Baptism

On Sunday, December 23rd, Ella was baptized at Christ Lutheran Church by Pastor Russ Gordon. Pastor Russ officiated at our wedding in 2006, so it was fitting that he baptize the new addition to our family in 2007. My parents have been members of the congregation for more than 30 years, and my brother Ben and I were baptized there when we were little, so we have a long-standing history with the church and the people there.

Ella's godmothers are Dymphna McGrath, Michael's sister, and Laverne Lunde, a close family friend. Dymphna lives in Melbourne, Australia, and could not attend the ceremony, but was there in spirit. Laverne was Ben's and my violin teacher for many years, her husband, the late Pastor David Lunde, was the Pastor of the church for many years, and Andra and Mari, Laverne's daughters, are also good friends. Laverne, Mari and Andra are professional musicians, and played at our wedding. Laverne is also the Music Director at Christ Lutheran, so there are a lot of dimensions to our long-standing friendship.

Ella woke around 615 a.m. on the morning of the baptism, so Michael and I were expecting a meltdown when the time for the service finally arrived at 10 a.m. Fortunately, Pastor scheduled the baptism at the front end of the service so Ella wouldn't have to wait for a long time. Right after the welcome and opening hymn, the baptism portion of the service began.

Michael and I held her for the opening words and prayers and handed her over to Laverne at the appropriate point in the ceremony (whom Ella had met only once before briefly on our trip to California in October, when she was 3+ months old). Laverne was wearing several strands of beads, so Ella was content to play with her necklace. Pastor took Ella in his arms to perform the baptism, and she looked serious and slightly confused by it all ("he's putting water on my head but I'm not taking a bath?"). Once he'd finished drying her head, he walked her down the center aisle of church so everyone at the service could see her. Ella surprised us by staying calm.

Once the baptism was over, we took Ella outside to feed her and then Michael took her for a walk in the stroller where she promptly fell asleep. She woke up right at the end of the service, just in time for the coffee hour and post-church celebration, including a cake to celebrate her baptism. Many friends were eager to hold her after church, so she was passed around to a lot of new faces, and she received several gifts.

Jan Rosendahl embroidered a red cross and lace on the white cloth handkerchief that Pastor used to dry Ella's head, and Lucy Hughes gave Ella a beautiful book, a dress and shoes, and Ella's initials in the form of pale pink porcelain letters threaded with ribbon for hanging on a wall or door.

Laverne gave Ella a silver snowflake ornament engraved with Ella's full name on one side and the date of her baptism on the other. Dymphna and Daniel gave her a pretty bracelet and a porcelain figurine of an angel.