Aspen's Baptism

Last Sunday we had Aspen's baptism in the Catholic Church. We decided to do the baptism at the same church where we did our marriage prep through and also where Everly, Cameron and Teddy were all baptized at. It is closer to our old house and we don't go there for mass anymore but paperwork-wise it was easier to do it there...or so we thought. All of the other baptisms went pretty well, but the baptism coordinator quit a couple of weeks ago and so I think that what happened on Sunday was a result of new staff. Ultimately our baby is baptized and that is great, but wow, it took forever. There were only two other babies being baptized that morning so it should not have taken long but the Deacon did all of these extra steps and almost did a mini-mass after mass (with unplanned readings one of which was done by my brother-in-law who volunteered to help). Each family also had a toddler with them too and although Everly did well, I was nearing the time that Aspen needed to eat again and I couldn't just leave for 20-30 minutes. Everything was just so drawn out and unnecessary and it really made for an exhausting morning. For example, the last picture below the deacon is putting this oil on Aspen's head. In previous baptisms this was done with the water and very quickly but on this day, the Deacon made us all smell the oil first and then he put it on each of the babies. It was little things like that which just didn't need to happen. The mass and baptism ended up taking like 3 hours and by the time we got back to the house we were all starving. Thankfully we had planned subs for lunch and my mom and sister made them ahead of time so we just had to put them out when we got home. I felt so bad for the people who came to the baptism because it took so long and I did not prepare anyone for that. Everyone was great though and it is nice that we have that out of the way. Aspen also wore the same gown that was my grandfather's. My mom and her siblings wore it along with me and my sisters and Everly and her cousins. I actually had to get it back from one of my cousins who baptized her son in it. I love that our family still has this gown cycling through everyone. Also, thanks to my sister and brother-in-law for taking pictures!

The blessing during mass and Aspen being an angel. 

The whole group and my sister and brother-in-law. 

 

 

These two are trouble!

 

 

Godfather lighting the candle and blessing with the oil.