Thursday, February 08, 2007

The Libby Christening Gown

Passed down my Mom's side of the family is a gorgeous christening gown which my Great Grandfather, Grandfather, Mom, and I all wore to our infant baptisms.
Danny and I have decided not to baptize our children as infants, instead they will be "dedicated" to the Lord as children. This has much the same meaning as the infant baptism I experienced. It is a promise by the parents and congregation to raise the child in the faith. (Baptism has nothing to do with salvation as some faiths believe.) It is a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as your personal savior.
My infant baptism was "confirmed" when I professed my faith by joining my (Presbyterian) church at 13. (I did feel led to be baptized as an adult as a public profession of my faith and obedience.)
Because the baby dedications our church does are much less formal and later in life than newborn baptism, I choose to photograph Joey and Abby in the christening gown. We hope that someday our children will treasure these photos of themselves in this heirloom gown. We also look forward to the day they decide to be baptized as their own personal profession of faith!
Here is Joey in November of 2004. He is almost 4 months old and about the same size as Abby is now at 8 months! I remember thinking Joey looked feminine in these photos, but it is amazing to look at them and see so much boy in Joey! Especially compared to my fair girl! Boy, he was a chunk! His arms were already so long in the sleeves!
It's also quite evident I'm a much better photographer now with a much better camera. Thank you Matt Lang!

Here is Miss Abby at 8 months old. She is all girl! My angel! On second glance, her arms look too long for the sleeves too. But, she is 4 months older than Joey in these photos!

2 comments:

Shereen said...

After seeing the picture your daughter, your son does look very boyish. How wonderful that it has been saved all of these years. It looks great considering so many have worn it. Thanks for sharing. The pictures do look great. I look forward to seeing lots more pictures and posts.

The Fox said...

Aww, Abby looks so curious! Maybe Joey will be the football player and Abby will be the mathematician/scientist....