sprinkled the water on him. He did, however, cry a bit when Fr. Lee made the sign of the cross on his forehead. I'm not sure what he didn't like about it, but people thought it was "cute" so it wasn't that bad.
During the ceremony, Jacob wore a Christening gown that belongs to my grandmother and is an old family heirloom. It is almost 50 years old and has been worn by many baptized babies in my family. I wore it when I was baptized 34 years ago. Do you see any resemblance?
After the baptism, Keith had to leave the service and sit with Jacob in the parish hall for the second half of the service. He was very overtired and by the time we left the church, he was prety much spent! We took him back to my parents' house and he went to sleep pretty soon after we arrived.
While he was sleeping, the rest of us watched football, ate my mom's awesome Spaghetti dinner, and enjoyed some cake that we got for the occasion.
Keith and I are very thankful to my entire family for coming to Richmond to help us celebrate this very important event. It was great to have the whole family together and to have everyone be a part of Jacob's special day!
Today Keith and I are celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary. Some days it seems like our wedding was just yesterday and sometimes I feel like I have known Keith my whole life!
