Amelia's Baptism

Pure, Sweet, Innocent, Beautiful. All words to describe the baptism day for Ella and Amelia. The girls had their Bishop's interviews on Wednesday. Amelia rushed into the YW room after her interview exclaiming, "Mom! I passed!" She was so thrilled.

Saturday dawned a lovely, sunny day. Miekka and Seth prepared an excellent talk on Baptism. Lia said the closing prayer. The one hair-raising event was when we could not find jumpsuits for the girls as the baptism started. The program was held in the chapel because Ella had quite a few visitors and family. I had to wake up Evelyn from her nap to arrive at the church on time. She was consequently very cranky. She loves Miekka so we could trade turns watching her run the halls. Amelia was baptized first. Amelia said the water was really warm. She felt it was the best day ever! She stood on the steps shivering to watch Ella get baptized. There was a lot of giggling going on as the dripping wet girls got dressed. The Elders put on a really, really long video about the conversion of an early Saint in the 1800s. It about put my kids under.

I sang a song my companions and I sang at baptisms on my mission, a mash-up of When I am Baptized and I Love to see the Temple. I dreamed a good long while of singing it at my first child's baptism. That was really special for me. Ella's Pa gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Ella was confirmed first, then Amelia. The program went long with extra remarks from Elder Grunig and Sister Peters. The girls were just beaming. Our neighbor Kelly was able to attend the meeting.

Alison hosted a family BBQ out at their home in Dalton. Ella was delighted to show off her chickens to the kids. Evelyn tried to hug one of the newer chickens. The biggest attraction at Alison's home was a long ramp attached to the porch. Everett mastered all the yard games, trying to monopolize them all at the same time. It really was the BEST DAY EVER.