Baptisms

 We received an email today from Jude's godmother, Kimberly Henneberg, to remind us that today is the 2-year anniversary of Jude's baptism.  I did a little searching around on my computer and found the above photo of dressing Jude is his baptismal gown back at St. Brendan's on March 28, 2010.  We recently baptized Corinne at The Falls Church on March 11, 2012.  The below photo is of dressing Corinne in her baptismal gown.  Jude was two and a half months old in that photo, and Corinne was about three and a half months old in this photo.  I think I see some resemblances!  What ended up being very cool, is that our pastor at St. Brendan's now works for The Falls Church.  He so happened to be preaching on the Sunday of Corinne's baptism, so we were able to request that he baptize Corinne.  So both of our children have been baptized by the Rev. Bill Haley, which was very special for us as he has played a big role in our family's growth in the Christian faith since we began attending St. B's shortly after we were married.  

 Cool fact:  This was my baptismal gown, which Corinne also wore for her baptism.  Corinne decided to make her entry into the world on November 29, 2011.  I was baptized on November 29th 25 years ago (or maybe a few more than that but who's counting?)

Photo of the family and godparents (Landon & Lauren Ludwick in case you don't recognize the faces!) the morning of Corinne's baptism.  (Sidenote:  I look at this photo and think to myself, "I am so short!"  I don't feel that short, but there is an obvious dip in this landscape, and it is me!)  Corinne's baptism was beautiful.  Our pastor John Yates asked us some questions, which Ryan answered on our behalf because he is much more articulate than I am.  Ryan had great responses...I don't remember every word, but I know that he said something about Corinne's baptism being significant to us because it is the day that we welcome her into God's family.  It's the day that we made promises to raise her to know the love of Christ and to teach her how to follow Him.  

Growing up, my family always had the tradition to take out our baptismal candle, light it and sing a few songs and hymns on the anniversary of our baptism.  I think as a child (ok, teenager) I found this to be a little cheesy, but looking back, I am so glad that my parents celebrated this anniversary with us every year.  I am looking forward to reminding our children of their baptisms and what they mean.  Of course, I may need help remembering the anniversaries of their baptisms, but thankfully I have godparents who will email me with reminders!  We have started reading some from a children's Bible to Jude, saying simple prayers with him, singing songs and in other ways teaching him about the God in whom we believe.  I am so excited to see how these conversations will become richer as our kids grow older--as a parent, it is one of the things that I look forward to the most!

Spring is Here...and we were more than ready for it!

First of all, I KNOW that I am so, so behind on blog posts!  I blame my very old yet trusty laptop that just does not have enough storage space.  I've had several photos ready to download from my camera for a while now, but I had to move other photos to the external drive to make space.  I'm sure there is an easier solution (perhaps buy a new laptop?!), but this is my method!  :)

A few weeks ago, just as Spring was arriving in northern Virginia, I caught Jude putting these sunglasses on.  I don't even know where he found them, but it made me think, I am so, so, so, so glad that winter is O-V-E-R.  We had an ultra mild winter in our part of the country.  We never even got a real snow, which means that Jude's Christmas present from his grandparents--a snowsuit--is still hanging in the closet sporting its tags.  But regardless of weather, this is one of the more severe winters of my whole life!  I think that at least one person in our household was sick (and most of the time more than one) every single week between Christmas and the end of February.  We saw the pediatrician at least once a week and most of the time twice a week during that time and even got to spend a whole weekend at Hotel INOVA Fairfax Hospital courtesy of an awful RSV virus that Corinne picked up--poor baby.  That was definitely the lowest point of our winter, but we are very grateful that we got admitted to the hospital because she received excellent care and was better within a few days.

We have been enjoying Spring for a couple of weeks now.  Mostly 60-70 degree weather with some days spiking to the low 80s.  It is delightful, and the kids and I are loving getting outside to play and go on walks often!  Of course, the fact that Spring sprung early might have an ultra hot summer in store for us, but I'm not going to think about that right now...

I'll make more posts throughout the week now that I have lots of photos on my computer ready to share!