Carmen was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on April 13, 2013. This was such a special day and I am so proud of her and her choice to follow Christ's example and be baptized. I was totally unprepared for how emotional of a day it would be for ME as her mother. I remember my own baptism day so vividly and it's hard for me to realize that she's at an age that she will remember these things and how she felt and how these experiences came to be. As the "mom of the day" I felt such pressure to ensure that she felt special and to make sure she really understood what an amazing day it was for her. I may have set my expectations too high, because right before leaving home for the church I had a little meltdown. I worried so much that I hadn't done all those little things to make her day extra special. I had wanted to have a lovely table display and awesome refreshments for afterwards. I wanted to have a special towel for her to use and her hair styled beautifully.... there were so many things I wanted for her that never got done. While quickly brushing her hair before walking out the door, she asked my why I was so angry. I explained to her that I was angry at myself for not making the day more special by doing all of the above.... to which she replied by saying I didn't need to do any of those things. She was so wise in her words and made me realize that those extra things were rather insignificant and really didn't add to the sacredness of the baptism. She was right. It was still an amazing evening and the spirit was strong.
Leading up to her baptism, we talked A LOT about what it means to be baptized. She was tired of hearing about it and would often ignore us after a while. I was worried that she didn't quite understand the importance of the covenants she was about to make. But as I was in the bathroom beforehand with her, changing her clothes, she told me she was so excited! I think the realization of the sacredness and importance of the event finally had hit her. I knew then that the spirit was finally witnessing to her that she was doing the right thing. I couldn't help but watch in awe as my beautiful daughter entered the waters of baptism and then came back out as a clean and pure beautiful daughter of God. As I wrapped her in the warm towel, I recalled the same experience of when my mother did the same thing to me. I remember so clearly walking up the steps of the font and my mother hugging me with that warm towel. I felt SO loved at that time. I wanted Carmen to feel the same way. I hope she did...
Her Great Grandma Teerlink spoke on Baptism and I spoke on the Holy Ghost. Her dad performed the baptism and the confirmation. Her Grandma Bean played the piano and Grandma Teerlink (Oma) led the music. There were more people there than I had expected, even her school teacher Ms. Williams came! Afterwards we celebrated at Dairy Queen with ice cream! So, although it wasn't how I had always imagined her day would be, I believe it was just how she would have wanted it.
2 comments:
I'm so sad we missed it. What a great decision she made!
It was wonderful, April! I really do understand how you feel. I was pretty stressed out about Kyle's baptism, especially since we had several guests from his school coming and I wanted them to have such a positive impression of our church. But it really just comes down to feeling the Spirit and feeling loved by family and friends. I know Carmen felt that. I'm so sorry we were so late, I'm pretty mad at myself about that, but the confirmation blessing and talk from the Primary leader were both wonderful. I definitely felt the Spirit! You are a great mom and it seems like it was a great day for Carmen.
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