Child Baptism/Family Visit Report

We had family fly/drive in from 3 states for my daughter’s baptism on Saturday. My husband, my daughter, and I are all introverts, so this was interesting. Thankfully, all members stayed in other lodgings. Both moms got to be grandma and spend time with my daughters. My sister-in-law and her 2 daughters also stole the baby for long stretches of time, and hung out with my eldest daughter.

Saturday, I got both of my daughters to the church building for the oldest one’s primary program practice that was scheduled before her baptism. I worked with various leaders in a comic skit entitled, “Who has the keys to the water control panel and the keys to the font?” and visited with my family. Evidently I was “supposed” to arrange to get the font filled – even though no one told me about it. I made the mistake of assuming that the 1st counselor who was presiding was going to handle it as part of his calling. He assumed that my husband was aware of what needed to be done and had told me. Actually, it would not have mattered, because only our branch president (who was out of town) and our ward clerk have the new keys for that box. Anyways, the keys arrived, and the font was filled. My husband ran late, so I wound up working with another sister to get the programs printed because working the copy machine is not my specialty.

The service itself was short but sweet. I gave a combined Baptism/Holy Ghost talk pulling examples from “The Chronicles of Narnia” – how the children decided to follow Aslan, and once they did so, their life changed and they were a part of a community of followers. The children were also given gifts that were tailored to the things they would need, like we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Yes, I had cleared it with my branch president prior to him going out of town, just in case). I think I talked for maybe 5 minutes – 7 minutes tops. Everyone in my family has a short attention span, we had a captive audience of primary children that wanted to be released to enjoy their Saturday, I was not going to go long talking. I purposely put it from a more Christian viewpoint which I “sold” as tailoring the talk for visiting non-members (we did have a family friend who is not LDS, and I had expected several non-member families from the community). I was also more comfortable with that viewpoint. I also felt that it was the best way to tell my daughter a few things in a way that would make sense to her. My husband thought the service was essential but quirky, because we are quirky. My best friend thought my talk was perfect. My TBM mother-in-law really liked the service as well – she thought it was sweet. I think that there was meaning in the experience for everyone involved – which is really all that anyone could ask for.

Sunday was a joy (not). My eldest (who had just been baptized) stayed overnight with her cousins and got to church late. She threw a huge fit about being in the primary program. I choose to sit up there on the stand with her if she would participate in the program. She said her part beautifully and loudly, and then spent the time trying to crawl into my lap/snuggle while on the stand. The good thing was that my youngest spent time presiding amongst her adoring fans and did not try to fuss or come and sit on my lap on the stand.