In the last 8 days, Henry and I were both baptized-one in the Baptist Church and one in the Presbyterian Church. Let me explain. Andrew, Henry and I regularly attend the Baptist Church within walking distance from our house, but in order to become members, I needed to be baptized by immersion because this denomination does not recognize the infant baptism I received with my Presbyterian upbringing. Because Andrew had already been baptized by immersion, he got to stay dry. Here are two pictures from my baptism last week:
And although I plan on continuing to attend the Baptist Church with my family, I still treasure the aforementioned tradition of infant baptism and wanted to have Henry baptized. My parents' church out in Havana has been so wonderful in welcoming Henry into a community of Christ and today was no exception. It was hard to get a good picture of Henry in his little linen suspenders suit because he was squirming so much (I might dress him in it again and get some pictures because it was pretty darn cute).
It was so cute- just as Reverend Bess turned to Henry to tell him about Jesus' love for him, Henry had just spotted a little kid in the front row and was smiling away. It was perfectly timed :)
One set of proud grandparents look on (the other set were just as proud, and there in spirit)
Henry did really well during the actual baptism. He almost let out a wail during the thrd dip, but maintained.
Although you can tell he wasn't quite as happy with a wet head
So I got really excited to make Henry his first cake and sort of bit off more than I could chew. I decided to take on a large fondant cake and, late last night, was really sorry I did! I made three cakes- two for the double layers- and a third so I could cut a cross out of it. Then I made my own buttercream frosting (that part actually turned out pretty well). And then I started the beast they call fondant and although I was able to get it off the rolling pin and onto the cake, it was not as smooth as fondant should be and I didn't end up getting to make the colors I wanted for the cake, so I just did two tones of pale green. I wanted to do some sort of piping or decoration around the bottom of the cake but I was simply too tired from a long day of baking (I had to make a second trip to the store... who knew fondant required eight cups of powdered sugar?!) and Henry-wrangling (it was a tough day for me and Drew in terms of Henry; he was so fussy that we thought he had an ear infection or something) and I still had to iron his little baptism outfit and take a shower. Pre-Henry, I probably would not have rested until the project was completed to my satisfaction, but I'm glad that this little newcomer has helped me learn to embrace my imperfection.
Andrew later pointed out the irony in my using devil's food cake for a baptism cake.
And here's our little windblown family in front of the biggest tree trunk you've ever seen.
