Baptism Day

Turning eight is such a special birthday in our family because it is the age when you can be baptized.

When I was a child, about to turn eight, my parents had me take the missionary discussions from the full-time missionaries. I still remember the lessons they taught me. We wanted to do the same for our boys. BB#2 began the discussions a few weeks before his baptism. Elder Mata and Elder Daugherty were fabulous. They taught with an amazing spirit and challenged BB#2 to pray and read and learn for himself the truthfulness of the Gospel. It was a great experience for our entire family.

Diamond and Big Boy #2, right before the baptism:

One of the really cool parts of the baptism was that BB#2 was able to be the very first person baptised in the new church. He had been angling for that since he saw the new building begin to be to built. Everyone made a big deal about it, and he was thrilled! (Kinda nice for the middle child to be the very first at something.)

Here are the men who stood in the confirmation circle as BB#2 received the gift of the Holy Ghost (Elder Mata, Brother Bashaw, Grandpa Green, Diamond, Grandpa Smith, Uncle Tim, Brother Hansen/Primary teacher.) I just love the visual image of a group of men literally encircling my son for the sole purpose of blessing him. That's what the priesthood is about!

Our family:

The Green cousins:

We had only a few minutes after the baptism to get to BB#2's baseball game. Almost all of the family that was in town were able to cheer him on in his game:

BB#2 had quite the cheering section! (Grandpa Green, Grandpa Smith, Grandma Smith)

His two teenage cousins were quite the spirited cheerleaders - singing loudly and screaming "We love you BB#2!!!"

After the game everyone headed to Red Robbin for a late lunch. It was a very special day for our little guy.