Your White Baptism Gown

Dear Byron,

In the last post I wrote about your baptism and what it means. Today I want to tell you about what you wore on the day Jesus washed you with water and gave to you eternal life. Look carefully at this photo I took that day with my iPhone.

 Grandma Cheryl and G-Grandma Sylvia

Grandma Cheryl is holding a white gown on a hanger. You wore that gown during your baptism for a special reason. The gown connects you to your Grandmas in an important way. Grandma Cheryl wore that gown the day she was baptized.

There's more. Both your Great-Uncle Jeff and Great-Uncle Nathan wore the same gown on the days they were baptized. Grandma Cheryl told us it had a spot on it and she worked very carefully to remove it so that it would be clean and white for you on your baptism day. We're not sure where the spot came from. Perhaps it was from when your Daddy or your uncle Patrick were baptized in the gown. Great-Uncle Nathan and Great-Aunt Teri borrowed the gown when their son, your second-cousin Aric was baptized. More likely the spot was from when your Auntie Cassie was baptized, because that was the last time it was used.

Before all that Great-Grandma's sister Lois Pera used the gown when her children, your cousins Stephen and Michelle were baptized. They're of the same generation as your great-uncles. 

But the story doesn't stop there. Your Great-Grandma Sylvia kept the gown safe all those years. Her Mommy, your Great-Great Grandma Thekla, had passed the gown on after her children, Arnie, Lois and G-G Sylvia were baptized in it. And—now get this—Great-Great Grandma Thekla was also baptized in the gown way back in 1909.  

That made the gown over 100 years old when you were baptized and it connects you to the Franzmeier family, the Arnold Wenger family from which Great-Grandma Sylvia comes and the Frederich Dierks family from which Great-Great Grandma Thekla came, as well as to the families of your many cousins. 

A word about wearing a white gown for baptism. In John's Revelation we read that all the people in heaven wear white robes (Revelation 7:14-17). In your baptism Jesus made you clean and pure from all sins. That's why He calls you His little lamb. And one day, Byron, your Mommy and Daddy, your grandmas and grandpas, your aunts and uncles and cousins, and all of us baptized into Jesus will be forever together with our Good Shepherd. That's His promise. When you remember you wore your family's white gown you may also remember that.

We love you, Byron, and we're excited about what's yet to be.

—Great-Grandpa Al