Officially Welcomed Into God's Family - Elizabeth and Jacob Are Baptised

On May 7, 2016 at 10:30am, Elizabeth and Jacob were baptized into the Catholic faith at Christ the King Catholic Church. This church is special to me as it's the church where I received First Holy Communion, was married in, and had Abby's baptism. Father Champoux was also the Priest at both our wedding and Abby's baptism so having him baptize Beth and Jake was what I wanted. I'm so happy our schedules worked out that he could be officiating again!

I have to start off this story by telling you the most amazing gift that my brother and sister gave me (and my family). I really wanted my brother and sister to be the Godparents to both babies. Both were very accepting of such a responsibility but the hiccup was that David was in Iraq with an undetermined "go home" date and I was getting the bug to get these kids baptized sooner rather than later. Eventually I picked a date and hoped that David would be home, but understood that this may not be the case we would have a proxy stand in for him during the ceremony. Unfortunately, the day of the baptism arrived and David was still in Iraq. However, I was getting the babies ready in their baptism gowns when Katie walked up to me and I realized I was also hearing David's voice. I looked over and got the biggest and best gift my siblings could have given me. They'd conspired among themselves to try and get David on Skype on Katie's phone during the baptism so that he could participate even though he was across the world. And it worked!!!

David in Iraq, participating in his Godchildren's Baptism, via Skype. Thank the Lord for technology!

It got a little comical at that point. My Dad heard David's voice from across the church and came over as fast as he respectfully could without leaping over pews, and my Mom (upon hearing David's voice when she came over to see what all the commotion was) immediately burst into tears and pretty much never stopped tearing up the entire ceremony. :-) My brother and sister are big on the "gotcha" moments and I think this was the biggest one they'd achieved and frankly I'm not sure they'll hit a bigger one. They had to coordinate times as David needed to stay up late after getting off of work, hope and pray that the Internet worked in David's compound and that the church still had a WiFi signal on the weekend, and that the phone call didn't get interrupted at any moment during the ceremony. God heard all our prays that day and helped give our family a gift that we were truly thankful for.

It was hard finding a picture that had most of my immediate family in it. Mom kept disappearing behind people in particular. 

Now...back to the baptism. :-) Beth and Jake were both baptized in my family's baptism gown (the same one that I and Abby were both baptized in among other relatives). The twin thing threw me for a little bit until I remembered that the gown was actually two pieces: a gown and a tunic that went underneath. I solved the problem of wanting both babies to be baptized in the family gown by having Jake wear the tunic (less decorative) and Beth wear the top layer (more decorative) while both wore white onesies underneath. Beth also got the baptism hat that Abby and I wore that my Auntie Sue made as I figured it was a girl thing. :-)

Beth in the baptism gown. I like how this picture makes it look a little like she has little angel wings. 

Jake in the baptism tunic. Simple yet very meaningful. 

Beth in my baptism cap. My Auntie Sue made this special for me, so it's a sweet tradition that my girls got to wear it as well.

The ceremony itself went off with almost zero hitches. The only funny part was when Father got confused with which twin was which and started to bless Jacob as Elizabeth but then realized half-way through the prayer who was who and quickly switched the blessing name to the right child. As I look back through pictures and have a hard time telling which was which at times, I can't fault him for his misstep. ;-)

Jacob being blessed with holy water. Jake actually slept through the whole ceremony!

Elizabeth being blessed with holy water.

Beth receiving her blessing. 

Jake receiving his blessing.

Abby and Haylee got to light the Baptism candle for the babies. It's so sweet how Father Champoux tries to include all the kids in this family event. 

Grandma and her grandchildren after the baptism. I love how both babies are passed out from their ordeal. :-)

After the baptism everyone went back to our house for food and fun.

Their baptism cake. It wasn't until I brought it home that I realized that Jake wasn't in blue like I'd wanted. Oh, well. The cake tasted super yummy! 

These boys had a hoot driving each other around in the back yard. They were definitely more into this than the actual baptism, but I can't fault them that. :-)

Haylee and her Beth. While Beth is happy with most everyone I definitely think there's a special place in her heart for Haylee. 

Chase had the best time playing with Grandma Junkin's walker.

If Beth has Haylee, Jake definitely has Auntie Katie. 

As I look through pictures I'm seeing that Chase had a blast! Here the pool gets his attention, while the zip-line gets Abby's. She has a blast zip-lining down and then dropping into the pool. Nate creates such fun backyard activities for her.

Since I'm writing this posts months after the fact (life with twins is seriously busy) I'd forgotten how small they were. At four months old they'd just moved into 0-3 month clothes. 

Their baptism day was a special day for me and I look forward to seeing all their future sacraments realized.