Circle of Life and I LOVE BEING CATHOLIC

The weekend festivities continued with a Saturday morning Baptism.  Becky was able to arrange for Maren's baptism since they were going to be in town and she and Tyler asked Mark and I to be her Godparents.  We gathered at SSJ and Fr O'Grady baptized her.  I love private baptisms especially when you have a priest like Fr. O'Grady who explains the significance of what we do.  Maren was an angel - not a peep!

She is such a beautiful, happy child.  Here we are making the sign of the cross on her forehead.

I look like I have never held a baby in my life!  I think I just did not want to drop her in.

It was so special because Fr. O'Grady called Diego up to help him.  Diego later informed me that the Godparents pay the altar boys :)

Mark is lighting the baptismal candle from the Easter candle.

And here we are all holding the light for Maren.

When Fr. O'Grady annointed her with oil, I was struck by the beautiful aroma.  I love the richness of all these symbols - water, fire,oil.  They are so earthy and timeless and life giving.  She is all wet and oily and HOLY - I love it!

As if that weren't amazing enough, following the baptism, Joe and Michele renewed their vows and Fr. O'Grady gave a special blessing.  He had them come up to the altar in the very same church they were married in 25 years ago and repeat the same words of love and fidelity.

I love being Catholic because events like marriage and having children become elevated into these profound, blessed, meaningful and holy experiences.  I love the prayers, the blessings, the acknowledgement that we need grace from our heavenly Father to meet the demands of these roles in our lives. 

We had a wonderful reception at The Windsor and the manager was outstanding (Leslie on shift!).  Then that night, Joe and Michele hosted a party to celebrate and it was a blast!  It is always fun to have a reason to dress up.  Dan and Rick and Michele played music and sang and it was literally like being in the front row of a concert.  After that, Chris DJed and needless to say, I danced the night away.  I danced and danced and danced. SOOO Fun.

I was not kidding about the concert.

I hope to celebrate in a BIG way like this when we hit our 25th!