As many of you know, we are Eastern Orthodox.
Today our daughter was baptized at St. Demetrios Orthodox Church in Saco, ME and I
thought I’d share with you some moments from our special day. :-)
Catherine Irene’s patron saint is actually St Irene Chrysovalantou, which means that when she is baptized, ‘Irene’ (or ‘Ειρήνη/Eirini’ in Greek) becomes her Christian first name.
We really love St Catherine of Alexandria, too, and wanted her to also be a part of our daughter’s life.
Thus, she was baptized ‘Ειρήνη-Αικατερινα / Eirini-Aikaterina or Irene-Catherine.
Whew! I know. If you think that was long and complicated, you should try one of the services. ;-)
We love our church, though, and think it is incredibly rad.
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| Max and Nikolia, one of Baby C’s new godsisters |
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| Baby C gon’ get dunked! |
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| Baby C seems far more relaxed about the whole thing than her godpapa. ;-) |
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| Baby girl and her WONDERFUL godmother, Georgia :-) |
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| Our chanters |
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| And… zonk. |
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| Gettin’ ready with Nanny! |
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| She was smiling and cooing and laughing at Fr Basil the entire time. It was splendid. She is a pretty rad chica, that Baby C. Or a pretty rad κορίτσι, I should say. |
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| Still smiling away as she goes into the water |
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| Splash! |
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| Cool as a cucumber. (Seriously, she did NOT CRY AT ALL during the entire thing. She was so peaceful. Not that I should be surprised – that’s how she rolls pretty much all of the time!) |
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| SUPER BABY! |
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| Aaand again |
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| Big smile for Nouna |
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| “Well THAT was different!” |
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| Oily oily oily. Oily. Oily. (Doesn’t look like a real word anymore now, does it!) Oily oily oily oily oily oily oily oily oily oily. Now say it five times fast. |
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| First haircut! |
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| “HEY! You with the scissors! What do you think you’re doing with my, like, three hairs??” |
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| Ready to part-ay. |
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| “I’m getting hungry and no one seems to be feeding me… maybe I’ll just gnaw on this dress.” Nom nom nom. |
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| Eirini and her new godsister Kassiani (She really does like her, I promise. Right now she’s just thinking “Why aren’t you feeding me? WHY ISN’T ANYBODY FEEDING ME???”) |
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| Aaaand… zonk. Again. Post-nursies, at last. |
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| This is what happens when your parents make you get up early and then you run around nonstop with all of your Greek friends for five hours. I know, because it happens to me too. Both the early part and the Greek friends part. Ha. (He seriously was so tired he just plopped down in the middle of the parish hall and stared up at the ceiling. Two of the girls picked him up and swung him onto a table and he continued to just lie there limply. You only have so much energy, I guess! Haha!) |
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| Big happy family… |
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| And bigger happy family! |
Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to join us and help us on this blessed day.
You guys ROCK. Hard.
Also, church folks in Idaho: We miss you tremendously. Wish you’d been here!
Happy tears of Joy, Oh Joy! Thanks for the beautiful photo essay. I feel like I was there.
~Grandpa Dwayne
Thanks Dad! Wish you could have been there in real life!