- The Promise's curtain closer...wahhhh! -

I have been DVR-ing the A.D. - The Bible Continues mini-series on NBC. [Anyone else doing the same?!]

Last night, Brian and I watched the first episode...

...which is another story for another day...

...[although it was sooooo good!!!]...

...but the ways in which the disciples were fearlessly spreading the word of God reminded me...

...ohhhh to the d-a-mmmm-n, how how how did I ever forget to pen THIS POST?!??!

Nine weeks and four days after the fact, but this special life event cannot be brushed under the rug:  Harper made her acting debut in The Promise!

Background note:  What is The Promise?  It's a passion play/musical/Christian drama on the life of Jesus Christ from birth to death.  Actually from birth to resurrection.  It originated somewhere in Texas, but the Lutheran church in our tiny hometown bought the script and has been putting it on with local cast and crew members for the last 25 years.  Tickets are free, and the play is performed for 2000+ audience members every year!  Big feat for a little town! So blessed.

Another background note:  My family has been in the cast of The Promise since...hmm...roughly 1996-ish [??].  I think I was in first or second or maybe even third grade when I begged my mom to let us join.  Our family had been avid annual audience members for YEARS; each year as we sat in the seats, my desire grew stronger and stronger to be up on the stage!  My first "part" in the play was a little angel who waved her arms wings up and down as Jesus was born.  The next year I was a glitzed out page who brought up one wiseman's gift of gold [or maybe it was myrrh?!], and the year after that I was an energetic little Hosanna dancer who flipped cartwheels up the aisle and danced with a tambourine as Jesus entered the temple.  My dad and brother were also cast members for a few years [both taking on small non-speaking, non-singing parts AKA wiseman and shepherd and pharisee], and my mom was also a cast member for a long time but eventually found her way off the stage and onto the ticket sales team.  But me?  Oh, I couldn't get enough of that stage and those acting parts.  Around fifth grade [I think?!] I finally scored the part of Lisa, one of the main characters who sits on a bench with her Grandpa and narrates the entireeee play.  It took three years of failed tryouts and devastation to finally land that part.  I had been begging my grandpa to join the cast for a couple years; he grudgingly promised me that third year that IF I got the Lisa part [and that was a big IF, because there were a lot of good contenders + I had already failed twice!], he would join the cast.  Annnnnd long story short?  I got it.  So he joined.  And 15 years later, he's still kickin' it on the stage. :)  THEN, of course my all-time faveee part was portraying Mary; I was so lucky to do that for several years!

When I graduated high school, I solemnly vowed to come home from college .e.v.e.r.y. weekend for the months of practices leading up to the performances.  BUT...college was college and it didn't work out [although trust me, MANY a drop of blood/sweat/tears were shed over this decision...many many many].  Although not on the stage, I always blocked out the performance weekends on my calendar and was home cheering on the cast and singing along from the audience.

College graduation eventually came along, and soon after I started my big girl job.  NOW I'd finally be able to join the cast again!!! But what what??  ...The nurse curse threw its evil head back with a giant cackle; how did I forget that patients are still sick on Sundays and I couldn't have my weekends free to attend practices?!  Boo, boo, boo.  Boo to the max.

[Yes this novel is coming to an end! The light at the end of the tunnel is beginning to flicker!]

Fast forward to the present: the year is 2015 and The Promise cast and crew makes a mind-boggling announcement that this 25th year of the performances will be THE LAST AND FINAL YEAR!!! What what what no no no how how how?!?!?  Head ---> spinning.  Heart ---> sinking.  I was 20-something weeks pregnant when I heard this announcement, and hormones be not my friend that day.  So. so. so. saddd.

...Until I realized...

...that my fetus was due three days before the second weekend of performances.

And then the lightbulb flicked on.

Baby F. was immediately booked for his/her first on-stage appearance.

So THAT is the saga of how a 9-day old Baby Harper became a rockin' Baby Jesus.

As usual, the performance and actors and soloists were breathtaking!  I'm shocked that I actually held my sh*t together as I sat in the front row with my family and watched my beautiful baby "perform" on the stage that was so special to me for so long.  There wasn't a second of the performance that I wasn't grinning from ear to ear; I had either goosebumps or misty eyes [but holding back crocodile tears!] literally the entire time.  

A few favorite memories from the lastttt and final performance:

-- Grandpa as the Prophet Micah

-- All four prophets + the modern family prophesying the birth of Jesus 

--...and the birth scene! There's my our sweet Harper!!!

-- Four generations in The Promise! 

-- Grandpa + Harper // Eric + Harper ["Big Jesus" and "Little Jesus"]

-- Friends that have become family! <3

-- Cast call

-- I spy the littlest member of the cast.............do you?! :) 

I really just canNOT believe that this era is coming to an end! 

BUT:

So proud of Grandpa Jim for yet anotherrrr year as an amazing prophet + apostle! 

So surreal that MY baby was Baby Jesus in front of a 450-person sellout crowd! 

So blessed to be a part of this amazing production for so many years and be there in person to witness the curtain closer.  *tear*

:( 

Thank you to all of our dear family and friends who have supported The Promise over the years!  I hope it won over a little piece of your heart just like it did mine. :) 

- Sh-nuggle Seshesss -

Some sweet lady at church yesterday was like, "Every time I see you guys at Mass, you always look so rested!" 

And I just laughed.  

But then I realized we probably look that way because.......we ARE well rested!  

[I mean, "well rested" considering the circumstances...]

