On Thursday night, Chad's parents flew in town. They live in Texas and we really don't get to see them that often- the norm was like twice a year- but this year, we've gotten to see them more. But what makes this a really big deal is that Chad's mom (aka Grandma) does NOT like to fly. Like at all. But Gabe, not knowing this about his Grandma, decided that he really needed them both here in order for the baptism to be a success. So he drew them a picture, connecting Georgia and Texas with a cross and mailed it to them. If you didn't already know about the unseen power of grandchildren, then this will demonstrate it for sure: They called the day they got the letter about booking a flight. Now is that love, or what?
On Friday night, we got to celebrate Grandma's birthday and Mother's Day with them, and on Saturday morning we all went to Gabe's last soccer game of the season. Then Saturday afternoon we began "getting ready" because on baptism day, everyone, from all sides of of Gabe's families were invited over to our house for lunch. Grandma and I got to work in the kitchen and Chad and Grandpa helped with the list for a little while before getting a list together of their own and started fixing things that I never even knew were broken!
Saturday night we enjoyed a cookout with my Dad's side of the family. And managed to get to bed somewhat early.
When we woke up on Sunday morning Gabe said "It's May 16th- finally! Today is my bab-bah-tism." (Yes, he still calls it his "bab-bah-tim" and I can't find one good reason for correcting this pronunciation.) We were all so excited. Once we got to church, Gabe was getting a little nervous, but Chad was still cool as a cucumber, although he the one having to do some public speaking before baptizing his eldest son.
But when the time came, it was more precious than we all imagined. Gabe's video testimony was awesome- it's no wonder The Bible urges us all to have faith like a child. They just get it- and it's simple, and real, and Truth. Angela (Gabe's mom) got choked up immediately, causing Chad to get choked up and look at me, and I found myself wiping my face with Max's burp cloth for the remainder of the time. Chad's wording and conversation with Gabe beforehand was awesome- it just made me proud to be married to him, and to get to raise children with him. Gabe looked at his dad while he talked with such admiration.
Then it was party time. Me and Grandma slipped out of church early to get everything together in the kitchen before everyone showed up... but we didn't quite slip out early enough! We had about 5 minutes before cars started pulling in... lots of cars... and I had not set the AC low enough before church. But Angela, her mom, her grandmother, and her aunt jumped in right away, and we had dinner on the table before too much sweating was done.
There was enough food to feed an army- an army of approximately 45! That's right, there are over 45 people between Chad's family, my family, Angela's family, and Shawn's family (Gabe's stepdad), and our support systems, that love Gabe and wanted to celebrate this awesome profession he made. There were even more than 45 at church, standing up to support him as he got baptized.
[caption id="attachment_440" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Because of rain (that never happened) we had to set the extra tables in the garage!"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_441" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Max had watermelon for the first time at Gabe's party-- it's his new favorite thing and his reason for living. The funniest part is that it makes him burp like crazy!"]
[/caption]My hope is that when Gabe gets older and is able to rationalize things, he'll notice how everyone came together for this one event, more so than anything else in his life, and see it a testament to how incredibly important it is to have Jesus in your heart. Hopefully, he'll live in the the truth that there is nothing in his life that will be a bigger deal than this- not his graduation, his wedding, his children's birth- nothing! And as Chad pointed our during his baptism, all of the love, from all of the people that gathered on Sunday, does NOT even compare to the amount of perfect love his Heavenly Father has for him. Go Gabe and Go God!
Blessed, blessed, SO stinkin blessed!
So sweet! Congratulations!!
ReplyDelete