The 12th Baptism Rates a Bishop....

......or A Heathen No More

My bride, who must be an ancestor of the persistent widow in the bible (times 10), managed to weasel her way into getting one of our Bishops to come do the baptism. Bishop Holley of the Diocese of Washington DC agreed to perform the service. He has been one of our auxiliary bishops for years and he confirmed Josh 5 years ago. Bishop Holley is the 8th of 14 children from Baltimore so he probably felt some pity for us.

During her pregnancy Sam heard that there was an old Catholic tradition that the bishop would come and perform the baptism for the 12th child. And after much planning, whining, crying, conniving, blackmailing and extortion she managed to work out the details and we had Kolbe baptized this morning (Saturday) at the 280+ year-old chapel where Sam and I were married and where the other 11 kids were also baptized.

This would have to rank up there as one of the nicest baptisms we have had. The bishop was great, the kids were bathed and even had one clean and wrinkle-free clothes and it only took 8 lollipops to keep the 2 year-old quiet. He still wondered around a bit but the bishop was cool with it. Caleb (16) and Lizzie (15) were the God-parents.

Due to the c-section and the long recovery I talked Sam into agreeing to not have one of our standard 100+ people party. So we just had family members back to the house afterwards and we ordered some pizzas and had some cake. Although after putting up with our families for the day, I think both Sam and I would prefer to have friends over instead (you can pick your friends - family you are stuck with). Just kidding family. We love you and thanks for all the help the last 3 weeks.

As an added bonus Josh was given permission to come home from seminary for the weekend (first time home in 15 months). He flew down from CT on Friday afternoon and flew back this (Sunday) afternoon. We managed to get a few family photos taken while Josh was home, one of which will probably be our Christmas card unless I can find a better picture of a family of 12 on the internet.

Anyway the little fellow did great and the older kids are no longer calling him Damien or Chucky. Here are some pictures from the ceremony. The bishop would be the black guy with the red beanie on - in case you were wondering. The rest of the people are mine. A friends has posted a slideshow of pictures here.