Paige's Baptism

Paige was baptized on November 5th!  She has been thinking and preparing for her baptism for most of the year.  She knew once she turned 8 she could be baptized and was so happy to have the day finally arrive. 

We were so grateful to have Grandpa and Grandma Smith come all the way from Utah to be with us for Paige's baptism.  She also had a lot of support from our ward.  Paige was the only person being baptized on that day so we were able to plan the whole program.  Paige selected all the music and speakers and asked them in advance if they would be help her.  Grandma Smith gave the talk on baptism and I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.  Paige and Ashley also sang the song My Heavenly Loves Me; it was really sweet--they did such a good job.  She was baptized and confirmed by her dad, just like both Ashley and I have been.

It is on days like this that you truly realize what a privilege it is to be a parent.  What an honor it is to teach a little child and then see her make a choice you know will change her life forever.  Needless to say, I was a little more emotional than I expected to be.  I pretty much cried through my whole talk.  I knew I was goner when Dave started crying during the opening prayer!  In fact, after the service, Paige told me she loved me very much and that she almost started crying too, but she thought it might be too embarrassing so she didn't.

Paige is a thinker.  She likes to think about things and figure them out.  I will always remember two special things about Paige's baptism.  The first is prior to her baptism when she was studying and learning about why it is important to be baptized and the things you should do to be prepared.  We were sitting in Sacrament meeting and she was reading a booklet about baptism preparation.  The booklet had a list of things you needed on your baptism day as well as a list of questions to ask yourself.  The list included things like white clothes, socks, towels and then the questions started.  One of the questions was, "do you have a testimony?"  Paige thought this meant you had to bring an actual physical, tangible testimony.  All of sudden in a panic, she turns to me and says, "I don't have a testimony!  Do I have to go up there (pointing to the stand at the front of the chapel) to get one!?"  So funny!  Needless to say, the next day we had a family home evening on testimonies to clear up any confusion.

The second memory is right after Paige came out of the water after being baptized.  I wrapped her towel around her and took her into the changing room.  It was so special to be with her in the moments right after she was baptized.  She was warm, glowing, happy and changed as she shared with me her joy and feelings about being baptized.  What a blessing it was to share that moment with her.

After the service, we had cookies and milk for refreshments.  We even served some egg nog, which is one of Paige's favorites.  Many friends from the ward brought cookies and baked goods to share so we had lots of yummy treats.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures not even one of Paige with her grandparents.  I feel bad about that, but we were all so busy enjoying the moment that no one was really thinking about pictures.

Of course, this is Paige's special day we are talking about so there always has to be some humor, because she is funny girl.  After the baptism we went to dinner.  She choose Sweet Tomatoes, one of her favorites because she isn't much of a meat-eater.  Of course, we went in our dress clothes and Paige was wearing her white dress.  The same white dress that she was planning to wear to church the following day.  Things went well until dessert.  I'm sure any other half-competent mother would realize sending a little girl in a white dress to the ice cream bar would be bad idea, but obviously I wasn't thinking clearly.  Paige came back to our table with dark chocolate syrup on her dress.  Let's just say that she didn't just have a drop on her dress, she had it pretty much drizzled all over the front.  Fortunately, this was a day she was blessed because I was able to take her to the bathroom and wipe off every last drop.  Again, I'm pretty confident every woman who came into that bathroom was silently thinking to themselves, "why would you let your daughter wear a white dress to a place like this?"  Okay the actual blessing was that viole fabric, which was the outer layer of Paige's dress, doesn't absorb, so I could just wipe the chocolate off with a wet cloth.  The dress was saved and no one at church the next day knew that just a few hours before the dress was covered in dark chocolate!  (By the way, I'm pretty sure I have read a baptism story almost exactly like this in the Friend magazine!)