I'm The Fairy Godmother...Again

"I know what every princess needs to live happily ever after.

Your troubles will soon be gone, worries will vanish, your soul will cleanse."

- Fairy Godmother, Shrek 2 

      A little less than three weeks ago while I sitting on my bed attempting to write my final paper for my Linguistics class on Speech Acquisition for the Deaf (it's actually a veryyyyy interesting topic) when my phone started ringing. When I looked at the caller ID, I panicked slightly when it read "Uncle Charles Home." First, how did he have my cell phone number? Second, WHY ON EARTH WAS HE CALLING ME AT SCHOOL??? "Hello?" I answered? "Rebecca!" my uncle replied with excitement. Only my aunts and uncles call me by my full first name. "What's up?" He answered by telling me I have a brand new cousin, Emily. This makes...oh...only 28 grandkids in the family. I was overjoyed. In my joy, I forgot that my uncle usually doesn't call the cousins personally to make them aware of the newest baby. They simply call the brothers.

      I could hear the other six kids in the background when my uncle put my Aunt Maryanne on speaker phone. "We have a question for you," they said in unison, "Would you be Emily's God-mother?"  I almost leapt off my bed because my heart was so happy. Yes! Yes! Yes! I was honored! I was ready to go scream to the whole campus that I was going to be a Godmother to my newest (and cutest) cousin. How awesome! I could hear a sigh of relief from the other side of the phone....as if I would say no...silly Uncle and Aunt! I smiled as we hung up. In a few weeks, I would get to see and hold and love and spoil my God-daughter, Emily.

       Yesterday was the Baptism. After staying up til 3:30 (which was the brightest idea), I was rolling out of bed at 8:15 and heading to the bookstore to get my God-daughter her gift. I tossed and turned all night long thinking what on earth I should get a one month old for her Baptism. A rosary? No....that's for First Communion. A bracelet? Nah...she'd probably eat it. A picture frame? With what picture. BOOKS! I'll get her BOOKS! It finally dawned on me. When I found out I was going to be a God-mother, I had class later that night with Professor Mooney, who of course asked what the baby's name was. When I said Emily, he responded by telling me I better teach her all about Emily Bronte and Emily Dickinson. So, I bought her a book of Emily Dickinson poetry for kids. Some may argue that she can't read, but she will be able to one day. Besides, it's because of the name. However, I also bought her two of my favorite books by Nancy Tillman: On The Day You Were (appropriate) and Wherever You Go, My Love Will Find You (which is about God's love...which we receive in Baptism, so there!) This kid will be reading the best literature before she can count to ten. Yes, that's my goal. Poor girl....not only did she receive God's love and grace through Baptism, but she also gained an English Major for a God-mom. 

      As a God-mother, there are certain duties one most take care of...you know, like dress the baby, change the baby, take pictures with the baby, love the baby, smile at the baby, hold the baby. But as a cousin (and niece), I also have duties. Like....harass the six other kids in the car by tickling them into their car seats and holding their hands into and out of church, bouncing them on my lap, messing up their hair and eating their cookies. Not only was I blessed to be a God-mother to my beautiful, littlest cousin, but I was blessed to be a cousin and a niece as well. 

      I love my family so much. I love how crazy we are, and how much we really look out for each other. I love our dads don't yell at their own kids but all the other ones and then harass the heck out of the ones that aren't in trouble. I love that our moms just roll their eyes and laugh as the dads turn back into brothers. I love that the older cousins get dirtier than the younger cousins when we are running around the house. I love that everyone bugs the new boyfriend/girlfriend. I love that the babies get handed around to every member of the family. I love when I get picked up and hung upside-down over banisters even though I'm twenty years old. Yes, I love my family and being with them at the Baptism really shows how deep our faith is especially when we are with each other. Faith is what grounds us, and it shows when the whole family comes together for the Sacraments....even if we go crazy at the "after Church party."

      I love my little baby cousin, Emily. I can't stop smiling at the picture my Aunt and Uncle gave me yesterday. She's beautiful and so stinking cute. I can't wait to see her all the time and love her up! While I got to spend a good amount of time with her yesterday morning, she crashed after the Baptism, giving me more time to spend with her brothers and sisters and our cousins. Some of my favorite moments yesterday were: Maria, who's 14 months old, passing out on the floor and sleeping the day away; Charlie, who's 4, grabbing my hand and then smacking me in the forehead with his other hand that was covered in Holy Water as we left the church; Chris, who's my Dad's God-son, getting punched in the eye which then resulted in me "trying to fix the eye" and my Dad chasing his brother who threw the punch (who happened to be Emily's God-father....); and Albert, who's 5, eating and hiding his cookies from the cookie monster who happened to be Uncle Larry. I just love my family so much. Enjoy the pictures!

She slept through the whole thing!

Posing...because we got kicked out of the other picture.

COUNT THE KIDS!

Yeah...my uncle's a hunter?

See what I mean by crazy....

....it runs in the family. 

I took his picture first!

She was a little jealous....

Then there was this kid who kept trying to get in our picture and no one knew who she was at all.....but she did tell me she liked my "Fairy God-Mother shoes."