a late report of a great day

it has been over a week, and i'm finally getting around to reporting on the baptism of my oldest. it doesn't seem possible that he is that old, but he definitely acts like it. (much of the time...)


the day went very well. there was only one other boy getting baptized at our service, so harry asked his grandma play the piano, and my sisters to speak and lead the music. (all did great too!) the other boy's grandfather spoke, and gave both boys a framed picture of john the baptist baptizing the savior.

the other boy was baptized first, so we got to watch that before we went to the font. harry was squeezing my hand pretty hard as we walked back to the font, but i think i was more nervous than he was. i don't know why. i knew what to do. we have been to several baptisms in the last couple of years. i guess it's just because it's been over a decade since i participated!



we got in the water, and just sort of went for it. (nobody said anything, so i'm guessing the witnesses were in place...) i stood on his toes to keep his feet down, and as i put him underwater, i realized that he was a good foot under, and that was plenty. (i didn't look to the witnesses to ensure he had been completely immersed, or if i had said the prayer right, we just kind of walked out of the font.) again, i knew we were ok, but looking back, wondered if i should have been more formal... oh well, maybe i won't be so nervous in 3 years.

the whole time we were changing into dry clothes, harry kept excitedly (nervously?) speed-talking. it was so neat to hear him talk about how good he felt, and how he would never forget it, and how the holy ghost was telling him he had made a good choice, and how warm the water was... after we confirmed him a member of the church, and gave him the gift of the holy ghost, we went back to our house for lunch and well-mannered chaos.

i love our house, but when you cram that many people in, it feels tight. hopefully, everyone enjoyed it as much as we did. after the crowds moved on to other activities, we had a good long talk with harry to process the day, and all his feelings. it was a great time. he really is a wonderful boy (despite his parents), and can be surprisingly mature (sometimes). i also had some good one-on-one time with chilly too, so he wouldn't feel too left out.

like so many things, it was a great experience, and all we had hoped for, and it was over so fast.

-afterthought- harry was asked to speak in primary yesterday. he was upset. he doesn't mind speaking, and does a great job. he was just disappointed, because he wanted to use his new scriptures! in the end, he wrote his own talk, which was (as we suggested) an intro and closing around reading several related verses. pretty funny!