Heaven Rejoices - Washed by the Water

When a new child of God enters the family of God, heaven rejoices - and we joined in that rejoicing when Kaleb made the decision to be baptized this year.  He was baptized in a private ceremony at the Forest Lake Church on Labor day Monday September 5th at 4P.

Kaleb chose to have a private ceremony as he wanted to have a little program and invite people - both families and friends - that had been important to him over his lifetime.  Amy and Kaleb spent a lot of time planning out the details of the baptism, and the day turned out perfectly - with a few moments of "oh no" thrown in!

The only true moment of "oh no" was when Amy, Zachary and Addison went to the church in the morning to set up the reception area (light food and drinks were served after the baptism) and at the end, Addison went in to look at the baptismal tank and came out saying "There is no water in the tank!"  We quickly called Pastor Jennifer who sent her hubby Bruce over to fill it.  Disaster averted, or so we thought until we got there about 45 minutes before the ceremony and there was a man there who came out saying "when the baptism, I just drained the tank because it was dirty water?"  Umm, in 45 minutes!!!  And the tank takes that long to fill!  thankfully they were able to get it filled in time, but the heater in the tank was broken so the water was BRISK - thankfully Kaleb didn't think it was too terrible so it was only poor Pastor Jennifer (aka life-time daytime Mom now turned children's pastor) who suffered in the frigid water.  For the love of a child....

The lobby refreshment table set up all ready to go!

Thank you Pastor Jennifer for being an amazing daytime mom, a spiritual leader for our kids and others, and for loving these kids beyond measure.

The ceremony turned out lovely, and there were about 50 people who attended.  We had a welcome, a family Bible blessing of claimed promises,  short video that Kaleb put together of why he wanted to be baptized and his favorite Bible verses that he wanted to claim as his own, the baptism, a beautiful "Great is Thy Faithfulness" piano piece played by Miss Esther (his voice and Uno Voce leader), and then a final family prayer.

In the baptismal gowns, ready to go

We know that God and His angels were singing during the service, and as parents we couldn't be happier for Kaleb.  Amy tried hard not to cry during the service and made it pretty well through before her voice started to crack 😂

Welcome to God's family Kaleb - we are so proud of you and your decision!

The kids that were there for the service

The attendees mingling afterwards in the lobby with refreshments

The following Sabbath, the church shared the snippet of the baptism and welcomed Kaleb to the Forest Lake Church family!

Miss Linka making the announcement and welcoming him

The church videoed the full program, but it will be too large to post on this particular entry, so we will see if we can post it on a separate blog post - so stay tuned!