Twins's Baptism

Whew, who would have thought it would have been so difficult to get the babies baptized in the Catholic Church!  We really wanted to baptize the twins at St. Cecilia Church in Ames, since that was where we were married and where Alena was baptized.  When Alena was baptized, we were able to do a private baptism in the Burke Chapel (which is also significant to us, as the Burke's are our neighbors).  After communicating with the baptism coordinator in Ames, I quickly learned that baptising the twins in a private ceremony, let alone in the Burke Chapel, was not an option.  A new priest had recently started at St. Cecilia and he was all about The Canon Law.  This indicates that all baptisms must be done in front of the congregation. 

We had taken a baptism preparation class for Alena's baptism, so I didn't think we would need to take another class.  I was wrong.  We decided to take the preparation class at our local church, St. Pius, to save a trip up to Ames.  Finally, one of the Godparents must be a practicing catholic who goes to church regularly, because St. Cecilia requires a letter from the parish the Godparent attends indicating he/she is confirmed and does attend church.  It took a little time, but three days before the Baptism, St. Cecilia finally had everything they needed and they gave us the go ahead to baptize the twins on April 14th at the 8:30 mass.

We chose my brother, Jason, as the twins's Godfather, and my friend Lisa Nelson, as their Godmother.  We chose to not have separate Godparents for each twin.  Lisa and I have been friends since the Fall of 1999 when we met in our first college class, and she has been like a sister to me since that time.  Jason was unfortunately unable to come back for the Baptism, so Justin's brother, James stood in as proxy.

Ironically, another set of twins (girls) were also baptized at the same time.  Caleb and Lauren were great during the service.  Caleb slept after his baptism, while Lauren chatted away.  Caleb wore the baptism outfit that cousin Jonathan wore for his Baptism, and Lauren wore what Alena wore for her Baptism.  Lauren and Alena's dress was made from my wedding dress and the wedding dresses of both grandmas. 

After the ceremony, we all gathered at my parents house for a brunch.  We are so thankful for all the family and friends who could attend the ceremony.  It was very important to Justin and I that all of our children be baptized.