God Bless Baby E

On August 12th our sweet Baby E was baptized at our church by our favorite priest.  He slept through the first half of the ceremony and woke up in time for the baptism.  When the priest poured the water he looked at us with a look that said, "IwanttocrybutyousayitsoksoI'mjustgonnadomypoutylippucker" and handled it like a champ.  We are thrilled to congratulate JD and IR as his loving Godparents.  We know you'll do your best to look out for our little guy and teach him the ways of the world and set excellent Christian examples.  We know he'll love you both in return.  On a side note, isn't his little suit adorable?!  Boys DO have cute clothes available. :)

Loving Godparents

The baptism with Father Moran. He officiated our wedding and did my 1st communion & confirmation.

His top bottom wouldn't stay. Can you tell by the broad shoulder look?!  This kid is SOLID.

Mariela's Baptism

Mariela was baptised on June 27th at 1pm. I was a little nervous about how the day would go, but my worry wasn't needed as it turned out to be a beautiful ceremony and a great celebration with family and close friends. Mariela was (of course) a perfect angel. Her gown and bonnet were the same ones both my little sister and I wore when we were Christened as babies and it was made by my maternal grandmother. I'll be saving it to use with any future kids we have and hope to pass it along to them someday. Mariela slept through the entire ceremony even when the Deacon poured the water over her head. Another little boy was also baptised and he slept through the ceremony, too. The Deacon was impressed at both babies and how smoothly the ceremony went.

Mariela's Godparents are my brother, Pete, and our sister-in-law, Marisol. We are confident they'll make great role models and Christian examples for our daughter as she grows up and becomes a young woman. After the ceremony we had a cookout back at our home to celebrate with family and close friends. Everything turned out great even though we ran out of propane for our grill as soon as A.R. put on the first burgers and hotdogs. As a result we discovered that Cumberland Farm's tank refills are cheaper than Home Depot's, so that was a plus. We got her cake from Modern Pastry, a local Italian bakery our family loves, and it was delicious (and purple, of course!).

I was a little disappointed that our regular priest couldn't do the ceremony. He performed our wedding, my confirmation, my first communion, and my conditional baptism so it would've been kind of cool if he had baptised our first born. It turns out that he was diagnosed with Shingles, so he had to stay away from children not vaccinated for Chicken Pox for awhile. Thankfully, he is now feeling better and resting more comfortably.

God Bless our baby girl and her new Godparents!

Family Ties

I have to admit I was a little hesitant while anticipating my family gathering this past weekend for my Grandmother's burial and memorial service. My hesitation was uncalled for as it turned out to be a pretty great weekend despite the circumstances warranting our meeting. When my parents relocated to the South I was only 10 years old and we have only gathered together, in the same state, once since then...when my great grandmother turned 100 (I was 17) in 1997. On Saturday, I saw some cousins that I hadn't seen in almost 12 years! It's funny when you haven't seen someone in such a long time yet you can pick up right where you left off. I wish my family was closer, especially seeing how close-knit A.R.'s family is. I remember gathering every Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter when I was a little girl with everyone and being so excited to see everyone...especially my two older (high school age at the time) cousins.

The burial service was for family members only and was a very intimate and reflective moment for me. I shed a few tears, but I still haven't had the "good cry" I thought I would. My grandmother was laid to rest alongside her husband and infant son who passed away in 1960 and next to my great grandmother's grave (which I don't remember existing!). After the service we went back to my uncle's house for pizza and while the boys talked smack and played around with my younger cousin's go-karts a few of us went through two huge boxes of photos my grandmother had left behind. It was such a treat to go through the photos and see her memories and rehash who was in the photos and what we were doing. I discovered that I rocked a nice mullet in the 80s (thanks Mom!), my grandmother rode horses in her teens, my dad was a band geek, and it's a good thing the hair perm era has ended!

We found photos dating back as far as the 1930s (I didn't even know they had cameras back then!) including my grandmothers prom photo, senior portrait, a shot of her at probably about 10 years old with her 1/2 sister and parents, photos of my grandfather (who is a spitting image of my dad) who I never got to meet, and her wedding photos. Each of us took a little bundle of photo treasures home to scan and burn to DVD so that we will always have them even as the photos age. I'm actually surprised at what good quality the photos are, too. After going through all the photos we made collages for the Memorial Service and called it a night.

We stayed at the Renaissance in Brockton, MA and it was really nice! I even had fresh waffles for breakfast on-the-house in the morning. Sunday morning we went to the memorial service which was part of the normal church service and I was doing well holding back the tears until the organist played Amazing Grace. I think I cry every time that song is played let alone if it's at a funeral! I only teared up again when the final hymn was one of my grandmother's favorites:
In the Garden I remember her humming it clear as day.

After the service the church held a reception for us and I got to see some old church members that hadn't seen me since I was 10 years old. One thing I noticed was that not one of them had to ask what was going on in my life. My grandmother had already informed them...she talked about all 6 of her grandkids regularly and was so proud of us (insert thoughtful smile here). Once the reception ended we went back to my uncle's house for awhile longer before making the drive back to CT. I think we are all at peace now and I know that my grandmother is in a much better place with her husband, son, mother, and 1/2 sister playing the handbells, singing, and teaching the children of Heaven like she did here on Earth.

I love you Gram, may you rest in peace!

H