Baptism

What a day, what a perfectly wonderful day.

First we were blessed, or rather Madeleine & Luke were blessed to have some of the coolest Godparents ever. Vic & Isabelle. For those who know us, you know Vic as my long-lost-French brother. For those who don't, here is a brief re-cap:

{when I was 4 {Faith's age, actually younger than Faith is now} my parents thought it would be a GREAT EXPERIENCE to have a young, French teenager come live in their house with their young daughter. {since becoming a parent, I am now thinking my parents were crazy} HOWEVER, Vic was my brother. I do believe I had somehow told myself he was always my brother, he just lived in France and talked funny. My greatest challenge was teaching him how to pronounce the letter "r"...  oh the French!  since is brief and exciting study stateside, my parents have made a very strong effort to keep Vic in their lives, and mine, too. They visited him a few times, and I did, for the first time, around 7th grade. Then Vic & his wife, Isabelle, came to our wedding and since then, we have all been seeing each other pretty regularly, and often in New York City. With our recent residence in Paris, Vic and his family were only a train ride away, in the beautiful southern France, in a gorgeous town called Grasse, only minutes from the well-known Cannes & Nice ---- oh living on the French Riviera must be awful! SO naturally our family has come to embrace our French family as one of us, as well, and I am ever grateful to my parents for being completely crazy 26 some-odd years ago!}

introductions in the back of the church before mass ; blessings after the Homily

Luke & Madeleine

Garments & Candles & photo ops!

Everyone who shared in this special day -THANK YOU- {thank you also for sitting through the notoriously crowded 10 am mass}

And some party shots...

{this is my favorite picture of my dad - classic Pop}

Vic & Isabelle as brought some very special gifts from France for everyone. In France, the Baptisms are celebrated like weddings, with lots of special things, like cakes, and favors.  Vic & Isabelle brought the most adorable favors for all of our guests and we were so blessed to be able to celebrate and share this day with everyone.

David and I feel so lucky to have so many people in our lives who are an extension of our family. They love and support us, reach out to us, pray for us and love to celebrate with us.  We feel very blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful friends and family. Thank you all for sharing this special day!

Easter & Baptism

Yes, it has been awhile, but we have had a super busy house.

First came David's birthday...here is a little picture of Faith & David at his first birthday dinner.(and a picture of Faith getting her toes done for the celebratory weekend)

Easter was wonderful with our precious girls. It started out on Saturday where we took them to church with my family t bless our Easter baskets, complete with our family eggs, butter cross (see picture) bread, egg ball(i don't know how to spell the actual name, but it sounds like 'hu-ruut-ka'), ham, & more. It was really sweet to see this year, since Faith went last Ester with my mom.

Sunday was a day full of fun. Faith was super excited to find eggs at he house and a basket full of Disney movies and other goodies, yet she remembers most that the Easter Bunny brought her Princess Band-Aids. :) Then it was off to my parent's house for some more egg searching and a traditional meal before church. The girls were dressed alike..... loved it.... and everyone was on their best behavior.After church it was off to David's parents house for more egg searching a a delicious lunch. I say 3 egg hunts in one day is plenty fun for Miss Faith. Finally we wrapped up the night with a Easter dinner celebration with friends. (no egg hunt, just lots more food). Wonderful, joyous day!

Then this past week Isabelle participated in the Sacrament of Baptism, a very special day for our family. Isabelle's Godmother, Siobhan flew in from San Jose with her precious youngest son, George and Auntie Cody (one of my sorority sisters, and my great-grand-little) made the drive up from Houston to share in the celebration. Saturday we had a party at our house to celebrate with friends & family. Our house was full of people & overflowing with love for Isabelle, and Faith. It was amazing to be surrounded by so many people who wanted to share in this special day. David & I were truly touched by all the wonderful cards, gifts, comments and really just the people who came. Our house was full of love and laughter... THANK YOU to everyone.

Sunday was the actual Baptism & we were just shocked/blessed/overjoyed with the crowd of friends and family who came to witness this Sacrament. It was very special because even though we had friends & family travel to NC for Faith's there was just so many more who came to see Isabelle's now that we were here, in Texas. Isabelle wore the same Baptismal gown Faith wore, I wore, & my mom and her sibling wore... and as Father Postell noted, it came over on the Mayflower. :) Thank you from both David and myself, for celebrating with us, we were over joyed. After the precious ceremony we attended mass then off to our Martin Family favorite, Grimaldi's for lunch. David & I were especially happy Grimaldi's would accommodate our little crowd of 15+ because we could not think of a better place. Faith especially enjoys the pizza dough they provide for her entertainment.

Once again, we would like to thank all the family and friends who shared in this Sacrament with Isabelle and our family. :) I do apologize for the delay in photo sharing. I had my camera plus my mom's to upload full of fun from these past two weekends... finding time to upload/organize & post is a bit tricky these days. :)