Hannah's Baptism

 

"Does she know how important she is to our family of faith? Does she know the joy and laughter and hope for the future she provides for all of us? I've never known a seven year old to have so much influence and inspiration for a church! She very well may be the most significant part of our body at this present moment." 

Those are words the pastor of our church wrote to us about Hannah a few months ago. What wonderful things to say about our sweet Hannah!

We were very proud and excited when she decided that she wanted to take the next step in her faith journey and get baptized. Our children's minister, Amanda, came over to our house and met with Hannah to chat with her and answer all her questions. She told us that she knew Hannah was ready a while back when she saw her playing with a younger kid at church one Sunday. They were in the children's area and Hannah was teaching this 3-year-old girl the bible stories she knew. They have boxes with figurines and props that they use to tell the stories and Hannah just went through several boxes and laid out the bible stories for this little girl. Amanda said that's when she realized that those bible stories were Hannah's stories now and that they were in her heart. (cue the tears!) I am just so very proud of her. 

She wasted no time once she made the decision to get baptized and wanted to do it the very next week. We had a wonderful celebration with almost her entire family present (and the rest there in spirit watching online!) We had some special touches like during the baptism the organist played 'Now Thank We All Our God' in the background, which was sung at my baptism and at our wedding. We also had an important family minister there as a guest- Dr. Midkiff, who baptized Stephen, and did his ordination, and officiated our wedding. It was such a special day in the life of our family. 

Hannah got lots of really thoughtful gifts like an engraved cross necklace, Stephen's childhood bible, several journals and devotionals, a bible from the church, an engraved frame with her name and baptism date, Christmas ornaments and a jewelry box. Stephen and I gifted her a set of ruby and white sapphire earrings and necklace to commemorate her baptism since ruby is the birth stone for July. She also got an extra special gift on the Sunday she made her profession of faith- a beautiful rainbow! It was so pretty and perfectly timed on that day that I went to get her out of bed so she could see it :)

"This is the water of creation. It is the water of the great flood. It's the water that the people of God walked through into freedom. It's the water that Jesus was baptized in, and today it is the water that you are baptized in, because Hannah, you have chosen Jesus. You have decided that your good shepherd will be Jesus, and you have decided that your work will be to make God's dream come true. "