"Sleeping" + "newborn" should never be in the same sentence, right?!  Nopeeee, that's not quite the case in this house.  Brian and I love cuddling our babe alllllmost as much as we love[d] naps, so this whole "sleep" thing hasn't been as big of a deal as I originally imagined/dreaded it would be.

Documented for Harper's future viewing pleasure are some of our fave cuddle seshes to date:

Oh.  She almost always eats breakfast around 6am, and I'm in a no-good very-bad habit of letting her into our bed every morning when she's finished... [Bed rules go out the window when yo' mama ain't a morning person!] She always starts out in daddy's empty spot and allllllways wakes up in my armpit... Funny how that happens, huh? 

 

SOMEtimes it's just one of those days when all we have time to do is eat, snuggle, sleep, and repeat...

#lazyladies  ...but...  #noshameinourgame  ...because...  #welovetocuddle

And besides, Brian and I are both are soaking up Harper's sweet shnuggles before she realizes how embarrassing we are and won't be caught dead anywhere near her dorky parents... ;) 

Dear teenage Harper: please refer to this post to always remember how perfect and sweet you are! 

- Harper's Baptism -

Welppp, it happened:  Harper was officially dunked into the cult of Christianity and sweetly showered in the love and support of our friends and family!  Now she's one of God's daughters fo' real.  And fo'eva.  We couldn't be even a tiny bit more joyful!

The baptism ceremony was at our home parish, and our great friend Fr. Meconi traveled from St. Louis to celebrate the sacrament!  Hashtag: THRILLED.  It was the perfect day.  :)

[Oh... and here's the BAPTISM VIDEO if you're one of those people who would rather "watch the movie than read the book."  ...Don't feel bad, I won't judge.]

Signs of the cross all 'round. 

[What is going on.....???]

"I need to get to her heart!" 

No one wants to be responsible for planking her over the font?! Okkk, I'll do it.....

"Harper Cecilia, I baptize you in the name of the Father...

...and of the Son... 

...and of the Holy Spirit!" 

 [Oh, and ^^ that was supposed to happen, but somebodyyyyy forgot the water!!! Also, her nickname is not Leo; we didn't know if "it" was a boy or a girl 'til delivery, SO...]

Claps and cheers and cartwheels for the newest Christian on the block!!!

Check out minute 5:30 of the video... Girl LOVES hair washes and head massages, so I wasn't really surprised that she was soaking up every second of this ritual! The typical finger chewing + eye fluttering... Hah! 

Then some blessings for the mother and father...

...and some blessings for err'body...

...annnnd we're done! 

Freed from sin and claimed for Christ! 

"The blessing of the Lord be upon you..." -Psalm 129:8

Welcome to God's family, Harper Cecilia!

So lucky to have these two as Harper's Godparents!!! We love you, Blake and Laura! 

 The grandparents!

And GREAT grandparents! 

 Four generations... :)

And what kind of Catholics would we be if there wasn't a little food + fiesta afterwards...?!

This family is growing by leaps and bounds!  Here we have Brian's cousin, Marko, with 2-week-old Kate; Brian with 6-week-old Harper; and Brian's sister, Sarah, with 9-week-old Murphy.  Poor Murphy; he's the only boy out of six grandchildren, and now we're throwing more girl cousins in the mix! ;)  But he'll stand his own.  These cousins are going to love growing up together!!! 

Whilst the rest of the family was feasting and partying away, we slipped outside for a fewww more family photos. #thatmom #thatwife #callmecrazy  <---But no shame in mah game.

"God gave you a treasure of immense and untold worth and brought a touch of Heaven to your lifetime here on earth.  For He sent you someone wonderful, an angel from above, when He blessed you with a precious child to cherish and to love." 

^^ Touche.

Always marveling at the fact that He placed this little angel in our care... We love her so much!!!

[I'm almost done, I promiseee.]

But there's juuust a few more...

Check out that beautifullll unstained little soul! ;)  

I really hoped Harper could receive her first sacrament in a white gown that was passed down through our families.  First, my mom searched high and low for daysss weeks for my baptism gown but never found it.  Humph.  So thennn Brian's mom let us try on HER baptism gown [holy moly, I was so scared Harper would poop on it and ruin it somehow...crazy heirloom!!!].  BUT, my kid is a piglet and the gown wouldn't button around her neck.  Fail, fail, and more fails.  Finally, a week before the dunking ceremony, we threw in the towel on digging up something sentimental and bought her her very own gown.  [Now this one can be passed down to her kids and her kids' kids and on and on and on...!] 

But even though the gown was new, of courseeee there was still some sentiment:

We cut out a little piece of my wedding gown to patch in the under-lining of Harper's baptism gown  [*gulp*...I was saying, "WAIT WAIT WAIT!" as my mom took the scissors riiiiight to it without even flinching]...

...and also this was the same white blanket I used on my baptism day! 

My mom made this adorable bracelet, too! We are going to lengthen it/add to it somehow for her First Communion and hopefullllly [if we don't lose it like we lose everything else] weave it through her wedding bouquet when she marries the man of her dreams.  Oh man... Let's not even talk about marrying her off yet........!  Be still my heart! 

Anyway...

You are so so loved, Harper Bear!  May God always teach your little eyes to see, your little ears to hear, and your little heart to love!  :-*

"Lord, protect this little girl who's loved so very much!  Show her everything there is to see and hear and touch.  Thank You for Your presence on her baptism day...  May you lead this precious child forever in your way!"