Dedication Sunday

This Sunday was Ellie's baby dedication. Note that I said "dedication" and not "baptism." Thank heavens I married into a denomination that doesn't baptize babies -- there could have been serious familial strife if Josh had been intent on sprinkling our child with water. For those of you furrowing your brows at the computer screen, allow me a brief theological ramble before I get to the actual point of this post (which is that the dedication was great).

Baptism is (or should be) an external demonstration of an internal reality -- i.e. a public demonstration of your faith. But babies don't actually have faith, Christian or otherwise. They're funny like that. Therefore, baptizing babies doesn't make much sense. When Ellie is old enough to make the decision for herself, she can choose to be baptized. Or not.

In any case, on Sunday, my parents, Josh's parents, two of his sisters and my best friend joined us at church to dedicate Miss Mouse to the Lord. It's a nice ceremony where the parents, extended family, god-parents, and congregation vow to support and adore her (basically). It was great!

One of the best things about the day was Ellie's outfit. Not just for reasons of adorableness. Ellie was sporting her great-grandfather's Christening jacket. My grandfather wore it in 1920 and it was really special to me to have Ellie wear it, too.