We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water

There really aren't words to describe yesterday better than those straight from the prayer book:

We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism.

In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection.

Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore in joyful obedience to your Son, we bring into his

fellowship those who come to him in faith, baptizing them in

the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Adele was successfully baptized yesterday, January 8th, at Christ Church Episcopal. It was a beautiful day for us and I heartily thank Reverend Scott Russell for his thoughtful, inspiring reflection.

We're also so grateful to our family, for making the long trip to see Adele baptized in her home church.

Tim and Michaela stood as godparents. Adele has a lot to look up to!

I'm really grateful to them for taking on this role so wholeheartedly. Adele was so loved yesterday. I can't help but think she could feel it, and responded by being a complete sweetheart throughout the service, until the taking of the last photo (at which point, a mighty hunger suddenly seized her).

I'm also very grateful to my son, for being a model two-year-old through a much longer service than he's used to, and for behaving admirably in the restaurant, too. His worst antic during the long wait for his pancakes was to quietly drop each of these jelly "blocks" on the floor when we weren't watching. He was quite willing to help me put them back, though. Well done, Miles.

I did a lot of misty gazing at my daughter yesterday, too. She was wearing, by the way, not the gown her teeny brother wore at his baptism (at which he was a week older than she is now) but the gown I wore when I was dedicated-- at the age of four months! Hopefully I'll have time to take a picture of the gown, which is quite pretty and was made, I understand, by my godmother. She was getting rather cranky by the time I got around to close-ups.

This is the best of my attempted session:

Sustain her, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give her

an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to

persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy

and wonder in all your works.

Amen.