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Actually, we had wanted to do this quite a few weeks earlier, but things just didn't work out that way. But I'm glad because it was perfect.
To begin with, no one was sick on this Sunday. That has not happened often in the past six months! But most of all, I was pleased because we'd been around long enough for things to be familiar and comfortable. Girlie was absolutely a model baby. She was awake, alert, and content through the whole ceremony. She didn't cry when I handed her over to the pastor (who had only ever held her once before), and she didn't fuss at the cold water on her head. She didn't even get antsy during the "meet the congregation" walk the pastor took with her down the aisle. And it was a long one, too--through two full verses of a hymn.
We were fortunate to be part of the churches we were, when we did. In the Presbyterian church, a current elder stands with the family during a baptism. Boy 1 and Boy 2 were both born and baptised during the time two great friends of ours, J and M, were serving as elders at our previous church. And it just so happens that, although we don't know very many people at our current church yet, one of our current elders is someone we know very well. A is a P.A. who used to work in our pediatrician's office. She took care of both boys at their appointments for more than a year, and they really liked her. She's now in an oncology practice, so she didn't know Girlie yet, but she was still happy to stand with us. And we were happy to have her!
I suppose I've gotten a little ahead of myself. Backing up...Girlie's baptism was the first event we've been involved in at our new church. So besides the intended spiritual relevance, the baptism also marked a sort of new adventure for us.
And why not. The kids were a big part of why we joined this church. We'd been commuting to our previous church for the whole 10+ years we've lived here, but in the past several years, highway and railroad patterns changed so much that even on weekends, the drive had become an hour-long, frustrating, and tedious routine. And weekdays? Forget it. Traffic made being involved in anything other than Sunday services impossible.
Add in a couple of potty-training toddlers and a new baby, and that commute just gets more painful.
It was not easy to make the switch after going to the same church for 19 years, but we had to do it. If we didn't, we'd never be able to be involved--or let the kids be involved--the way we wanted to.
The kids really made the new-church choice for us. The boys really liked the kids and the teachers in this Sunday nursery. Boy 1 had the time of his life at the day camp there last summer. AND when we were looking for someone who could babysit Boy 1 and Boy 2 when it was time to go to the hospital for baby-which-would-be-Girlie, this church staff made a real effort to get us a list of, as the pastor put it, "nearby grandmotherly types" who could help. And all that was before we'd made any indication we were looking to join, which we did in October. So it was entirely appropriate that Girlie's christening should be our first big event as members.
It looks like a good place for the kids to be for the long run, too. I've been so impressed with our assistant pastor's work with children's programming. She does every level, K-12, and does it all so well. And kids just flock to her. She's a natural.
Welcome to the church, Girlie--and all of us!
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