When we were in Nanchang, one of the things that we did was arranged to have articles of clothing sewn specifically for the christening. Katrine got to chose the material for each item with the one stipulation that it all had to be red (the colour of celebration and good luck). She did a bang up job and we ended up looking quite smashing for the christening. So eye catching that a little girl in the pew infront of us turned around, eyed us all and ernestly asked “Are you Chinese?” Hmmmm, well let’s see two of us are blonde. Hmmm, she must be thinking that we had to be Chinese to wear those clothes. She is about 7, how to answer, how to answer. Katrine pipes up, “Only me and my sister are.” Little girl nods as if that has cleared the matter up and then turns back around. Almost as funny as the time that my mom and I picked Katrine up at Chinese class and the kids looked at the pair of us in confusion before turning to her and asking if her grandmother spoke Chinese. “Nope, just Scottish.” Isn’t it interesting how they try to make sense of their world?
Anyways, back to the christening. We usually sit upstairs at our church where there are less people but yesterday that was out and we sat right up at the front. Man did Elspeth’s eyes get big like saucers when she looked over her shoulder at the rows of people. You could tell that she was already getting a bit stressed.
When we met with the minister in April, we had warned her that Elspeth doesn’t really like getting water put on her head and she should be prepared for some noise. Well, up we go to the front with Karen, Glenn’s sister aka Godmother, and Scott, my brother aka Godfather (thanks guys). Katrine is super excited that she can pour the water into the baptismal font. We repeat our promises to guide Elspeth in the path of Christ and approach the minister who takes Elspeth and begins the placing the water on her head. HOWL!!!! TEARS!!! Okay, return said child to mom as soon as possible. I think the passion of Elspeth’s howls surprised the minister. She was really protesting.
Once back in my arms she wimpered and then went into shut down which lasted until we could escape the sanctuary and go into the nursery which is her normal routine. Poor baby. At least once she was okay, she was okay. She was happy to pose for photos once the service was complete. Thrilled to eat the cupcakes made by Auntie Heather (thank you) and open all of her gifts. It was actually a nice way to spend a Mother’s Day morning….aside from the howling and shut down portions.
Our girls before the service:
The prayer shawl that was given to Elspeth in honour of her christening:
The scrumptious looking cupcakes:
Doesn’t Elspeth look even more angelic now?
