Baptism Day Memories

I am going to try to write as much as I can about Kadences big day so that she can remember and look back on it when she's older.

All morning long I think she had a smile permanently attached to her face.  She was the most excited I'd ever seen her and I didn't think that was even possible.  This girl knew without a doubt she wanted to get baptized and she couldn't wait until it was time.  While she got ready she kept saying, "Mommy I'm just like an angel!"  She was so sweet and kept thanking me for her dress, her sandals, her jewelry, her party decorations, making her hair look nice, etc.  I think I heard "You are the best mommy ever" about a million times.

When we got to the church she was in her dress and we took a bunch of pictures.  We then had to change into her baptism jumpsuit in the bathroom.  The floor was soaking wet so we couldn't change in the stall, instead we changed in front of the sink.  I put her jumpsuit on wrong and didn't realize it until we saw another little boy with the zipper in front so we quickly fixed it.  We took some more pictures and got ready for the program.

All the kids getting baptized sat on the very front row of the chapel with whomever was performing the baptism.  Shelby insisted we sat on the row behind her.  Another family had a little boy sitting there and it seemed like they were saving the row, but the mom overheard Shelby and had her son move so we could sit there. I felt odd sitting on a row all by myself, but Shelby didn't want to sit anywhere else.  Kadence was able to choose someone to talk and she chose Curtis.  He talked about the Holy Ghost and did a great job! He also didn't make me cry which I appreciated. 

After the talks were done the person conducting the program called each family to the room with the font.  There were 4 children being baptized and Kadence was second so we had to sit in the chapel and wait for a few minutes.  As I looked up to Kadence I realized that she was welled up with tears.  I called her over to me and she told me they were happy tears.  

Kadence's name was called and we followed her to the font.  She stood at the door and greeted everyone.  She had so many there to support her that we filled the whole room.  David walked her down into the font and held her.  As he said the prayer and dunked her under he realized it was going to be harder to get her to be fully immersed than he thought.  Her foot came up but her head wasn't even close to under.  He then shoved her down trying to beat her foot coming up.  Because of her back, she can't bend which made it a little tricky.  He only had to do it once though!  Jeffy and Aaron were the witnesses.  This was Davids very first baptism that he's preformed.  As Kadence came out of the water she sounded like she had held her breath a long time and was making some noises...."Ah....Oh....Uh....Water went up my nose!"  It sounded so loud because of the way the font is so it echoed.  

As I took her to change she told me that water must go up your nose when you go under so far like she did.  She told me she felt so good and still had the cutest smile.  In my rush to try and not be slow (due to having to have to do Kadences hair) I took off her jumpsuit, dried her off, threw on her dress and heard a "Mom, do I need underwear?"  YES!  No daughter of mine will go commando, especially at church! We hurried and she looked cute and felt so beautiful.  

We loaded into the RS room for confirmations.  It was just her and another boy from our ward, Sammy.  The bishop asked each child their favorite song and we sang Kadences pick of "When I am Baptized" as an opener and Sammys pick of "Families are Forever" as a closing.  Kadences confirmation was incredibly beautiful and powerful.  There was so much that was said and David still felt he didn't portray it all.  He said that he got the impression that she will do something great that will have a large impact while on earth, but he didn't know how to properly put it into words.  He did to an extent, but I guess the feeling was overwhelming.  She's such a special girl with a contagious happiness.  David preformed his first confirmation and Uncle Brian, Jeffy, Curtis, Aaron, Robby (family friend), Ryan (home teacher) and the bishop stood in the circle.

Shelby was feeling bad that she couldn't do anything important on Kadences big day.  It wasn't that she was jealous of the attention Kadence was getting, but she wanted to help make her day special.  I finally realized that she could bless the food for the luncheon.  She was so excited to have something important to do.

I asked Kadence a few questions tonight so that I could write her answers:

Me:Were you excited or nervous for your baptism?

Kadence: Excited, but nervous we'd have to do it twice...which would be ok.  Everyone makes mistakes.

Me:How did you know you wanted daddy to baptize you?

Kadence: He was just the right one....because he's a good dad and I love him so much.

Me: How did you feel getting ready this morning?

Kadence: I just kept thinking I can't wait!

Me: What did you learn from the talks?

Kadence: That baptism and the Holy Ghost are important....way important.

Me: Before you went in the water, what were you thinking and feeling?

Kadence: I thought "This is going to be fun!" and I felt I was choosing the right thing.

Me: Was the water warm or cold?

Kadence: Uh....

Me: It was way warm because your jumpsuit was warm still when we took it off.

Kadence: Oh ya, it was warm!

Me: Did you go all the way under the first time?

Kadence: Ya, but my head didn't touch the bottom.

Me: What did you feel RIGHT after you came out of the water?

Kadence: I just thought "I finally get the Holy Ghost now!"

Me: How did it feel when daddy confirmed you?

Kadence: Really REALLY good!

Me: What was the most special part of your day?

Kadence: Getting the Holy Ghost

Me: What was the most fun part?

Kadence: Getting to see family and friends!

Me: What do you never want to forget?

Kadence: Me happy crying!