love of local in Utah
Cameron & Lydia’s Baptism
This post is out of order, I will move it to the right order in a week or so.
Cameron waited two months to be baptized so Tyler’s parents would only have to travel out to Utah once ***AND*** so she could be baptized with her best friend and cousin Lydia. Lydibug who is really probably the 3rd most important person in Cameron’s life is she is being honest. Lydia cuts in line in front of some of Cameron’s sisters I think.
Some of the things Cameron had to do to prepare for her baptism really stressed her out and brought on some added anxiety and acting out. Poor girl was stressed. She holds it in and won’t say things out loud so it took a little while for me to figure out what was going on.
Leading up to the baptism I worked on her baptism binder. I got some relatives to send in letters to put in there for her to read. We had some special FHE lessons on baptism and she had all her little meetings and interviews.
That day she ALSO had a dance recital in the morning. I was stuck in a hard place after the recital and ended up having to get her ready at Chickfila and in the back of my minivan. Which I felt awful about, I really wanted the day to be super calm and smooth but it was not turning out that way.
Luckily we got to the church early. Made sure things were set up, found the heater, and gave ourselves a little tour. I was worried if the baptism was even going to happen or not because we were the only ones there for awhile! Thankfully everyone started to come. And even more thankfully Cameron was SO excited to be there and be there with Lydia.
They were really lucky to live in Utah and get to have the whole program to themselves. Both of them got to have all their grandparents involved in a part of the program. Her Grandma Brown gave a beautiful talk on baptism and her Grandma Willden gave a beautiful talk on the Holy Ghost. Which by the way I really want copies of those talks you two! I was in a lot of pain and holding onto a lot of stress and can’t remember too much. Other than just trying to stay calm for Cameron so she could have a beautiful time.
It was time to baptized and she went right in without being nervous. Her Dad of course dunked her REALLY hard so nothing would pop up. The first words out of her mouth were, “I’m so cold!” It was really so cold, our efforts to turn the heaters on to heat up the bathroom were not done in time. BUT the next words were, “AND HAPPY!”
She was given the gift of the Holy Ghost by her dad who I think gave a beautiful blessing but Reagan was not being quiet so I wish I had asked someone to take notes for me.
Cameron got to pick the closing song and boy was she excited that it was the appropriate season to sing Silent Night, her very favorite song of all time. Those little things mean a lot to her.
The baptism and Cameron & Lydia’s experience seemed like it was perfect for them. Which is what matters. Cameron had her Grandparents Brown and Willden, Great Grandparents Willden, Wrights, Behles, JB & Bryan, and her family there. I don’t think she noticed or cared that no familiar faces from the neighborhood or her ward were there. SHE GOT TO BE WITH LYDIA, NOTHING ELSE MATTERED! 🙂
With knowing how stressed Cameron was I did really try to focus on fun things that would happen in the day. Which I know that some people might think that it took away from the important ordinance they were completing. But there is a reason I did it the way I did, for Cameron. Lydia and Cameron told me the colors they wanted things to be, what food they wanted, and what treat they wanted. I really wanted to be helpful and feed all the out of towners for the baptism. But as the time got closer I knew it was going to be really hard for me to handle. So we had Costa Vida come cater the “nacho bar” they wanted so badly. I had a candy bar like they requested BUT my announcement of the parents having to help the kids I don’t think was listened to. I think the kids gorged themselves, the bags were so full, I am still picking out the candy from my carpet, and our poor dog got into a leftover bag left somewhere and was so so sick. I decorated with snowflakes one of my YW made me, pictures of the girls, and a beautiful cake. I priced out how I could feed everyone dessert without baking anything and surprisingly getting this cake was the cheapest option. Even though I did feel really silly because it looked like a wedding cake. Oh well! All these things made Cameron even more excited about her special day.
It was a good good day for those two, I was so happy for them.
I might have lost it that night, but sometimes that is what we moms do for making sure our kids have a calm important time on important days like these.
It was perfect in every way. We were so glad we could be a part of it.
Love baptism day!