July 29, 2007 | Mama Smith

happy day levi

Happy Day. Brighton had this phrase stuck in his head after celebrating Marcy’s birthday a few months back. We sang Happy Birthday, which he had never partook in singing until that evening. The following weeks prompted many attempts at singing Happy Birthday to random stuffed animals, pieces of food, or characters in his books. Which has now morphed into simply “Happy Day”. Today was Levi’s baptism. Brighton appropriately dubbed this as “Why-Why’s Happy Day”.

Geoff, our pastor and good friend, baptized our little Levi and ushered him into the covenant promises in a beautifully winsome way.

Levi just cooed and gurgled as the water poured down his face, maintaining his title as the all-too-happy-baby. Brighton sweetly leaned over and gave me repeated kiss after kiss during the whole ceremony. Either noting the tenderness of the moment or simply not wanting the attention taken off himself.

These moments in our children’s lives always seem to stir up the new weight emotions you begin to bear only upon becoming a parent.

As I laid Levi down in his crib on our return home, I wanted, with everything in me, to protect him from anything painful and hard in life. The sweetness of seeing him baptized only deepened that already swelling and threatening to overflow reservoir of love we parents hold for our kiddos.

It’s such a mysterious balance. Loving our children, yet holding them loosely. Preparing them for life, yet knowing there comes a point they have to find their own way.

As hard as the day-to-day is with these small boys, there are moments I feel that dam is threating to burst open and swallow their tiny boats. Over-protecting, finagling, coercing for the life I so desperately want them to have…all in the name of “love”. Even this early on in their young lives. Yet there is a nuanced mystery to finding that balance of slowly opening the lock, letting the wild waters slowly rise, keeping their boat afloat with the waters beneath without capsizing it. Waters of love they use as the force to sink their oars deep in to and propel through life.

I prayed Christ would give me the wisdom over the coming years to know how to love, cherish and ultimately release these boys to Him. That is, in the same breath, both the scariest and most secure feeling.

We later celebrated as a family over cake and wine at our favorite cozy spot in Chestnut Hill. Brighton kept wishing Levi a “Happy Day”. His enthusiasm spawning from the fact that this meant a special treat of cake for himself. So he offered many hugs and kisses to his brother as a token of appreciation.

The rest of the weekend was spent beating the heat by indulging in it – including a trip to Solebury Orchard again, this time berry picking with Marcy, Olivia and Nigel. I’ve shared a few pictures below, the rest are on the flickr site which can also be accessed through the Photo link above.