A New High

This weekend, on the eve of the Baptism of Our Lord, we celebrated the baptism of Juliana Therese. I thought that Christmas Mass would be the high point of our entire adoption journey-- this weekend I found out I was mistaken. Don't get me wrong, being together for the first time at Mass as a family with Juliana was incredible and certainly a Christmas Mass we will always remember. However, yesterday Juliana's adoption was finally complete as she was welcomed into our eternal family through Baptism.

I have on many occasions held this little child and felt so much love for her. I am grateful for the opportunity to feed her, to clothe her, to hold her and to love her. I know that these are good, but they pale in comparison to the gift she was given at her baptism. Bringing her into the Church is the absolute pinnacle of this adoption.

It was a beautiful ceremony. The priest who celebrated is a good friend and an incredible priest. He used portions of the old rite, and sang many parts. It was a truly remarkable ceremony. Juliana being older than a newborn (all my other girls were less than a month old), was squirmy and difficult to contain at times. She especially didn't like the water, but who can blame the child it was a wintry January day and she was in a short sleeved gown.

I just can't tell you how blessed I felt to hold this little one and welcome her into God's family.