Last year I blogged a little bit about the new church that we had found. Tommy was raised Baptist and I was raised Catholic, and this church was a nice blend of the two religions for us. The church (coincidentally) happens to be the same place as where Wyatt goes to preschool, and the priest (also coincidentally) happened to be one of our neighbors our first year here on Okinawa. His two kids match up closely in age and gender to our kids, who played a lot together until they moved off base.
We have been thinking about baptizing the kids for awhile now. After much thought and discussion, we had them baptized on Sunday with our friends (Okinawan family) there to help us celebrate! We hope that when they are older, that they will make the choice for themselves about what they believe... but we also believe it is our job as parents to help guide them in the right direction toward faith, which if I am being honest, is what has really helped us get through this tour in Okinawa.
The kids did great with the service - despite the fact that Olivia had been awake since 4:50 a.m.! She is an early bird, that girl. She didn't even bat an eye when Father Esau poured the water over her head.
Wyatt was a big ham as always - he had a big grin on his face all the while the water was being poured on! It was awesome to have Father Esau be the one baptizing our kids, since we have a connection with him outside of the church as well.
They gave each of the kids a baptism candle, and Olivia, seeing Wyatt holding his,
desperately wanted to hold hers as well... a little frightening there for a minute as she was reaching and grabbing for candle and flame!
I made a bunch of food for the reception at the church, and the church bought this cake, which Wyatt exclaimed was "beautiful!"
The kid's table... I see lots of donuts and not much of the fruits and veggies and egg bakes that I made!!
We were so grateful that all of our friends here were there to witness and celebrate with us. It really meant a lot to have them there since our family in the States obviously couldn't make the trip :) It was a beautiful, sunny day to receive such a wonderful blessing!
3 comments:
A wonderful blessing, indeed! Looks like a beautiful ceremony!
Oh what fun...Grandma & Grandpa are here to view this today. How exciting to have a great group to support you all. The kids look so great all dressed up. Grandma sends her love and hopes you get back here soon.
We are having a beautiful day. In high 40's and tomorrow will be warmer. 60's in DM...snow will be totally gone.. Thanks for posting, we so much enjoy it Megan. Have a great week.
Happy Baptism little ones! Funny, I'm also working on Baptism festivities coming up next weekend for Emily. I love the cake, was trying to think of something fun and creative...that was very cute! Glad I don't have that many people to provide food for. I love your big Oki family!!!
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