Lura and Cheryl's Baptism, 19 October 2003

Lura & Cheryl in Church

On 19 October 2003, Lura and Cheryl were baptized during the morning church service. Lura wore the long gown in which many of her relatives had been baptized, including her cousins, Mark and his siblings, and other kin back to her great-grandfather (Mark's mother's father)!

Us and Dad

Mark's Dad had flown in for the occasion; he wore the aloha shirt we had given him at our wedding in Hawaii, so Mark wore one of his "Hawaiian tuxedos" too! It's the first one Cheryl's family gave him during our first Christmas together.

Us and Amy

Our good friend Amy, whom we had met while performing with The Aerospace Players, had driven in for the weekend from Las Vegas where she now lives, so she was able to be there too. That was a nice surprise!

You'll have noted that Lura was asleep in all the preceding photos, which were shot after the service (with four families in line, it was a little too crowded up by the baptismal font for photos during the service!). She was mostly calm during the service, but she did get a bit restless during the invocation and welcome; Cheryl says that Mark had a "panicked" look on his face, but with a little help from her and Grandpa, Lura settled back down. Cheryl had felt Lura's first definite movement, while she was expecting, during Rev. John Calhoun's sermon back on Easter Sunday, so we kind of expected that Lura would be wiggly when he was baptizing her; but she was "quieter than her father," as he remarked!

Nancy Jo and Lee

Also, Lura was quite calm and attentive during the musical parts of the service, especially during a special duet by two of our choir friends, Nancy Jo and (on recorder here, though she also sang one verse) our organist Lee. These two of Lura's "calabash aunties" sang an old Irish song, "I'll Walk Beside You," before the baptism; it was a beautiful gift! (They're pictured here rehearsing before the service; Nancy Jo's husband John took the photo, as well as all the others on this page.)

Party after church

We hadn't planned to have a party after church, like the beautiful one for Stella that Mark had attended after her baptism; however, we decided to have a few friends over for lunch. Here we are opening some of the gifts they brought Lura.

Cake

John and Nancy Jo had brought this beautiful cake as well, so I guess that makes it a party! All our choir friends, and other friends in the church, have made us feel very much part of the family--first Mark, then Cheryl, and now Lura. Ours is a pretty informal kind of a church, so we didn't formally designate godparents for Lura; however, that's certainly part of how we regard all our choir friends!

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new 2 November 2003