John and Kylee: Eliza's Baptism

I don't know why I have thought so much about this, but for some reason Baptism Day has always been a big (dare I say looming?) event when I think about my children's childhood. The day they change from a little kid to a big kid. She is accountable now. Whoa. It is just a big deal. I can't believe it came so fast. I remember years past when I would see friends whose kids got baptized and I thought about how they were the parents of older children. Well, when Eliza turned 8, baptism age never seemed so young.

As much as I was so happy/sad about it, it was a wonderful day! In anticipation for the big day, we let Eliza pick out and order a special baptism (confirmation) dress. Not surprisingly she picked the most 'princessy' dress out of the options that we showed her. It really was lovely though. I love this first picture because she is clearly showing how proper and fancy she felt in this dress. That doesn't change her enthusiasm for most everything though, so when I pointed out the pretty blossoms behind her, she forgot all about herself and adored on them.

Right before these photos at the Gilbert Temple, my grandma took Eliza to Deseret Book to get her, her very own set of nice scriptures with name engraving and case. Needless to say, Eliza was beyond thrilled. The triple combination was the perfect accessory for the photos.

I love the grounds there. She took the scriptures home and over the next couple of days read all of First and Second Nephi. Say what? She really did! It was Spring Break, and she devoted most of her day to it. She is such an example to me.

This one with the red flowers was her favorite photo. :)

Okay I can't resist. Eliza and I side by side, I see it!

It was so nice of Grandma to get those for her. They are surprisingly expensive! Since that day about a month and a half ago she has read the majority of the Book of Mormon. She reads at least 15 minutes every single day (talk about being a good example!). She is already into Ether. I bet she'll finish before the two month mark. I know it isn't all about how fast you read it, but she isn't just breezing through it. She just showed me today where she thinks she read about the origin of the Urim and Thummim. She said in a recent letter to Grandma that her favorite parts have been when "Ammon meets King Lamoni and when Christ ministers to the Nephites after his resurrection." She actually used the word "ministers"! I love her.

I love the progression of the next few. It was surprisingly difficult to get a genuine smile from her during these pictures. (It shouldn't have been--but that is always the most difficult part of taking my kiddos' pictures!) I can't even remember what happened, something about a bug... But her face clearly shows her personality. I love it!

Aren't the temple grounds pretty? I loved all of the agaves in bloom. It always makes me a little sad though since I learned that an agave only blooms in its last year of life. It always dies after it shoots up these cool blooms. A ton of the agaves around the temple were blooming this year, so there is going to be a lot of replacement plants next year, I bet.

The baptismal service was so nice. I was pretty disappointed that we couldn't do it at Lake Powell, where I was baptized, but it was still a nice day. The stake did the meeting before the baptism, which was nice, albeit impersonal, but the meeting for the confirmation was just about our little Ellie.
She was so cute about being baptized. She and John practiced on dry land a few times so she would know how to move, and it went flawlessly. I was surprised and grateful to everyone from the ward who came to support her. A lot of the little families came to see her. So nice of them to give up part of their Saturday to do that!

Eliza and Miri sang a duet, "When I am baptized." The bishop and primary president talked. My girls love, love Sister Heinrich. She just has such a loving disposition. Miriam told me recently that she wasn't sure who loved her more, me or Sister Heinrich. Ha! I also spoke, which I included my little talk below. Maybe it isn't normal for the mom to speak, but I needed to make it more personal. :) And it was great!

Eliza wrote this about her baptism day: (I'll leave her spelling--she did this independently. :) )

Yesturday was my baptism! I got this pretty locect (locket) from Jane. I also got a photo ablum from the Burdicks. I felt really happy when I got baptized and confirmed. I know I did the right thing. Daddy blessed me, and I received the Holy Ghost as a constent conpanyn. Some of the things Daddy blessed me with was to continyu being a good example, to learn to recenize the promtings of the Holy Ghost, to know how much Hevenly Father love me, reconize people's needs and help stranthen people. Jane and Zuzu came down.
I love her.

Kylee's Talk:

Eliza's dad and I wanted to take a few minutes today to talk about our sweet daughter. First, we want you to know, Eliza, how incredibly proud we are of you. For this huge decision today, and many other smaller decisions over the last eight years. Eight years ago you made us parents. From day one, you have surprised us with your kind and thoughtful nature. A familiar scripture often comes to mind when I think about your sweet disposition.

Mosiah 3:19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becoment a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

This scripture never really hit home, until we had a child of our own. Eliza, you really do exemplify these Christlike qualities in our home. You make all of us want to be better.

One example of a time when you were trying to choose the right and also influencing your sister to choose the right, was when you kiddos set up your SM's. What does SM stand for?

A couple of months ago, we noticed our girls whispering and giggling while setting up a secret club. This isn't unusual. They often have clubs that involve notebooks, passwords, and stuffed animals. They referred to this particular club as an SM. This went on for a couple of days before we really took note of what was going on. One evening after dinner we went upstairs to check on them, and they both had a Book of Mormon open on the table in front of them. It was completely dark, but they had a lamp on the table spotlighting the Books of Mormon. They were taking turns reading aloud to each other. They had made it through all of the introductory pages of the Book of Mormon and were moving on to the actual books. It was so wonderful to see you and Miriam using your free time in such an important way. I remember how you girls would include in our family prayers, "Please bless us that we can keep doing our SMs." It didn't last forever, but it was a great example to your family about what matters most.

I am so proud of you for taking this step. I know that you have worked hard to prepare for this day. Here is a diagram Eliza made about the covenants and blessings of baptism and confirmation. She shared this with us at FHE this last week. Also this week she has done some marathon reading in the scriptures, reading the entirety of 1 and 2 Nephi in just two days.

We hope you'll keep trying to follow the Savior and continue to nurture these attributes found in Mosiah 3. We feel so blessed to have you as a part of our family, and we know that the decision that you made today to be baptized is going to lead to many blessings in your life. And if you continue following the gospel plan, you will come to appreciate your baptism more and more. The gospel is true.