Finally, we christened Noelle, and she is now officially God's Child. Hopefully Our Lord Jesus Christ always keep her in His love and care. Gosh, I feel like a trully parent now.. Before, I used to think that I am just a mother who gave birth to a child, care, nurture, stimulate her 24/7, but now I really do have a bigger responsibility for bring her into this world, this lovely yet scary world.
I am a Christian, married to a Catholic, and promised before God that our offsprings will be brought as Catholic. Well, I would do everything I could, but I leave those Catholic parts to the father :) So, the first step we have to do is christen/baptism the child. Our faith become the biggest motivation, but we also like to celebrate/introduce our baby in the Christian/Catholic comunity. And also, I heard that being a member of a church could also help the child to get a place at the excellent local church school further down the line. :)
A christening calls for our child to believe in Jesus and to repent any sins. However, an increasing number of parents - and clergy themselves - question how a baby can possibly understand and, therefore, commit to this. As an alternative, your little one can be blessed and thanks can be given for her/his safe arrival into the world, without you making any promises on her/his behalf. A christening can then be held when your child is older and more able to understand what baptism involves.
dari ki-ka : sungkun, gw+noelle, romo ari, dawson, abenk, hengky, yanni+cindy.. makasih udah hadir di pembaptisan noelle, terutama elizabeth pang yg mengabadikan momen-momen indah dlm acara tsb :)
We asked about christening details to Romo Ari, he is Indonesian Pastor for Indonesian Congregation at St. Benedict Church, Ardross, Perth. It was simple, not like christening in Indonesia where the parents must attend two meetings with the pastor before the christening day. We just fill in the form with details asked, set up the date to meet the party (pastor, parents and godparents), our beliefs and stuff like that. As simple as that, especially because the ceremony is held separately from regular mass, so it is very convenient for us.
We set the date at 13 December 2009, only a week before Noelle turning ONE!! Noelle has two godfathers, they are Raja Sungkunan Ginting (my hubby's best friend since junior highschool) and Hengky Manoppo (my hubby's friend from previous company who moved here long time before us). And the one and only godmother is Ruth Dameyanni, Hengky's wife.
Traditionally, godparents were chosen for their own strong Christian beliefs, so that they could help guide the growing child in his faith. While this is still preferable in the eyes of the church, in reality, these days godparents are chosen more because they are close friends of the parents or are family members. However, for the sake of the child, it is worth taking time to choose a godparent carefully. I too have this questions in my head. If we are choosing friends, think about what role we would like them to play in Noelle's life. Are they likely to still be friends of us in 10 years time? Are they going to offer us and the child support if needed? Well, I just hope with this bonding, our family and the godparents will be staying great friends forever.
noelle's first cross, baby rosary and christening candle..
Noelle looked so cute in her white cotton dress I purchased from Esprit Baby. I did browse several specialty shops in christening gown, but I dont think Noelle will be comfortable on those sateen/shiny/sintetic material, especially in this summer heat! I compliment her with white walker shoes and white lace headband (gift from Oma Patty when Noelle was born!).
We also prepared a large christening/baptismal candle, silver cross, and baby rosary purchased from Catholic Corner at Canningvale. Actually I would love to have a personalized candle with Noelle's pic and date of birth dan date of baptismal but it took 2-3 weeks to get the personalized candle because they ordered from Sydney. But the regular candle also fine, it has a special poem on the back. It says, "Welcome, precious little child, so fresh from God above, Christened today in Jesus' name. Held in His arms of Love. May angels guide your tiny feet and bring you smiles to wear and may our heavenly Father, always keep you in his care"
The "hardest" part, uhm no, I mean the serious part was, when Romo Ari asked about our duty and responsibility to guide the child in faith and beliefs development, and our word to take those responsibility. God, we are a sinner so help us to guide our child NOT to be like us, but be a waaay better better person than us..
The christening ceremony only take about 30 minutes. Everything went smoothly following the service sheet handed out to us. Everyone take part, especially Noelle (who performed well eventhough she was skipping her nap time) and Elizabeth Pang (my new friend) took beautiful pictures before, during and after the ceremony.
After ceremony, we asked everybody to have a late lunch (the ceremony start at 01 PM!!), but only Sungkun and Liz who made it, the Manoppo's is having a birthday party invitation so after the ceremony off they go, and I forgot to give them their cupcakes!!
follow jesus cross, take baby steps and watch out for those bumpy roads, my child..
Oh yeah, it was supposed to be a beautiful cupcake, a carrot cupcake with spices like nutmeg and cinnamon topped with maple syrup and cream cheese frosting garnished with little footprints, small cross and several pink cachoux (those edible pearls). But the unbearable heat made the frosting more likely melting, so what we got were gooey drippey frosting.. but still taste good!! :) The lunch at Secret Garden also great, I think everybody was hungry like lions.. Liz also took several photos of Noelle there..
With this note, I would like to say thanks again to God for making everything possible, to my family (Okto and Noelle), to the godparents (Sungkun, Hengky and Yanni), Dawson and Cindy (Manoppo's children who also give blessing on Noelle's christening day), Liz, and Romo Ari. I hope this one special occasion will keep us in beautiful friendship forever, and special for Romo Ari, we will try to do our best to be a Christian parents and will attend your mass on a regular basis.
