Anna's baptism

The bells being rung at our parish, by my niece, nephew and Isaiah.

A joyful noise to celebrate the baptism of our sweet Anna.

Our church is so beautiful.

My dear little nephew, only four and a half, said so when he first walked in.

A friend of ours, a priest at Madonna House, commented that in baptism

"into the water goes a baby, but out of the water comes an icon of Christ."

Amen.

 Our little icon is glowing brightly now with much grace.

And we were so delighted with such a beautiful baptismal day!

After Sunday Mass a few weeks ago, the very same priest who married us baptized our third child (how much has changed in the five years since our wedding!).

It was such a joyful celebration.

My sister, Anna's godmother, commented later how the ceremony was a wonderful combination of "old school liturgical stylings" with comedic flair. For instance, dear Father Hattie, right after the beautiful prayers and anointing with chrism, stated that Anna was "one greasy little kid."

I was so surprised he said that, and I laughed, and my breathy laugh extinguished her baptismal candle.

Awkward moment pour moi.
But funny nonetheless.

Also, there were oodles of kids in the congregation. The preschool-age and toddler set had us giggling with their especially pious, exuberant shouting of "amen!" and "Lord, hear our prayer!"

Afterward, we had no less than 46 people in our modest-sized home, 25 of whom were kids.

It was just so wonderful to have such a vibrant community of families -- our own who travelled from Nova Scotia, and the families from our parish -- with whom to welcome our little girl into the Church.

Life is busy for me and Patrick these days, 

now that we're outnumbered, 

but at least we're outnumbered by saints.