Santino Francis

and what do you ask of the Church?
Baptism

the little blue sweater he wore to church was sent by the Swans...

and what name do you give your child?
Santino Francis...

Santino, little holy one...little saint...
Francis for the grandfather

they asked me to read the first reading...in English
and afterwards they read it in Deutsch
and after Father Alexander read the Gospel
Frank read it in English

They have a tradition here
of  'blessing'
a poem
or saying
or bible verse
that the parents and priest pick as the child's 'motto'

Santino's is from 1 Peter 1:16
(the first reading)
''Be Holy, as I am Holy''


the 'taufkerze'...baptismal candle...
we had to provide our own
unlike the churches back home
the store we were sent to 
for this most important errand was no longer there
BUT the Lord provided
we ran into the Godfather...
on the busiest main street 
thru...the old city...
full of tourists...shoppers...
and somehow just as we are ready to leave the city
unable to complete this one importatnt task
and ready to settle for just a department store pillar candle
Johnny appears on his bike directly in front of us!?!

We share our dilemna
and our resolution....
and he says he'll also try to think of a place to get one
and he did
and it was beautiful
''the tree of life
living water''
it even has his name and the date of his baptism on it!


Santino was silent all thru Mass
till it was time to get him naked!
then he screamed
and cried during the entire dunking....and anointing




And then his parents wisked him away to dress him in his white garment
(the baptismal gown that Vanessa was baptized in)

and when they re-entered the sanctuary
there was a huge crack of thunder
and everyone's eyes widened
as we all realized...
''God in His heaven has taken notice of this moment...''
and then the rain fell
(rain....that we haven't had since Courey's arrival!)

but by the time Mass was over
the evening sun was shining again
it was clear and warm...
a 73 degree (23 c) evening

little boats that Vanessa's cousin made during the mass floating afterwords in the baptismal waters
 






























 
and no matter where we are
some things are bound to remain the same!?!?!?

Alt Hendesse...Handschusheim
back to celebrate at the restaurant where 
Domenick proposed formally on his knee to Vanessa....