Baptism

Madeline was baptized today at Seven Oaks Presbyterian Church. What a great turnout we had -- both sets of grandparents, my two brothers with their wives and children, Eric's sister, and of course, my best friend, Stephanie and her mom.

When Eric and I moved to Columbia, we looked for a church family for quite some time. We are not "Mr. and Mrs. Church" nor will we ever be, but we wanted a place to belong and feel comfortable every Sunday both for ourselves and the family we wanted to start. We wanted to find a church home of our own, one for our family. We searched and searched, and we just went to Seven Oaks on the chance that it would be okay. We tried it out one Sunday, and we really liked it. But, we kept "shopping" around, but we kept finding ourselves being drawn back to Seven Oaks. While most of the congregation is older, the minister is quite young. His sermons seemed to reach out to both Eric and I. He's real, down to earth, and friendly. We were welcomed EVERY Sunday we attended by EVERYONE. We received phone calls and cards from various members letting us know that they noticed we were at the service the previous Sunday, and they'd hope to see us again. So, we bit the bullet and joined officially in December, 2007, the same month I found out I was pregnant with Madeline.
So, today, we had Madeline baptized in the church we found together before we knew Madeline was a part of us. The service was extra special this morning, and it was sweet, simple, and very sentimental to me. It was surreal to be standing in front of my family, Eric's family, and the church family holding my daughter while the minister spoke of the importance of baptism. Our entire family attended the service, and I was touched that both my brothers and their families made the effort to attend. Eric's family also made the drive from North Carolina to attend. Madeline was a perfect doll during the service before it was her turn to be in the spotlight, and she was even more perfect during the baptism -- no stranger anxiety, no fear of the dripping holy water on her head, and no fear of being taken up and down the aisle in the church while Reverend Fant made a lovely statement about her baptism to the congregation.
After the service, we had our families at our house for a luncheon -- a "make your own panini" bar was set. (We received a fab new kitchen gadget for Christmas that makes paninis!) It seemed to be a hit even though I had "hostess anxiety" all morning leading up to the lunch. The new recipes I tried out were yummy, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

A good time was had by all. Madeline is so blessed to have so much immediate and church family surrounding her that loves and adores her as much as Eric and I do.