Rex got baptized on April 8 and he was so excited. We spent the year and a half (more or less) before his baptism reading the Book of Mormon together. I was really fun and we both learned a lot I was tried to explain Isaiah to a 7-year-old. We'd talked about what getting baptized meant. We were ready. I say we because, we were. I put a lot of time and effort into making sure he knew what he was getting himself into and not just getting baptized because he felt like his parents wanted him to (which we did, but even more I wanted it to be his decision).
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| The day we finished the Book of Mormon |
A few days before, my parents came into town and then the day before my sister and her kids came into town. The day before my mom and I spent most of the day and night cooking and chopping and in all other ways preparing for the 22 people who would be coming over after the baptism for dinner.
On the day of the baptism, I was calm and relaxed and was super proud of myself for having dinner ready, dishes done, and kids dressed and ready for the baptism even a little early so that we could drive to the building stress-free and simply enjoy the baptism. We weren't as early as I would have liked due to an incident dealing with where each child would sit in the car, but we were still early. Just not early enough to take any pictures. Luckily Greg took this picture for me.
And then the service started. And went on and on and on. Our stake does stake baptisms. There were seven kids getting baptized that day and Rex was the last kid. We were there for an hour and a half. During naptime and right before dinner time. I spent most of the service in the hall with crying children. It was chaotic and I couldn't hear the baptism or confirmation because my kids were screaming and crying. I cried the entire way home. So much effort put into preparing Rex and being stress free at the baptism and I missed it. And then to top it off, because the service was so long, by the time it was over, nobody wanted to take pictures so I only have a few to remember this special day.
I tried to hide my disappointment from Rex. I'm not sure I did. I've never been very good at hiding what I'm really thinking. Obviously, you read this blog. Rex said he had a great day and enjoyed his baptism, which I guess is the important thing. That he remember his covenants. But I would have liked to have heard them too. Maybe one day I'll get over it. But probably not. Greg did point out that I'm still not over Rex's birth. I guess I need to work on being more forgiving.
The dinner after, by the way, went pretty well, except that I tried to make rice in my crock pot and it turned out as one gooey mess, but everything else was good.
Here are the few pictures I was able to get.
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| Derick Wheatly, Hunter Arter and Rex--the boys from our ward getting baptized. |
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| With the grandparents |
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| Rex's piano teacher and her sister who is the same age as Rex came |
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| With the other grandparents |
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| I wanted a family picture but my other kids were done so we settled for this. |
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| Handsome boy |
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| The whole gang |
It sounds like you have prepared him well. You inspire me! I can remember feeling so stressed out at Nathan's baptism too. It gets easier with the next one because you anticipate your feelings better or something. Our poor first kids ;) Rex is sure a great kid! Congrats.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing an amazing job! I always try to think of these experiences in light of years from now--oh what great stories we'll have to tell!
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I do to keep my sanity is to lower my expectations. I'm almost to the point now where I have zero expectations. (-: Some might say that is a bad thing but I'm not so sure. It doesn't mean I don't do anything. It means that I have no expectations. There is so much that I can't control, so I do what I can and then let the rest just happen. It also doesn't mean that there aren't lots of tears and worries along the way.
And since I'm on a roll, I have another thought--we all have crappy experiences. It seems to me that we can dwell on those experiences and tell them to everyone like we are the only ones who experience them (we all know people who do this!), or we can pretend like they didn't happen and tell everyone how perfect our life is (just look at social media!), or we can see them as they are, crappy experiences. We can say how it is but with a laugh and a wave of the hand. It is what it is. And with our accepting it as such, we haven't continued to let it ruin our lives. (Which is why I enjoy you so much, you do this!)
You are a fantastic mother and person! Your children are very blessed to call you mother.