The Emperor Chronicles: Baptism

On March 13, 2011, Liam was baptized. It was a long journey to this point. I had wanted him to understand what would be happening and what it was all about so we enlisted the help of Fr. Jiang who is from the same Province as Liam is. Liam has very strong ideas particularly about Buddhism. He wanted me to make sure I placed his Kwan Yin statue in place of prominence that had enough room around it so he could bow. I needed someone to explain our faith to him in a language he understood completely.

I have no problem with Liams interest in Buddhism. One thing we made very clear to him early on was that he never had to choose between China and America, he was lucky that he could have both. I am one of those who after 5 adoptions knows that even though many see adoption as a "gain", that in reality it really is a series of losses for the child. Sometimes those losses are ongoing and older kids might feel them a little more strongly. I totally get that.

This is why we wanted to ease Liam into this part of our lives. Unfortunately Fr. Jiang was called back to China due to the illness of his father and no sooner had he returned that he was called back because his father had died. When this happened, we enlisted the help of Fr. Shen, a priest from Hunan Province who was only more than happy to help. Well, shockingly, Fr. Shen was also called back to China for the illness of his father. We then were turned over to Fr. Joe, an italian priest who had spent 14 years in China and was fluent in Mandarin. He was able to answer some questions Liam had. He was going to replace Fr. Shen at the Mandarin Mass, so it was nice to have spent time with him prior to Mass. Fr. Shen returned and we scheuduled Liam's Baptism. No sooner had we scheduled it that Fr. Shen was called back for the death of his father. What are the odds of two priests in the same parish, both from China, both called back for family, illness, then recalled for the death of their fathers?

Fr Shen called us Friday morning and asked us if we could move Liam's baptism forward a few weeks because he had to fly back to China for his dads funeral. Sure thing, I can get his Godparents there in 3 days... We can do this! Fr. Shen was amazing and included each one of the children in Liam's baptism giving each an equally important role. It was wonderful.

Liam on the morning of his Baptism.