Baptizing the Cutie Cakester

A year and a half ago, Cutie Face was baptized on Super Bowl Sunday--exactly one week before she hit the 6-month mark.

This year, Cutie Cakes was baptized on her sister's birthday, 2 days after turning 6-months. It was fun to see the similarities/differences at the same age, stage and, more importantly event (BAPTISM!).

While our invitation might seem casual, this day in Cutie Cakes' life is a HUGE deal to us...

As mentioned before, we belong to a PCA church and baptize our kiddos as infants. We do not believe this is a saving sacrament but, rather, an act where a child enters the Covenant Family. Much like circumcision was (is!) used as a sign to set infant (males) apart for God, PCAers (Presbyterian Church of America) view baptism as the New Testament mark of the covenant. Again, feel free to check out this link posted a few months ago when Sweet Pea was baptized--it makes more sense than I do!

The whole gang headed back down to our neck of the woods for this special event...

Cutie Cakes was a little nervous about being in front of so many people so she gnawed on Mimi's hand for a bit.

The older cousins were the sweetest. The held hands in the service and sat quietly while we sang, prayed, and listened to the Word. The best part came after we finished a song--Lil Miss exclaimed, "YAY!" and started clapping. Then Cutie Face said (very loudly), "Lil Miss said 'YAY'!" It was too much.

Cutie Cakes big moment finally came and we stood up in front of the church body as a family. The charge that our pastor gives us as parents is so incredible. I wish I had a video of it so I could remind myself of what my true calling as a mother should be and to draw encouragement from it when the day-to-day begins to wear on me.

You can see my dad in the picture on the right. He is an elder at our parent church (we're a church plant from a larger church in the suburbs) and held the baptism bowl for us.  You don't know how neat that is to me that he was able to do that. Thanks Poppy!

pictures by Bob Schellhammer

Cutie Cakes did GREAT up in front of everyone--

smiling, gurgling, and distracting (!). 

picture by Bob Schellhammer

The official baptism moment

picture by Bob Schellhammer

Post church, all the cousins had a quick photo-op in their matching outfits

picture by Bob Schellhammer

Then we headed inside for a lavish brunch casserole spread. 

Many many thanks to all the hands that prepared it!

After brunch and before naps, the cousins played

picture by Bob Schellhammer

 When the cousins said goodbye, the Cuties had bonding time with Gramps and Jen-Gram before they headed back home

beautiful Jen-Gram

picture by Bob Schellhammer

sharing blankie-love with Gramps

picture by Jen Schellhammer

Movin'Movin' it with Gramps!

can't get enough

Cutie Cakes takes it all in

picture by Bob Schellhammer

What a great celebration to share with family!