God is good.

Shortly after Andrew's second birthday, Andrew and I shared a very special day, our baptism. The journey to our baptism began almost one year ago on Palm Sunday when we first visited First United Methodist under the recommendation of my good friend, Kathryn. Chris and I had been searching for a church home, and she thought that her childhood church, FUMCR, would be a perfect match for our beliefs.

Nervously, we slipped in the side door and were greeted by several very friendly people. I asked the first man, "We are visiting for the first time, so what should we do with our son"? (Andrew was on my hip at that moment.) The man replied, "You can drop him off at the nursery. The ladies in there will just love him. Or, you can sit him on your lap. We like to start 'em early."

About ten minutes after signing Andrew in to the nursery, the service began. The friendly gentleman who told us our options stood at the front of the church in robes and held his Bible ready to preach. We had already met our Pastor, Dr. Oliphant.

After months of warm welcomes and touching sermons, we decided we wanted to "make it official".

The conversation went something like this:

Anne: I think we should join, so we don't have to keep checking "visitor" on the attendance log.

Chris: Yea.

Anne: So, what do we do?

Chris: I don't know. (He reached forward to the pew in front of us, and we began frantically reading pamphlets on how to be "real members".)

Chris (pointing to the bulletin): I think we can join next week, but we have to contact this person.

We contacted the this person and found out that church members must be baptised. Chris was baptised as a child, but he went with me to my baptism class, so we could both understand the meaning a little better. According to our church, "It is the gift of God's Grace (unearned love and mercy). It is a sign of acceptance by God and our entrance into the Body of Christ, the church."

Andrew and I will each have a different understanding of our baptisms. For Andrew, he will probably not remember being sprinkled with water (the picture on the left) or being showed off to the glowing church members behind him (the bottom picture). For us, Andrew's baptism was a promise to raise him as a child of God. He is loved by us and, more importantly, by God. We hope that we fulfill this promise, so by the time he is old enough to understand, he will appreciate it.

To the right: I am kneeling as the Pastor baptises me.

For me, my baptism was my statement to the church, my family, my friends, and my God that I believe in Him and Jesus as my savior.

This day marked the beginning of our family's journey to learn more about our faith and our God who has provided so richly for us.

We are truly blessed.

:)

Anne