Baptism Day

Nate made the great choice to be baptized! We made sure the choice was all his. He went to his interview all on his own. He let me stand the clerks office to wait for him, but asked the bishop to close the door so mom couldn't here. Well that took all the fun out of it!

Nate happened to get baptized on my birthday. A terrific present for a mom, at least it was for this mom, I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate my birthday than to witness my son make such a important decision. Both of our parents were able to come & join us for a long weekend to share in Nate's special day.

We spent the morning & early afternoon watching soccer games, one for each "big" kid and then we took a short break & went to the church. After a full round of pictures we had Nate's baptism. Nate had spent some time working on the program he wanted for his special day. Grandma Radeke gave the talk on Baptism & Grandma Terry gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. The Grandpas were the witnesses and stood in with dad in the blessing circle along with close family friends who were there to support Nate on his special day. The room was packed - it was an amazing experience. One of the things that Nate chose for his program is that he wanted Abbie to sing a song, then he heard Brittney (our favorite babysitter) sing in Sacrament Meeting and he wanted her to sing, we told him that he could only have 1 special musical number so he called Brittney and asked her if she would sing with Abbie - they did. It was very special for all of us, the topper to it all was when the song was over Nate went up to Abbie and gave her a great big hug and told her she did a good job and thank you. He really does have a heart of gold.

(We couldn't record the actual performance, but here is a video of a rehearsal - sorry the video quality is the best & the piano sounded really loud - it wasn't  & yes Abbie is on a stool she's nowhere near this tall compared to Brittney! And for some reason the blog isn't letting me upload video so I had to put it on YouTube - oh well)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV6l_aEnFGQ


We ended the night by going out to dinner, this was my birthday present - I didn't want to cook or do dishes! Both Grandmas & Grandpas as well as 2 families of friends joined us - it was the perfect ending to our perfect day.

I am grateful for Nate. For the smart boy he is, but most of all for his heart of gold. Nobody loves like he does. I am so very grateful that he is our son. I hope we can do right by him, and learn the wonderful lessons he has for us. We have a special thing in our primary where if an adult sees a primary child choosing the right in any situation they fill out a little card and that child is recognized for their good choice. Nate recently got one, our primary pianist works at Nate's school & she witnessed Nate being a good friend. Apparently there was a classmate who was sad because he felt as though he didn't have any friends, at which point, without hesistate, Nate let this boy know that he would be his friend. I happened to be the leader the day Nate got his card for the good choice, it was all I could do to not cry. I was so proud of the choice he made. These are the kinds of choices we want them to make, the ones that let us know they are listening to what we teach them. He is an amazing son & we love him!