the byron family: Well done, Good and Faithful Servant!

Well, we ended up traveling as a family 2 weekends out of January and I traveled myself, an extra weekend -- so, I guess that No Travel pact was a little unrealistic! The good news is that February holds NO travelling plans for the Byrons, except one trip for Matt the weekend after he takes his PT boards! His buddy Chris's bachelor party is the weekend after Matt is scheduled to take his boards - so - I have a feeling a lot of partying is going to take place :)

A very special event took place Jan. 23rd, Ben was baptized! We traveled to Signal Mountain so Ben could be baptized in the Catholic church where Matt was baptized, St. Augustine. We traveled to SM Friday night with plans to have Ben baptized during the 10am service on Sunday and then have people over to the Byron's afterwards for a brunch. On our way up to Tennessee we found out that Ben's godmother, Courtney Bach, has just found out that her grandfather was being hospitalized with stage 4 cancer. Jamie, who is currently living in Chattanooga, was going to go to Nashville to be with Courtney and her family and then they were going to drive to Chattanooga on Sunday morning for the baptism. We told them NOT to worry and if they couldn't come we could reschedule. They insisted that they were fine to travel Sunday and not to change the plan.

We then talked to my parents - who were both sick and were not going to be able to travel. My dad never gets sick. His voice sounded just awful and he was on antibiotics. My mom was still suffering from a concussion she got from slipping on an ice patch two weeks prior and was getting what my Dad had as well. We thought about postponing the whole event after hearing this news, but decided to keep the plans as is and see how the rest of the weekend panned out.

Well, Saturday morning I woke up with a stomach bug and threw up for most of the day. Perfect, right!?!? Not only did I feel horrible all day, but I couldn't help clean and cook for Ben's party! Everyone kept asking Matt and I if we wanted to wait and do the baptism another weekend - that maybe it was a sign from God that this was not the weekend! We both just kept saying, "No, we're doing it this weekend!!" Matt's mom was my personal little nurse and took great care of me and I slept most of the day. Matt's brothers and Dad helped him take care of Ben. I was so glad Ben got to spend some QT with his uncles and Aunt Sandra.

Thank the Lord, Sunday came and I was all better! It must have just been a 24 hour bug, b/c I woke up feeling so much better. Jamie and Courtney called and let us know they were on their way, too. The only people missing were going to be my parents whom I know were there in spirit. The day was turning out to be pretty decent considering the past 24 hours of chaos!

Ben was in the best mood all day, he must have known it was a special day for him! My sister in law Sandra and Sue dominated the kitchen and cooked and prepared everything! Matt's dad was a clean machine and got the house looking FABULOUS! I felt so guilty not being able to help the way I wanted to, but everyone pitched in and pulled it together and the house and food all looked great.

The church service was wonderful. The service started with the first part of the baptism and the second part was at the end. Ben was so good the whole time! He was LOVING the crowd. He also loooved having the water poured over his head, too! The priest held Ben up on his shoulder and introduced him to the congregation and he was just beaming with wide eyes and the biggest smile ever! It was SUCH an awesome experience. To top it alllllllllll off - as if the day hadn't been perfect enough - the closing song for the service was "The Servant Song". For those of you who know Matt and I well -- you know this song as our wedding song. It is the song that Matt and I had heard in a mass prior to being engaged and both separately in our hearts decided would be our wedding song. When Matt proposed to me he recited The Servant Song. He also gave me the song framed as an engamgent gift. At our wedding, a family friend learned and played the song while Matt and I took communion. The song has been a part of every big moment/event in Matt's and my life since deciding we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. I got chills up and down my spine when I heard the song start to play. Jaw wide open, I looked at Matt in awe. We both smiled with a tear in our eyes - this was God's message to us: "Well done good and faithful servant!" No matter the trials and tribulations that we faced that weekend - we both just kept pushing forward that this baptism was going to take place! God was going to claim Benjamin THAT day - January 23rd! We weren't going to wait one single more day to properly introduce Ben to his church family. I looked at Matt's dad who was also in awe, "Did you guys request this??" I shook my head, "No"... Matt's mom was also emotional and overjoyed. It was such an amazing and wonderful ending to such a perfect celebration!

Attending the baptism were our friends Jessica and Lee Connell, Jamie and Courntey Bach (godparents), Jamie's parents Mary and Jim Bach, Sally and Steven Ratterman, Will Jones, Zach and Sandra, Kelly, Matt's godparents Fred and Jan Galletta, Peter Galletta, Bill & Sue, and of course Matt, me and Baby Ben!

Brother, let me be your servant.

Let me be as Christ to you.

Pray that I might have the grace

To let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey.

We are brothers on the road.

We are here to help each other

Walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you

In the night time of your fear,

I will hold my hand out to you;

Speak the peace you long to hear.