We attended Ethan’s baptism yesterday.   Little "E" did great!   This was the first Catholic baptism that Rob & I have ever attended so it was quite an experience for us.

First off, we arrived at the ceremony right after attending a funeral (talk about a yin-yang situation).   We were a little early for the baptism (we thought we were right on time) and there were people gathered and singing.   We slipped in on the back row next to Pete & Becky (the only faces we recognized) and tried to get into the flow of the ceremony.   There was a lot of knee-bench kneeling, chanting and other stuff going on.   I asked Pete where the baby was and he informed us that the baptism would take place after mass was over.   Mass???   Uh oh, we had just walked in on the end of a Catholic church service; no wonder we were so lost!   I didn’t even know they’d let you in without a membership card or at least knowing all the hand signals.   ;-)

After we finished up with mass, we moved up closer to the front so we would have a good view of the baptism.   Finally, Clems & family showed up and we were relieved to see some familiar faces.   We were still lost with all the ceremonial stuff and not sure how much of it was Catholic ways and how much was Filipino ways (see dress attire in photo) but it was a nice ceremony and Little "E" sure has a lot of family that loves him.

After the ceremony, we headed over to Brenda & Barney’s for a celebration dinner with food and family galore.   It was also an opportunity to spend some time getting to know Clems’ family.   His brother Arnold and parents are in from the Philippines and this was the first time we had ever met his parents.   They’re all very nice people and we feel lucky to be an honarary part of the family.