Baptism

Baptism was a special time marked by a religious ceremony and family for my first two children. Looking back on each of their Baptism's I seemed to have coasted through each, not fully realizing the significant meaning of this act of faith. Being a very young mother probably had something to do with my perspective then. As I have grown up and matured, I have also grown and matured in my Faith and in my relationship with the Lord. Having said all of that, it was significantly different Baptizing my third child - Madelyn Qiu Ying Portie. I fully understood this monumental moment in Maddie's life (although she may not right now) and am so happy that she has been baptized and is now a part of God's Faith Filled family of believers. The gift of Faith is probably one of the greatest gifts, we as a family can offer to Madelyn.

We had such a wonderful celebration at church and afterwards a reception at our home with close family and friends. We are so thankful for all those that took time out of their busy weekend to not only attend the festivities but offered their assistance with getting my house ready, cooking, making a beautiful and special cake and setting up for lunch. I am very blessed to have such great friends and family - and Maddie is certainly blessed to have so many people that love her so dearly.

Maddie was definitely a handful during the ceremony, as she had been quiet and still for the 1st hour during mass. I guess asking her to be still for another hour was a little much. She wiggled and talked (quite loudly) during the ceremony. She eventually grew weary of wearing her pretty white dress shoes and took both her shoes and socks off. If you look closely at the picture of me holding her by the Baptismal - she is barefooted. We had a good giggle at the Deacon's many attempts to pronounce Madelyn's middle name - I repeated it 4 times before he kinda gotta right. I don't think he was prepared for such a different middle name.

Maddie has been enjoying the summer and school. WOW has she been talking up a storm. She is talking in complete sentences 4-5 words long. She talks in more complete sentences than Christopher does - lol (That's a 16 year old boy for you). Lizzy just returned from Camp Champions after 3 weeks and immediately noticed the difference in how much and how clear Maddie is talking. What a difference 3 weeks can make.

As I just mentioned, Lizzy got home from Camp after being gone for 3 weeks. Maddie was so excited to see her and so was I. She hesitated as if she didn't think it was really her and then they embraced. She stuck to Lizzy's side all day and night. It was sweet to see the love that these 2 sisters have for each other.

We will be taking a quick trip to the Woodlands Resort for a long 4th of July weekend. I am looking forward to spending quality time with all 3 of the kids and having some fun in the sun.