Jesus Loves the Little Children

This weekend we had the very great pleasure of having Brenden and Lauren baptized at the First Presbyterian Church in Independence. They were the 4th generation of Kellys to be baptized in this beautiful church and we are all so grateful and thankful that we were able to share this day with our family.

We met with the minister before the service and found out that it was her first day at the church. Their regular minister was on sabbatical so we were making this day quite eventful for her! She was wonderful and Brenden was completely comfortable with her from the beginning. She explained how it would all work, what was expected of us, and even let Brenden help get the water.

Brenden was great during the service. He stood still, let her place the water on his head, and shook her hand. Lauren was the complete opposite. She was a screaming mess with two days of non-napping. (ETA: I forgot that while she was being blessed, Lauren decided to play in the baptismal water. We were told ahead of time that if she did that it was okay, but what we didn't expect was for her to then splash water at the minister and then herself! Silly girl!) We made it through and Rev. Fran even blessed the crosses my parents bought the kids.

We herded the kids down the aisle so that the congregation could see them and Lauren was adamant about walking. Eventually she made it to the end and even shook one man's hand. Brenden happily marched down the aisle, ever the attention seeker. Then they were able to go play in the nursery with their grandmas and were even given some fruity snacks, which were a definite hit.

(A quick Brenden-ism. Right before Children's Church they call all the kids up to the front to have a little chat with the minister. She asked them if they knew about the Pentecost and Brenden piped up and said he did. What did my crazy boy say? "My mommy has Power Rangers!" Lovely...and very memorable.)

After church we had a yummy lunch at El Pablito's (Try the flautas!) and Lauren eventually hit her limit. I took her out to the car and as soon as we got going she was out. Brenden eventually fell asleep, and I may have snoozed a bit as well.

It was a wonderful weekend full of family and we are so glad that we had so many people to celebrate this blessed occasion with us.

Thank you Ginny for helping us set everything up!