Nickolas James baptized!

Our pastor, Fr. Dale, baptized Nickolas on Sunday, January 25th at 11:30 am Mass. Nickolas was ready to be baptized because when Fr. Dale invited family and friends to the Baptismal font, he shouted excitedly "I get baptized!" Since Fr. Dale had his microphone turned on, the whole congregation heard what Nickolas had to say.

Nickolas couldn't wait to blow out his Baptismal candle.

Nickolas's godparents were Amanda's Uncle John and our friend, Fr. Bob DeLand. (Ellen stood as proxy for Fr. Bob who was unable to attend Mass due to commitments at his own parish, but he was able to join us for lunch afterwards.)

We were all very excited and happy!

Nickolas finally "crashed and burned" when he couldn't take apart the blocks on the cross he received from Fr. Bob. But it was a wonderful celebration!

Gretchen's News!

You may have already heard this via the family grapevine, but I thought I'd post and make it all official-like....

I QUIT MY JOB !!!!!!!!!!!

BECAUSE I GOT A NEW JOB !!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm pretty darn excited - if you couldn't tell from my use of extreme exclamation marks!

I've been in consulting for 6 years now (yikes!) and am ready for something a little calmer with shorter hours, less travel, and more predictability. So, I'm going internal. IT, that is. I'm going to be a DMS Engineer at Sidley Austin. That's a big gigantic law firm - and the job description is working on the server software I am an expert in. It's a good fit. A headhunter found me on LinkedIN . . . that's how this all happened - crazy!

My last day at the current place is this Friday, February 6th -and my first day at the new place is February 16th. I'll have a week off between jobs. Whee!

It is a crazy time to be changing jobs... so keep your fingers crossed for me on that front... but I am still excited!

~Gretchen