Seth Ryan Goedken's Baptism

"Nobody said we were going to have water here.

I'm going to keep an eye on my cousins.

If they go in the pool, I'm going in, too."

Godfather and Godmother with Seth

Seth Ryan Goedken's baptism.

Deacon Mike's sermon was a perfect delivery of an outstanding message.

The night after you bring your child home from the hospital and he wakes up in the night, 

you both rush into his room and stand there looking in awe upon your child.

"That's our baby.  Isn't he wonderful?"

After a month of waking up in the middle of the night, 

you nudge your spouse and say,

"It's your turn to take care of the baby."

After the months drag on, you groan, 

"Your baby is awake.  Take care of him."

Then he turns two and he learns the word, "NO" and it's all you hear from him.

Then he turns sixteen and you wish,, "NO" was all he would say to you.

But at what point do you not love this child of yours?

There is nothing he could do that would stop you from loving him.

And so much more does God love us.

Despite what we do, or how we fail, God's love is constant.

God's arms are always inviting us back.

We always have our home with God.

"Don't try to jump in now.  They're watching."

Patrick and Rebecca were one of the first to arrive.

Matt told Rebecca she had to be there early.

He was tempted to give her an earlier time for the baptism.

Some of the guests requested a slice of cake with frosting only.

It was cream cheese frosting.

That's easier to accommodate than a request for a piece from the center.

Megan's "Uncle," Dale, was visiting for the Baptism and noticed Matt drinking coffee.  

Never having seen him drink coffee before, he asked Matt when he had started.

Matt looked at Megan and asked, "How old is Seth, now?"

Gramma and Grampa's godson, TJ, takes his turn holding Seth.

Seth knows he's in capable hands.

Cousin Danny can make you feel like you're on top of the world.

It's so precious to see the older cousins stepping up to be the role models.

We hope they don't teach the younger ones everything they know.

Aunt Linda told me a story from Mitchel's baptism.

We had driven for over seven hours to get there.  

After an hour at the baptism, Matt was getting antsy.

Linda leaned over and said to Matt, 

"I'll bet you're glad you drove all day for this."

Matt looked at Aunt Linda and replied, 

"Gramma Goedken made brownies."