Benny’s Baptism

          In my family, a baby’s baptism is the religious birth of a child (and an important time to celebrate). My beloved aunt Ana Hunt explained it best… She said a person has three births. The first is when they are born into this world. The second is when they are baptized into the Christian Faith and the third is when they pass on to eternal life. How amazing, right?

          Paul and I always knew we wanted to baptize Baby Benny sooner than later and we wanted to throw a nice party to commemorate this joyous occasion.

          We thought about hosting a reception at our home—but there was still construction projects underway and our yard needed a lot of work (and still does). So we booked the Monrovia Historical Museum and had a lovely luncheon for approximately 100 guests.

          I opted for a lamb/sheep theme because I thought it was sweet and innocent and I read a Bible quote that simply convinced me, given the occasion: “Know that the Lord, he is God! It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.” -Psalm 100:3

          So, together with my gorgeous sister Irene, who was Benny’s godmother, we worked on the details and had a wonderful time. We printed themed menus using a light green color scheme. Irene bought caramel apples as favors and we used burlap string to tie the favor tags. We kept the centerpieces very simple with Mason Jars, burlap and Baby’s Breath flowers and used mini-chalk boards to label the Ice Cream Bar topping selections and beverage options. We had sheep decorated cupcakes made by the talented Margie Castellanos! The day was very hot and the dozen umbrellas we rented weren’t enough to keep us cool…but the mimosas did that for us instead!

          A mariachi played our favorite Mexican tunes in the background while we mingled with our beautiful friends and relatives who traveled from all over the place to be there for Benny’s Special Day. It was a very meaningful day for Paul and I. Benny’s godfather Victor Blanco couldn’t make it because he was recovering from a successful kidney transplant surgery but Benny's grandpa Pablo David stood in for Victor… Overall, we were certainly glad to welcome our son into the Catholic Faith, who by the way, slept through the entire baptismal ceremony (endearing).