Celebrating the Little Things {Spring 2015}

Little Things

{Spring 2015 Edition}

Being outside, celebrating birthdays and Baptism days, golf course outings, learning new things, dance performances, enjoying each other and the beautiful outdoor temperatures and scenery that makes Spring such a lovely time of the year!

{Her best work to date}

{Mr. SMARTy Pants!}

{What makes you think you are big enough to do this?!}

{"HAPPY all the time"...that's the truth!}

{Baby booty}

{How big is Lucy?!}

{Straw sucking}

{The front ones start to fall...}

{Let them be little...that's what I tell myself when they end up in my bed every night! }

{We believe in unicorns... and a cure for Liz!}

{Double fistin' the watermelon}

{Another one bites the dust!}

{Tiny friends}

{Oops...she did it again! Diaper cream debacle, take 2}

{Back to the course}

{How can this be?!  Kindergarten screening}

{Graceful Tiny Dancer}

{She makes everything in preschool "for Abby"}

{A double celebration}

{Abby's Baptism Day & Molly's 5th Birthday}

{Chub in the Tub}

{Chubby Feet....and everything else!}

{Success!}

{Molly's Born Again Celebration}

{Fairy Tea with these lovely ladies}

{She loves to eat!}

{Tournament play begins...}

{Spring in Kansas}

{Tiny Dancers Perform}

{A ticket to Pinehurst, NC!}

Born Again Celebrations {2014}

In the Catholic faith tradition, we baptize babies.

This practice has both scriptural as well as historical traditional support.  We believe that on the day a baby is baptized, they are born again... made new creatures; children of God who are heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Because babies are unable to speak for themselves, they are baptized on the faith of their parents.  As parents, we make a promise to give our children every benefit of a Christian upbringing; promising to teach them about Jesus Christ, his Church, and his Commandments.  Baptism is not, however, a free ticket to Heaven.  As our children grow, they will have to stand on their own two feet and cultivate their own personal relationship with Christ.  They will have to say "yes" to living the Christian life they were baptized into on their Born Again day.  

To help our children be ever-mindful of their Baptism and what it means from a faith standpoint, we began the tradition of celebrating their Baptism Days annually... much like we celebrate their birthday's.  I tell them we celebrate this day because it was the most important day of their life...the day they were saved and gained the hope of living eternally.

My hope is that through this annual celebration, they will grow to fully understand their Baptism and its significance as well as its responsibility and calling.  It is through teaching them their faith that I hope they will be able to say "yes" to a life in Christ on their own one day.

And so I use things to help them understand.

The table is decorated with all things white... a reminder of being made new and of being washed clean from the stain of original sin.  

Their baptismal candle is lit... a reminder that, because of their Baptism, they have the light of Christ living inside of them.  It is their job to always let that light shine!

We eat sweets... a reminder of the sweet-smelling chrism oil that they were anointed with on their Baptism day.  That sweet smell is a reminder of the sweetness of Heaven! 

The images from the ceremony are looked at and explained through Baptismal books I have made for each of them... showing and explaining to them what spiritually happened as the water washed over their sweet heads.

It's a celebration, so a gift is given... a small, religious gift symbolic of their Baptism is given to them by us (and sometimes their godparents) to remind them of the specialness of this day.

The kids enjoy this special celebration so much.  It takes far less effort to plan than a birthday party, and it is far more important to me than any birthday party I will ever plan.  

A few pics from our 2014 Baptism Celebrations...

{Emily Kate:  2.3.14 - 6 years}

{Dinner table dressed up in white}

{Photo book and Baptismal "white garment" on display}

{White "sweets" and the lighting of the Baptismal Candle}

{Blowing out the Candle after singing "Happy Baptism Day to you..."}

{Gift from mommy & daddy... necklace reminding her on her Baptism, she became a part of God's KINGDOM}

{Gift from Godparents}

                                                                                                   {Abby Grace:  3.25.14 - 2 years}

Sweet Abby shares her "New Birth Day" with Molly's actual Birthday!  That complicates the dinner table set up slightly as we have to decorate a table to celebrate both events.  So Abby's place at the table was prepped with white flowers and her Baptismal mementos.

{white flowers and white baptismal garment}

{abby's "white garment" worn during her baptism}

{white cake balls for "something sweet" to remind her of the sweetness of heaven}

{baptismal candle lit to represent the light of christ}

{blowing out her candle as we sing "happy baptism day to you..."}

{baptismal gifts: "fruits of the spirit puzzle & bracelet with cross charm from mommy & daddy

and 2 books about Jesus from Nonny & Papa}

{Molly Clare:  4.11.14 - 4 years}

{Noah Robert:  5.8.14 - 9 years}

Ok.  So here's where I confess to you that I often have great ideas that I don't always follow through with!  I always have good intentions, but those good intentions are often not in alignment with the reality of my very busy life! I cannot do it all.  I want to, but I can't.  And so sometimes often things fall through... like Baptism Anniversary dinners.  

Molly completely got the shaft, but I assuaged my guilt by reminding myself she is still a tad bit young to understand this tradition.  Hopefully I'll get to her in 2015!  I did take white cake balls to Noah at school on his Baptism day and gave him a new prayer journal as a small gift.  He reminded me (on several occasions!) that the cake balls were nice, but they did not make up for the fact that we did not do his Baptism dinner! 

{Lucy Elizabeth: 7.20.14 - 1 month}

On her 1 month birthday, our Lucy Elizabeth was baptized into the body of Christ and saved through the waters of Baptism.  Her special day was not free from the errors of an overtired and too busy mother either.  While her day DID happen; it didn't happen in the way I wanted it to either.

All of my girls have been baptized in the same white gown.  I wanted it that way.  I dream of my granddaughters being baptized in it as well.  In anticipation of Lucy's baptism, I took the delicate gown to the cleaners about a month before her birth to be cleaned and prepped for her impending special day.

The night before her Baptism, I went to lay out her gown.  Only I couldn't find it.  I searched and searched and searched.  It was Saturday night and the gown was nowhere to be found.  Nowhere.  I considered canceling the Baptism all together.  I couldn't imagine what I would do if she didn't have her special white gown.  It seemed wrong.  

But then I remembered something.

It's not about the dress!

It's about the grace.  The saving grace of Baptism... it's real and it's necessary and it works no matter what the person receiving it is wearing!  

And so I dressed her in a white outfit I had purchased for her to wear as an "after Baptism outfit".  I was grateful I had it!  It fit the bill and until someone points it out to her in her adulthood, I'm not sure she will ever know the difference!

It might not have been how I planned it to be, but there was still a white gown(ish)...

There was still a candle...

There were still sweets...

There was still family and celebration and a sweet-smelling, freshly baptized child of God.

And most importantly...

There was still grace.  The saving grace of Baptism.