(Photo by David St George)So Sunday dawned bright and clear, which was a big relief because the weather forecast had been for drizzle (instead it held off til Monday). We managed to leave for the church in plenty of time which is just about a world first for us :-) Father Martin rang just before we were about to leave, possibly to make sure we were still coming, but to tell us to wait in the church foyer as we were to process in with Jeremy's godparents. His godfather, Clayton Oldham, and his family were staying with us so they arrived at the same time as us, and his godmother, Rachel Fromont, arrived with not a moment to spare :-P
For those who don't know the godparents: Clayton used to work with Dave at Harrison Grierson, before the Oldham's moved to their farm near Rotorua. They are great friends of ours and we have stayed with them many times (and they have even hosted JJ for a weekend once already). Special thanks to them for making the trip up - it was a shame they had to leave before lunch but they had animals to take care of on the farm. Rachel is an old friend of mine - and you may remember she sang at our wedding. I am looking forward to being matron of honour (which sounds so OLD!) at her wedding next year (2009 seemed impossibly far away when we started talking about the date, now it's on our doorstep!).
We expected that Helensville at 9am on a Sunday would be too difficult for most people, so we expected pretty much only family at St Joseph's and more friends for lunch, but we were very pleasantly surprised to see so many of our friends at the church. Jeremy behaved very nicely during mass which is quite miraculous in itself, an hour is a long time to be quiet for a baby. He didn't cry during the actual baptism - waving his fingers in the air like he does under the shower - and didn't object to being put into what his father called a dress ;-) unless you count the way he burped at the priest during the final blessing. We had taken some goodies to the church to accompany the usual tea and coffee so more special thanks to Elaine and Mum for those.
Back home and the sun was shining brightly, JJ went down easily for a nap, the big gazebo was put up without too much drama, punch was poured and food set out. We had heaps of yummy food - I relinquished control and asked friends to bring a plate of finger food which was a bit of a wrench for me to be honest but it worked out great!!! Thanks for all the yummy food everybody (and thanks for manning the barbeque, Andrew).
It was lovely to have so many babies there for lunch as well, JJ is blessed to have lots of little friends already. It was also great to have some friends there for Beans (particularly Louie, who came with Liz and Peter Godfrey) so he didn't feel too left out.
We had a fantastic afternoon in the sun - hopefully nobody got sunburnt! - with approximately 40 guests which was just the right number for a gathering. I'm sorry Dave, Jeremy and I didn't get to spend much time with every individual but it seemed like everybody had a good time.
Particular thanks must go to our friend David St George who made the trip up from Wellington and has taken some absolutely stunning photographs of the day. He is still sorting through them at time of posting but there's a sneak preview up on his website already (click on the picture at the top of the post to go through to view the others).
For those who don't know the godparents: Clayton used to work with Dave at Harrison Grierson, before the Oldham's moved to their farm near Rotorua. They are great friends of ours and we have stayed with them many times (and they have even hosted JJ for a weekend once already). Special thanks to them for making the trip up - it was a shame they had to leave before lunch but they had animals to take care of on the farm. Rachel is an old friend of mine - and you may remember she sang at our wedding. I am looking forward to being matron of honour (which sounds so OLD!) at her wedding next year (2009 seemed impossibly far away when we started talking about the date, now it's on our doorstep!).
We expected that Helensville at 9am on a Sunday would be too difficult for most people, so we expected pretty much only family at St Joseph's and more friends for lunch, but we were very pleasantly surprised to see so many of our friends at the church. Jeremy behaved very nicely during mass which is quite miraculous in itself, an hour is a long time to be quiet for a baby. He didn't cry during the actual baptism - waving his fingers in the air like he does under the shower - and didn't object to being put into what his father called a dress ;-) unless you count the way he burped at the priest during the final blessing. We had taken some goodies to the church to accompany the usual tea and coffee so more special thanks to Elaine and Mum for those.
Back home and the sun was shining brightly, JJ went down easily for a nap, the big gazebo was put up without too much drama, punch was poured and food set out. We had heaps of yummy food - I relinquished control and asked friends to bring a plate of finger food which was a bit of a wrench for me to be honest but it worked out great!!! Thanks for all the yummy food everybody (and thanks for manning the barbeque, Andrew).
It was lovely to have so many babies there for lunch as well, JJ is blessed to have lots of little friends already. It was also great to have some friends there for Beans (particularly Louie, who came with Liz and Peter Godfrey) so he didn't feel too left out.
We had a fantastic afternoon in the sun - hopefully nobody got sunburnt! - with approximately 40 guests which was just the right number for a gathering. I'm sorry Dave, Jeremy and I didn't get to spend much time with every individual but it seemed like everybody had a good time.
Particular thanks must go to our friend David St George who made the trip up from Wellington and has taken some absolutely stunning photographs of the day. He is still sorting through them at time of posting but there's a sneak preview up on his website already (click on the picture at the top of the post to go through to view the others).
1 comment:
I've already said this on David's blog but wow! what awesome photos! Sounds like a great day was had by all, wish we could have been there.
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