Eliana was baptized at St. Patrick's Church in Tacoma, WA by Father Seamus. As you can probably tell, Eliana is the light in all of our eyes these days. I consider her our little angel and am so honored to be her godmother. She was on her best behavior for the baptism and brought a smile to everyone's face. Eliana, I wish you all of God's greatest blessings and a life full of love, hope and peace. Thank you for the joy that you have brought into this world. Did you know that the name Eliana means "God has answered our prayers." What truth in that statement!
I will start with the absolute best photo. Thank you, Aunt Cynthia, for capturing this amazingly beautiful moment. And, no, this was not a staged photo, it was completely in the moment.
Proud grandparents:
Proud parents:
Baby girl wanted to play with the candle:
Handsome brother Isaac
And the proud godparents
What a lovely day.
Next up: Becca and I's confirmation. This time we were at Mary Queen of Peace in Sammamish. It was a lovely celebration to wrap up all that we learned during our classes together. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to take the class with Becca and spend our Saturday mornings together. I also want to thank Uncle Ed for being our sponsor and a good model of the Catholic faith and a second father figure in our lives. He and Aunt Cynthia shared some very touching memories with us that weekend and caught some beautiful moments on camera which may require a follow-up post. I can't thank them and our family enough for the support.
Here we are with our sponsors and teacher, Zoltan, on the right.
Confirmed! :)
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Eliana was just as cute this day as she was on baptism day.
I will leave you with the Disturbance Prayer, one that really stood out to me in the confirmation class, thanks to my blessed Jesuit education.
Disturbance Prayer
Lord, make me a channel of disturbance,
Where there is apathy, let me provoke.
Where there is compliance,
let me bring questioning.
Where there is silence, may I be a voice.
Where there is too much comfort
and too little action, grant disruption.
Where there are doors closed
and hearts locked,
grant the willingness to listen.
When laws dictate and pain is overlooked …
When tradition speaks louder than need …
When we refuse to take control
of our own lives … our own people …
our own alienated …
Disturb us O Lord,
teach us to be radical.
Grant that I may seek to do justice
rather than to talk about it;
To be with, as well as for, the alienated;
To love the unlovable as well as the lovely;
To dare to touch the pain
of those we meet;
To accept responsibility
to be truly human.
