Anderson's Baptism (11/5/2022)

My little tender-hearted, quiet Anderson turned 8 and chose to be baptized. Where we live, baptisms are done on a stake level. We found out just a week before though that Anderson was the only one scheduled and so the entire baptism program was up to me to figure out!  

I knew my mom, Randy, and Mallory's family would be there, but because it was so short notice, and I knew everyone was busy, I decided to take on the baptism talk myself. I convinced Heidi to give the Holy Ghost talk. I thought she would be mature enough to come up with content on her own and she has the problem-solving capabilities/personality to do it on short notice without a meltdown. 

For some reason that whole week, the kids were extra difficult to parent and so I didn't end up getting the program written up and printed until the night before! Ander refused to take a bath and let me take baptism pictures of him (like I did for his older siblings), so an old picture from our last photo session had to suffice. Another disappoint was when I went to print the programs and our color prints came out all stripey. I really thought we bought an expensive printer and expensive ink that that wouldn't happen! So I had to print the rest in black and white, which still wasn't the greatest quality... but it got the job done.

For my baptism talk, I thought of a fun idea. I believed that it would be easy and light to pull off and I wouldn't cry. Well, of course now I remember why I never give myself the assigment to speak. I really thought I was in a neutral place. Not emotional. This baptism wasn't a big deal, like I've felt with previous ones. But once again my aptitude for crying while in public happened again. My baptism talk: I brought my set of small foam balls and a large KitKat bar. I asked for Anderson's participation. "Let's make a deal. You promise to do your best to catch the balls, and I'll give you a treat." He agreed. I started tossing the balls to him. Now previously, I had conspired with Grant that after I tossed the 3rd ball, he was supposed to distract Grant with the Taboo buzzer, or a pool noodle, or balloons, or BopIt. I think Grant got a little self-conscious and had through thinking on his feet, because he wasn't as distracting as I needed him to be. So what was supposed to happen was that Grant would distact Ander and thus he'd look away from trying to catch the balls that I threw. I'd stop the game and say, "Hey, it looks like you're getting distracted! That wasn't really doing your best to catch the balls.  How about we try it again? Will you promise to do your best to catch the balls?" He agrees, and we try it again. The whole point was to get him to "mess up" but then show that I'm willing to give him chance after chance as he "shakes" again to re-do that promise. 

"I know I said I'd give you a treat if you did your best to catch the ball" [Take out KitKat]. "We make promises when we're baptized. You can use a KitKat bar to remember the promise you make at baptism:

K - keep His commandments

A - always remember him

T -take upon the name of Christ

When we mess up (which we will), we can re-make those same promises again. Do you know how we do that? Yes, you're right: the sacrament. We can't get baptized every week, but we re-commit to those same promises. And just like I gave you a treat, Heavenly Father gives you a treat too. To always have his spirit to be with you.  

*For months Anderson has mentioned that he was looking forward more to his baptism than his birthday. I asked why. He explained that when people get baptized they say they "feel so good and I want to feel that too." (oh my heart!). I added that to his talk. I reminded him that that's the one thing he was looking forward to today. And then I bore my testimony that about the Holy Ghost and closed. I was a mess emotionally and my words were not as well thought out as I would've liked, but I hope those there got the message and that I didn't look too amateur (...grimace...hide face).

The primary presisdent, Mikki Franz, put up a banner and cards for people to write a note to Anderson. So fun and thoughtful.

 

I really didn't expect anyone besides our family to show up to the baptism. But I wanted a little something just in case. I'm glad I stayed up the night before making these "8" donuts. I didn't have a ton, but they added a little something to the table. (And I bought the darn bags on Amazon and wanted to use them!) I was determined to have something that wasn't a last-minute mess for his baptism. 

 

 

After his baptism, Ander, Heidi, and I ran over to Costco (which is luckily just down the road) to grab pizzas, rotisserie chicken, veggie platter, and a cake for lunch. I got 3 pizzas because I thought there were dietary restrictions against eating it, but it turns out everyone just ate pizza, so in retrospect, I should've gotten 4. It turned out fine though. For those who were really hungry, they could eat the veggies and chicken. 

 

We weren't quite sure if the cake was for her birthday or baptism, so Mallory had the idea to simply write "Happy B-day," which fit either occasion perfectly. haha

 

Lydia had to quickly stuff lunch and get a ride over to the high school for her last performance of a Midsummer's Night Dream. We headed over early since we have a bit group and wanted good seats in front for her performance at 2:00. We got there plenty early because there was only 1 other guy there when they opened the doors. (He ended up saving an ENTIRE row in front of us, so I'm still glad we got their early. We did a few rounds of musical chairs until everyone was happy with where they were sitting. The play was great. I'm glad we saw the dress rehearsal more though. They changed some things that I thought were better originally. But Lydia's performance was much improved from the first practice night. She did so well!

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On Sunday, Mom & Randy came to church with us. In our family, we've had our kids wait until they were 8 to take the sacrament. So it was a Anderson's first week having the sacrament. I wasn't even close to him on the pew though. All the boys were snuggled up (and piled on in Chase's case) Grandma the whole time. 

After church we had a Taste-Testing with Mom & Randy. We tried a variety of canned fish: trout, mackerel, sardines, herring... on cracker with cheese. Trout was a favorite since it's so mild. I liked the mackerel; it tasted like tuna to me. Grant's favorite was sardines, which I was surprised about. And my mom's was herring (that was my least favorite!). But I was proud of myself for actually trying them all.