Not Just a Day at the Beach

To be honest, when I arrived at the beach I was operating on four hours of sleep and already dreaming about my afternoon nap.

You can see by the photos that it was an over cast Sunday morning, which didn't help the state of my bleary eyes.  We had traveled in four vans 20 minutes northwest of our village to a favorite stretch of beach on the bay.  

I forgot my weariness at the site of our group circling together. I was suddenly grateful to stand witness to the scene unfolding.  Hours earlier I didn't think I'd be able to attend this milestone event in the life of our little church body.  

Reni, who had braved a cold for the previous week, came down with a fever of 101.5 Saturday afternoon.  I found him curled up under his favorite fleece blanket on the floor, a little snoring lump I hadn't realized was even him until I heard the cadence of his breathing.  We plied him with Tylenol and he perked up, though didn't argue when bedtime came.  I got to bed later than normal myself counting the hours until morning and worried about how Reni was feeling.  Two hours later, it was Ellie who came into our room upset and not feeling well.  Being up with her from more than an hour continued my worry and discouragement, so I sent out an SOS to our friends who I knew were still awake in America.  (Sick kids are my Achilles heel).

The next morning the kids were up and energetic, as if the previous day's problems had been just a figment of my imagination.  The multitude of encouraging replies with promises of prayer assured me it indeed had not.  The decision was made we were all going and Reni promised he wouldn't dip even a finger tip in the sea.

Genti read Matthew 28 and reminded us all that what we were going to watch was a miracle, no less great than the miracles we read about in scripture.  

Driving that morning through village after village, each with their own mosque, had already put the significance of the morning's activities in stark perspective.

We sang a few favorite songs.  The joy was palpable.

I was so glad someone suggested this group photo.

Below, Nathan and Genti pose with the eleven who were about to be baptized.

Then into the water they went!  I love Demir's outstretched arm.  I will let the images speak for themselves.  I have several images from each baptism, but for the purposes of space and time, I will share just a few of my favorites.

Ellie has said for a long time that she wanted to be baptized.  We tried to emphasize all week leading up to Sunday that there was absolutely no pressure.  If you see some anxiety on her face, I learned later that her brother had previously informed her of the dangers of ingesting salt water (she had never put her head under water in the sea before and she has a vivid imagination).

JOY

After the last baptism, the sun broke out.

Everyone changed clothes and we enjoyed some relaxed time together.  I was pulled in lots of directions with requests for beach photos with friends and loved ones and I happily obliged.  Though we live relatively close to the beach, it's a special treat to visit.

THANK YOU to those of you who gave me photo paper or cash for printer ink!  We are going to make little albums for each person who was baptized to remember the significance of this special day.

Reni was good to his word and stayed dry.

We brought our little grill and had hot dogs for lunch.  Everyone had been asked to bring a dish to share.  Whadya know, but everyone brought dessert.  We had kadaif, petula, brownies, and a number of other cakes I can't remember the names of.

Tailgating on the beach in October with dear friends.  I think I could get used to this!

Then the ladies wanted to go walk off some of that sugar.

More photos! :-)

Not to be outdone!  I LOVE this image!

From this angle you can't read what they're pointing to (but it's the only one I have, of several, where everyone's eyes were open!).  It says "October 2015".

and below:   04.10.2015