The Best Part of Turning Eight

Sophie turned eight recently, which means she's old enough to be baptized into our church. We had planned to wait until Topher was vaccinated to have her baptism, expecting that would happen in early January. But then the vaccine trial for Topher's age group failed. We don't know when kids his age will be able to be vaccinated. I resigned myself to the idea that Sophie would have to wait a long time to be baptized.

Then, after talking with Sophie one night at bedtime, I had the strong impression that we needed to find a way to have her baptism sooner than later. We talked with our Bishop last week and he pointed out that seminary (which usually meets each school morning in the same room as the baptismal font) was on break for the holiday and that the building wouldn't be used used through the end of the year. He suggested that maybe we could air out the one room we needed and use it for a quick baptism before seminary started again in January.

I ordered a few white dresses from Amazon for Sophie to choose from, just in case we could make it work. For the last week and a half we've been emailing back and forth with the one member of the Bishopric in town for Christmas to coordinate a time for Sophie's baptism. Then he got a cold, which ended up possibly being COVID. Since we needed him to be at the baptism, we thought perhaps all our planning was for naught.

That's when I remembered that we had attended a Zoom baptism last year where the Bishop wasn't there in person, only over Zoom. We asked if we could do the same thing. Yesterday evening we got the okay to proceed with only our immediate family at the baptism and everyone else on Zoom. Sophie had her baptismal interview right before bedtime, then she planned the program while I was tucking her in.

Last night and this morning I sent out a flurry of texts to friends and family members that might be available to join us virtually. This morning we made sure we were showered, dressed in church clothes and too-tight church shoes, wrote talks, headed to the church building, filled the font, and Sophie had a lovely baptism.

Sophie chose to sing When I Am Baptized for the opening song. She did a beautiful job. Topher said the opening prayer, I gave a quick talk about baptism, then Bryan performed the baptism with Peter and Cooper acting as witnesses.

After the baptism, while I helped her change into dry clothes, Sophie said she felt perfect. She also said she now knows what it's like to take a bath in her clothes.

While she and Bryan were changing, the other kids chatted with people on the Zoom call. Then we all came back together and Phoebe gave a wonderful talk about the Holy Ghost. I asked her to share it with me:

Sophie, this is a special day for you, because you chose to get baptized and receive The Gift of the Holy ghost. The Holy Ghost will become an important part of your life as you seek to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The Holy Ghost is part of The Plan of Happiness. He is the third member of the godhead, and he is there to help us avoid temptations.

Moroni ten, verse five, says:

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

This is telling us that The Holy Ghost can help us discern right from wrong, he can guide you, and will help you stay on the covenant path. 

The Holy Ghost is also there to comfort us.  John fourteen, verses sixteen through eighteen say:

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

I have a testimony that The Holy Ghost is real, and that he can comfort you. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus gave us The Gift of The Holy Ghost so that The Holy Ghost can comfort us.

Sophie, I hope that someday you will have your own testimony of The Holy Ghost, and that you will know from experience that The Holy Ghost is real.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Then Bryan confirmed Sophie a member of the church and conferred the gift of the Holy Ghost on her. It was a sweet and spiritual meeting. Cooper ended it with a closing prayer.

Sophie's last minute, quickly planned baptism was a wonderful way to end 2021.

Warm Winter

As much as Topher enjoyed the snow last week, I loved that it was warm enough the day after Christmas that we could take a calm walk around the neighborhood.

Seasonally Appropriate

For weeks Topher had been telling us that when it snowed it would be Christmas. I tried to manage his expectations and let him know that Christmas doesn't always come with snow. On Christmas Eve we woke up to just a bit more than a dusting of snow. Topher looked outside and solemnly announced, "And now, it's Christmas."

I guess he was right.

The younger three bundled up and played as much as they could while the snow melted around them. Phoebe asked for my camera and returned it with some pretty great pictures.

Defying Gravity

Today I cut everyone's hair at our house except for Sophie and Bryan. I only took pictures of Cooper's hair. His hair defies gravity.

This last picture is a selfie. Of course.

The Magic of Christmas

On Christmas Eve, after reading Luke 2, we watched a beautiful portrayal of the Nativity. I felt spiritually ready for Christmas. Then we opened our annual Christmas pajamas and sat for a whole bunch of picture taking.

The rest of our Christmas Eve was fun because we watched movies as a family, but also late because we watched movies as a family. After we finally got the kids tucked in, Bryan and I jumped into making Christmas magic. This is what the Great Room looked like just before we went to bed in the wee hours of the morning.

One benefit of letting nearly everyone (Topher still had a proper bedtime) stay up late was that everyone slept in. That means Bryan and I got a little more sleep than we were expecting. Except for the part where Topher woke up at six in the morning because he was hungry. But after that we got more sleep.

Our family tradition is that the kids stay upstairs until they hear the Christmas music start to play, that's their cue to come downstairs.

Everyone enjoyed their stockings, then we paused the gifts to eat some cinnamon roles and smell the sausage egg casserole that was almost done baking. Then it was back to gifts!

The girls and Cooper all spent their own money and picked out thoughtful gifts for the whole family. Here we have Topher opening Sophie's gift and Peter opening Phoebe's.

"What is it Topher?"

"A tablecloth."

It's a shirt.

This is Sophie's reaction to receiving a pink sparkly dress.

Phoebe had similar feelings about her overalls and matching scrunchies.

Christmas this year was won by comfy socks and funny shirts.

There were other fun gifts as well.

After a wonderfully peaceful (no bickering, no complaining) morning, we set to work preparing delicious food. We ate so late that we saved the desserts for dinner the next day.

Merry Christmas!