My Baptism

In the last 6 months, Bobby & I have become very involved at Vine Community Church in Carbondale. We made the decision to start attending the church after talking with Bobby's cousin, Justin Huff, who had been attending since coming to SIUC in August of last year. Justin had nothing but great things to say about the church. One of my close friends at work, Jessica Skelcher is a member of the church and very involved. I had heard great things about the Vine from her as well. We had been trying to find a church home for a couple of years and coming from two different church backgrounds, (Bobby-Baptist and Me-Catholic) we had a hard time finding a place that we both liked & felt comfortable. So, when Bobby suggested that we try it out, I was more than happy to attend service the following Sunday.

After just one service, we felt as though the Vine was going to be a great fit for us. We continued to attend services for about 3 weeks when Bobby decided he wanted to start attending a small group/bible study. Jessica and her husband happened to host a small group at their house on Wednesday nights and had already mentioned to me that we could come & check it out, so we did! The rest is pretty much history! We totally hit off with everyone in the group. And have been attending every week since March of this year. Bobby has even started leading our small group once or twice a month to give Darren (Jessica's husband) a break.

So it is safe to say, that we have made Vine Community Church our new church home. We love everything about the church and the people who attend there. We have made wonderful new friends & developed relationships with some that have already made such an impact on our lives. We are currently taking the "Next Step" classes, of which there are 4, in order to become members of the church. Part of becoming a member of the church is being baptized. Being raised Catholic, my parents had me baptized as a child, but like most churches, baptism as an infant/child is not something that the Vine believes in. Baptism is something that is done once a person is old enough to make the decision for themselves to follow Jesus and really understand the meaning of of living a Christian lifestyle. It is an act in which you confess publicly your committment to Jesus and to His church.

Even though I felt as though my Christianity was established during my Catholic upbringing, I decided that I wanted to make the decision for myself (instead of it being a decision my parents had made for me) to follow Jesus and show my committment to Him and to the church, so this past Sunday, I had a private baptism with Bobby and the members of my small group after Sunday morning services. Darren Skelcher (Jessica's husband and our small group leader) was the one who performed my baptism, it was his first time baptizing someone, and he was very nervous, but he did a great job & it turned out perfect. I am so glad I made the decision to be baptized again! These are a few pictures from my big day and I just wanted to share them with all of you. (Pay no attention to the belly, remember I am 9 months pregnant!) Above, Darren is praying for me before baptizing me.....

Coming up out of the water.....the water was a little cooler than I thought it would be! :)

Here is a picture of Parker afterwards, he was completely freaked out by the whole thing! I think he just didn't understand why some man was dunking his mom! He kept saying "Momma burn in hot water!" LOL! Why in the world he thought the water was hot is beyond me! Poor thing!

Here is mommy & her boy shortly after, he finally realized that mommy was okay!

A little side note....Bobby was baptized earlier this year in May, I had my camera with me that day, but the battery was dead! So unfortunately, I do not have pictures of his baptism to post along with mine!