Afton’s Baptism

It was Afton’s baptism and confirmation yesterday. Although Afton has a friend in the ward who was born the same day as her, his family decided to wait until next month for his baptism, so the service was just for Afton. Since it was just us and it was Thanksgiving weekend, arranging for the program was a little bit of a challenge. Fortunately, Afton’s piano teacher, Sister Poulsen, was able to play for us, which relieved one major stress. It was also the first baptismal service in our ward since getting a new primary presidency and a new bishopric, but things went very smoothly.

Shannon loved being able to help Afton get dressed in her white baptismal clothes since that had been up to me for Ethan and Gerrit. Shannon’s allergies must have been acting up or something, though, because her eyes kept getting watery.

When Grandpa Smith was visiting us recently, he was talking about football, commenting that a particular quarterback can run the ball well, but his coaches don’t let him. Afton wisely replied, “Well, if you can’t run, skipping is pretty good.” As such, knowing that she shouldn’t run in the chapel, Afton instead skipped all over the place welcoming friends. It was pretty clear she was excited.

When we entered the baptismal font together, some of our prior practice seemed to have been forgotten. When I asked Afton if she was ready, she said, “Now?” and was ready to dunk herself under water. I managed to keep her from doing so while I said the prayer, but when I told her to hold her nose after that, she didn’t catch on for a few seconds so I went ahead and immersed her. Coming out of the water she sputtered, “Oh, I forgot to plug my nose!”

We let Afton choose the music for the service. When we were planning, she said there was a song that was her very favorite, but she couldn’t remember the title or any of the words — just that it “went up like a balloon at the end.” Eventually she remembered that it was on her primary music CD, so we discovered it was If the Savior Stood Beside Me by Sally DeFord. Since it isn’t in the Children’s Songbook, I decided to sing that one as a solo rather than have everyone sing something that might not be familiar to them. This is a slightly different version, but I’m sure I sounded just as good 🙂

It’s hard to believe that all our babies aren’t babies anymore, but we’re so happy that they’ve all entered the gate to help us be an eternal family.

Shannon’s Thoughts

To me, it felt like a perfect day. It’s funny to say that because so many of the people we truly love weren’t able to be there. I missed my parents—they’ve been able to attend the boys’ baptisms. The pang first struck me upon seeing my Uncle Richard. Although he has more of it, his hair has turned the exact same beautiful white silver as my dad’s.

Living as far away as we do I’m pretty accustomed to hosting family get-to-togethers and generally pretending I’m a capable adult but I missed them again in the kitchen putting together lunch for our family and friends.

Eric welcomed my Aunt Jeri and Uncle Richard into our home and said, “Make yourself comfortable and have a seat.” I called from the kitchen, “Eric misspoke, what he really meant was ‘come help me’.” And they did. Richard set up folding chairs while Jeri sliced rolls and whatever else I put in front of her. Our niece Kayla made drinks and, like a hundred times before, did anything that I needed.

Ethan gave a talk on baptism. I admit it, I was worried. I wasn’t at all sure he’d actually prepared a talk. I was a little afraid he was planning teenager style, to just wing it– but he wasn’t. Ethan told Afton that baptism is what we need to do to follow Jesus’ example. He remembered, “Grandpa told me at my baptism that I needed to write in my journal so I could always remember it and also that if I’d write in my journal I didn’t have to set the table.” My parents influence was there even if they couldn’t be. It made me cry again and it was perfect.

Afton said she felt nervous about her baptism but to me it looked more like joy just leaking out of her. I remembered the joy Eric and I felt at her birth. When our sons were baptized Eric got to help them dress in white and then get them dry after their baptism. I didn’t know how special those few minutes after her baptism would feel. I was so happy to get to share in Afton’s joy and be there to welcome her into Heavenly Father’s church to share this covenant with her.

So I admit to feeling just a little melancholy and crying more than a little, but my baby got baptized and there was so much good about the day it outweighed any sadness and was a perfect day.