AveryAnn's Baptism

 As I searched and searched for the perfect gown, my mind went to searching for a beautiful 1st Communion dress and then maybe one day a wedding gown.  I thought of all the milestones we will hopefully get to celebrate with our daughter (and son).  The weight of raising Godly children is heavy on my shoulders.  I'm in constant prayer that I can do this.  That we, as parents, are strong enough to steer our kids towards the Lord.  I pray that their future spouses will be exactly what they need to further seek and serve Him.  Baptizing our kids is the first step in the marathon of raising faithful, Godly people.

It isn't something we take lightly.  We went back and forth on Godparents.  I thought from the moment I found out I was pregnant I wanted Hope to be Godmother we were on this journey together from the beginning.  For Godfather we went back and forth between my two brothers and ultimately decided on my older brother Patrick.  He is so sweet with my kids and it is special to get to see him be an uncle.  Barrett loves going to Uncle Patrick's house to see the chickens and ducks.

Crystal came and took pictures for me (she's like my official life photographer this year).  They are beautiful and I can't thank her enough.  I can't wait to have some printed for our home.

I love this shot because you can see our guests and our church.  It is so special to me to go to the same church I grew up in.  This is the church where I made my first communion, confirmation and was married so I get to watch my kids celebrate the same sacraments here.  (I'm a very sentimental person if you haven't already noticed.)

Parents and Godparents with the baby.

Father Deering has been at our church for 12 years and he's leaving in June.  He married us and baptized both kids.  We will miss him.

With our parents.

My sweet friend Amy and baby Ruby.  Ruby and AveryAnn are only 3 days a part and I hope we have pictures of them together on their wedding days.

Adventures of Annie and Frannie. I love these sweet girls so much!

My parents with their grandchildren.  I love that it looks like Madelyn is looking right at AveryAnn.

My family minus my sister and brother-in-law, they're still traveling the world.

My grandmother and Aunt.

I love these people.  Barrett did so great with pictures. It's usually a nightmare trying to get him to cooperate but he did great. 

Beautiful girl!

After we had everyone over to our house for lunch.  I was so excited about my flower arrangements.  We had a taco bar and it was so nice to get to visit with everyone.

This might be my favorite picture of the whole day.  These two are buddies for life! 

This day was so special.  We were so humbled and honored to share with so many people that love us and our kids.  We are so thankful for all these people that we know will be there to encourage us and our kids as we all grow together.

Barrett's Baptism

I feel so overwhelmingly blessed by the support of our friends and family on such a special day for our little family.  I'll come back and update when I find the words.

{5 months later I'm finally back to update with words}

Patrick and I had such a hard time choosing Godparents for Barrett.  We really wanted to choose people that would love our son and encourage him every step of his life.  We wanted people that would be there for all his big moments in life, not because they had to but because they wanted to be there.  We wanted someone that if anything ever happened to us they would step in scoop him up and raise him just as we would.  Yes, we had pretty high standards.  We finally decided on my brother John and his finance Hope.  

We are so blessed.  There were about 50 people that joined us on this special day.  Barrett is one loved baby.

He did pretty good.  He cried and cried leading up to everything.  I can't remember for sure but I don't think he cried when Father Deering actually poured the water on him.

I thought this was a cute picture of John and Hope's shoes.

Barrett and Father Deering.  He also married us.

My sweet family.

Sweet baby.

Us with my brother, Hope, Elizabeth and Clay.  I was so thankful that they were able to make the trip from Atlanta.  It really meant a lot to me.

Us with our parents.  (This seems like so long ago.)

I love this picture!

My sweet cousins loving on my baby.  I loved growing up with these boys and there is nothing sweeter than seeing people you love love your child.

Ava is Patrick and my Goddaughter.  Our Goddaughter and our son napping.

I loved having my family over to celebrate with lunch at our home.  I loved watching the kids run and play in my back yard.  I loved sharing Barrett's nursery and all the little details we worked on to make it his and special.  I don't think I'll ever be able to express how blessed and loved we felt by the people that spent this day with us.  It was so special.