Today was the big day for Cami to get baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We all dressed in our Sunday best, and Cami wore a new white dress we had given her for this special day and special jewelry from Aunt Merri and her family and a lovely bracelet from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Herbst, and then we were off! We headed for the church at 8:20 this morning and she was given her baptismal clothing. She changed, then we went into the chapel and waited for the meeting to start. There were 2 other 8-year-olds to be baptized this morning, too. They all looked anxious as they waited on the front row with their dads. The meeting began and we sat reverently as the 1st Counselor in the stake presidency conducted the meeting. I don't remember much of what was said, but I remember thinking that Cami looked so beautiful! I was glad to see Brian sitting with her and my parents and I sat in the back of the chapel with Emma, Will and Zach. The only sad thing about the day was that Spencer couldn't share it with us.
Unfortunately, he had a baseball game this morning at the same time. I know that may sound lame, but he is in a premiere league and we already miss games and tournaments on Sundays, and we didn't realize the conflict until it was too late to do anything about it. So we tried to make arrangements for a friend to get him to the church directly after the game and we asked that Cami get baptized last. Well, it didn't work out! Cami did go last, but with only 3 kids getting baptized, it didn't take long for it to be her turn. And come to find out, Spencer was having the game of his life making several great plays, including a double play! The game went into overtime, and we lost 10 to 11. This is a great accomplishment for our boys!! In previous games, we've had to quit early because our opponent was winning 27-0 (no joking!!!).
Anyway, back to Cami. Her baptism went smoothly and we changed her back into her beautiful white dress. Again, she looked so pretty and we sang, "The Holy Ghost", listened to the Bishop talk, then Cami, Emma and Will sang "I am a Child of God," then I spoke about the Holy Ghost (while Will was crawling on the floor around my legs and poking his head through my legs until Brian finally got him!) and presented her with a lovely picture and poem entitled "My Three White Dresses." It's a beautiful poem about wearing a white dress when a baby is blessed, then another white dress at baptism, and then if you keep those baptismal covenants, you will get to wear another white dress in the House of the Lord when you get married. So I talked about the significance of that and the symbolism of being dressed in white. Then she was confirmed and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We sang, "I belong to the Church," and it was over! It seemed to happen quickly and we enjoyed it so much.
We came home and had a delicious cake that I had made yesterday (all white, of course). Then we went to the park for a picnic lunch and to feed the ducks and turtles, then home for naps, and into the pool later for a little swimming and pizza for dinner, poolside! What a day! I think Cami really had a good day and she has said a couple of times in her meal prayers that she was having a great baptism day! Here's a few pictures of our day:
One of our snorkel stops
