Today Nicholas was baptized. If Nicholas would have been born full term, today would’ve been his 1st birthday.

Since Nicholas’ love story (& ours) began in SW Florida, Andy & I wanted to have him baptized in the same special place. So, after much searching (& a fair amount of prayer) we found a quaint little chapel by the sea appropriately named Captiva Chapel (by the Sea) . If you’d like you can read about the chapel here – its a cute little chapel with a long & solid history of servantship.

So, On Saturday December 26th, around 1 o’clock in the afternoon our little family along with grandparents and Uncle Parker & Aunt Jen watched as Pastor George Morris baptized Nicholas Christopher Szapacs as a child of God.

The day was warm. & sunny. with a breeze. The chapel was old & small & painted a seafoam blue (& without A/C – it was over 85 degrees outside). The Christmas wreaths hung on the doors, the manger stood strong behind the altar, and the entire church grounds were covered in lights. The water was ready & our baptismal fountain, a giant seashell, was ready & waiting for Nicholas.

It was simple & chaotic & happy & tears were shed (both by Nicholas & me). It was quick. It was even a bit of a blur for me. But this much I know, love was there.

From those that sat in the pews watching to those that had out of this world seats to the ceremony, love was there. My grandmother’s words in her final, not-so-lucid, days “You people need Jesus. All y’all need Jesus.” ran through my head during the baptism & I smiled & thought ‘if this isn’t showing how much we KNOW we need Jesus then I don’t know what is.’. I hope she would be proud.

We do need Jesus. We crave Him & all that He stands for. We know this much. And we know that His love has washed Nicholas, & all of us clean. & for this we are oh.so.thankful.

After the ceremony was over we all walked to the beach & were with Nicholas as he dipped his toes in the sand & water for the very first time.

Enjoy these few photos from our day.  (& a quick video of Nicholas’ 1st beach experience!).