Malia's Baptism and Confirmation

It hardly seems possible that it was Malia's speical day on January 29, 2011. We're so proud of her decision to be baptized.




It cracks me up when Derek calls his cape his, "Age of Vampires". Every once in a while it sounds like, "Age of Empires", like the computer game.

It's amazing how easy it was for me to get caught up in logistically what wasn't going well, instead of focusing on the sacredness of the ordinance. (Thankfully when I was able to listen to the talks and witness the ordinances, the Spirit was very strong and I was reminded about what was really important about that day).

When we were trying on the baptismal clothes Wednesday night, Jared and Derek were running around like mindless maniacs, and the beautiful dress Makayla had worn was long gone. It was very disappointing. Malia seemed okay with it, until Makayla started to tease her.

"Ha, Ha, you get an ugly jumpsuit. I got a beautiful dress." Doing damage control was quite the task.

"When you go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead, everyone wears jumpsuits. You get to wear what the the young women wear when they do baptisms for the dead in the temple." Malia smiled. Whew, crisis averted, well, perhaps for a milisecond...

"Ha, ha, I got Grandma and Grandpa AND Nana and Papa. They must love me more." Malia frowns, inwardly I groan. This was much trickier. "That's not true. Grandma and Grandpa love you just as much. It didn't work out for them to come. They would love to be able to be here with you."

When we get to the Relief Society room on Saturday, the font was filled enough that she would be totally immersed if she laid flat on the bottom of the font. It was done that way, probably so that we could add warm water, so they wouldn't be freezing, right? We'll stick with that. :) So, we had a lot of water to add in order to finish filling it when we got there. My Mom spoke on baptism with the sound of water filling up the font in the background.

Earlier in the afternoon, we finally went through our DVDs to choose the one we were going to show while Malia was changing back into her dry clothes. With our dishwasher dying, our callings...we'll leave it at that, we didn't get to setting that aside until hours before the baptism. We had been talking about which ones were Malia's favorites. Somehow, a segment on Joseph Smith being martyred didn't seem like the best choice, and although the segment on Zion's Camp is a very good one, that didn't seem to work for a baptism, and it's 20 minutes long. Jason was sure we had one that shows a scene where Jesus was getting baptized. We found it! Sadly, the scene portraying his baptism is only a few seconds long, and was during the movie, "The Testaments, Of One Fold and One Shepherd". My parents remember they brought a DVD with them. Although it was back at the hotel they could get it when they went to back to change. "The Touch of the Master's Hand". Okay, I've watched that at a baptism, and if it's the same one, I felt the Spirit, so we're set.

I was so excited and thought we had everything in place before heading to the Church 40 minutes before it was time for the baptism to start. Towels, jumpsuit, plastic bags, programs, DVD, extra undies, all Jason's stuff, words to songs, camera, all the kids, church keys, checks all across.

We get there, get the tv and vcr all set up, continue filling the font, put the words to the songs and the programs on the chairs, Jason and Malia change, and it's time to take a picture before the baptism...except, the battery on our regular camera was dead. I KNOW I charged it recently enough that that shouldn't have been a problem! You've GOT to have at least ONE good picture of your daughter on the day of her baptism.

Quick dash home to grab the video camera, and the charger for the regular camera. Man, back with only 10 minutes to spare! Alright, let's charge the regular camera's battery for long enough to get a shot later. Ok, in the mean time, let's take a still shot with the video camera. What?! I know I charged that before I put it away. Grrr, the switch switched back to "on" in the bag... it's dead too! Crushing defeat. I guess we'll just get one afterward, in her pretty white dress, instead of her baptsimal clothes. Better than nothing.

Back into the RS room. My Mom says, Suzy, I just noticed the video we were planning on, isn't produced by the Church.

Over to the library. Great, all I'm seeing are VHS. We don't have time to FF to a segment on baptism. Hmmm, Joy to the World DVD it is. We can always celebrate the Savior's birth, right? Hmm, why didn't they take care of this while I was gone? Light bulb about the picture! Let's use the cord, plug the video camera into an outlet and take a still picture!

Back to the RS room. Question answered about why this wasn't taken care of in my absence. Derek is a whirling dirvish of activity, Jason is looking flustered, Nana is occuppying Jared, the room is quite full, it's just about time to start. Dad and I find a special feature where Pres. Hinckley bears witness of the Savior. Perfect. Let's start! Huh, no Bishopric member yet to conduct. Picture time.

Out to the lobby, open the video camera bag again. Are you kidding me? Where in the world is the cord?!! Really, REALLY?!! Ok, the regular camera battery should be charged just enough to get one shot at least. Fingers crossed that it's a good one. Stay right there guys.

Into the R.S. room, grab the battery, place it into the camera, back in the foyer, focusing in, starting to press the button...out comes Makayla bent on ruining the picture, Jason and Malia are protesting, I realize what's going on, protest too, click, flash. And as I'm reprimanding Makayla, in walks some friends. Cue self-talk. Ok Shrek, I mean Suzy, keep it together, NOT a good time to go ogre (of course, it's never a good time for that, but ESPECIALLY not now). This is a time for spirituality, it's Malia's special day. Breathe in, check the screen. Yay, at least one good picture of Malia's special day, with her wonderful Dad, both all dressed in white. And, in walks the Bishopric member, it's time to start.

Back into the R.S. room. Makayla was holding Derek on her lap. Some angelic friends of ours must have noticed all of this commotion, and had given Derek a wrapped piece of chocolate to have when Jason or I told him it was okay. He was now sitting so quietly, waiting for the go ahead, the warmth of his hand and the room, slowly softening it. Before long, he was sound asleep. (Which is probably why I was able to listen to the talks, and enjoy the ordinances :)).

Afterward a dear sister in the ward came up to me and told me what a cute family I have. I smiled. Thank you. I definitely needed that reminder!

As one of my good friends would say, "It was quite joyful", those last 30 minutes before such a special occasion. I bet your cheeks are sore from laughing so hard, right?

Since the camera had time to charge during the baptism we were able to get a few pictures afterward, oh, and you better believe Makayla got her hand over her sister's face in one shot, but I didn't let you guys see that one, no. (I'm sure you can quite vividly picture it in your mind as you're reading this!) Besides, I'm REALLY trying to apply the phrase, "Always look on the bright side of your life"...Yes, I hear you, I did say, I was TRYING! :)