A Shiny New Soul

Well, as of yesterday, little John Michael is an official member of the Church!  He was clearly super excited about it.......

All the boys have worn the same little baptismal gown for each of their baptisms and this little man had the distinction of also wearing the same little hat that Chris wore at his baptism and when the time came we also used his little white stole circa 1982 (much better than the sad bit of white felt the church offered).  I don't remember having Chris' baptism outfit when the other boys were baptized or I feel like I would have dressed them in some of the pieces as well.  Chris maintains that I snubbed my nose at his outfit when David was baptized and insisted on buying the more traditional gown (as opposed to the little pants outfit he wore)....I don't remember that, but, it could be that I'm just getting more sentimental in my old age :)

Chris thought baby John looked even more like a girl with the hat on than the other boys did, who sadly went hatless......I pointed out that it was his hat so clearly it is meant to be worn by little boys.  

And really, if I was buying a baptismal gown for a little girl it would have involved much more lace....and bows....and little lacy socks with bows.....

I wanted to buy a little slip to go under the boys' gown so I could embroider all their names and baptism dates on it...............okay, I guess I'm definitely getting more sentimental......

I never did get the slip, but grandma Reintjes gave us a little baptism gift set that had a little white blanket in it so the night before I had the sudden inspiration to embroider that instead.  Being the night before the baptism though, I didn't quite finish and John's name still needs to be done.  I'm sure I'll get to that any day now :)

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Now, for those of you paying close attention, we did choose this particular date for our little man's baptism because of its significance to our family.  

It's hard to believe that it was just a  year ago that we lost our little girl.  I don't think the pain of that loss is something that will ever fully disappear, but clearly we have been very blessed this year and I am filled with so much more happiness now, as I hold this new little miracle in my arms, than I thought could ever be possible one year ago as those same arms held her tiny little body and felt so very empty.

So yesterday was a day of mourning and a day of celebration.   Life can be funny like that.