Sydney's Baptism

Of course before we get to the main event, we have to back up a bit. Brent and I took Sydney out for the traditional 8 year old Sex and Santa talk. These have  been the all-time greatest conversations of life. I managed to capture a picture of the moment the penny dropped- such a furrowed brow!

Sydney bounced back lightning quick; eager to show off her French fry mustache.

Her sisters were eager to provide solace the moment we came home.

Katrina did an amazing job on the program. Here Liesel is looking for the hidden CTR ring.

We finished the Book of Mormon in ample time but left that very last chapter for riiiight before her baptism. Once everyone was together, we read took turns reading verses and it was awesome to finish the Book of Mormon with so many friends and family.

I'm getting ahead of myself though- before we started the program we had plenty of time to snap some photos. By our 4th child we finally had this down to an art and things were running so smoothly!

Sydney and Brent slipped into their baptism clothes.

We used to feel pressure to have some sort of buffet after the baptism and I'm grateful for how the pandemic has simplified things. An ice water and individually wrapped cookie feels just right. Sydney selected dark pink for her personal scriptures and she loves reading from them.

Ireland gave a great talk on baptism. She quoted from Harry Potter and talked about how the Savior has the answers. Even though he was perfect, he was baptized to show us the way. It was funny and touching and I was so dang proud of her.

Squeaky clean!

Doug spoke on the Holy Ghost. He had Sydney build a simple house out of blocks and then would tilt the tile to demonstrate what happens when we don't have a solid foundation. At one point Sydney was forcefully holding down the blocks so they wouldn't move and of course they slid out from under her hands. It was such a great talk!

Sydney bore her testimony to everyone standing behind her house which was finally on a firm foundation.

Another pandemic blessing- how many people could join us on Zoom! So much love out there for her.

Now for some extended family photos. Each of my girls has had both sets of grandparents attend their baptism and I am so grateful for that. Not everyone is able to make that happen.

The sister on the right is Sister Parsons and she taught Sydney the discussions to prepare her for baptism. We were waiting for Brent to finish changing and had a little time so I asked her to bear her testimony. She talked of Sydney's faith and what a joy it was to teach her. You can tell Sydney sure adores her!

Here's the whole clan. It was such a special day, I'm so grateful for all the love and support for this little girl!

As luck would have it, we were also scheduled to clean the building. Everyone rolled up their sleeves and in no time the church was immaculate and all ready for Sunday.