Harriet's Baptism Day - May 17, 2014

There are a bunch of things I need to mention in-between Harriet's birthday and baptism, but I really want to write this baptism post before I let it go any longer.

Like I've said before about 10 times already, Harriet has been planning her baptism for at least THREE years.  She knew exactly how she wanted the day to go, right down to the guest list.  (David added an extra family without asking her, and she nearly lost her mind.  After that, I asked her permission to add invitations and she was much better about being okay with it.)

After the sad mishaps with her friends at her birthday party, I just prayed that she could actually have the baptism day she had dreamed of.  Luckily, it all went very well and she was extremely happy.

Since Shadow and Kit Cat wake up before sunrise now, I was up very early feeding them.  I saw the most beautiful sunrise that morning.  I wished I could have woken everyone up to see it, but I knew that would just doom the day to make everyone extra tired.  So, I tried my best to take a quick pic out the window.  I took it as a good omen.

Lots of people traveled down to be with us.  Jane, Richard, Janie and Evan made the drive.  Grandma Debbie, Aunt Lis, Sean, and Kate got on a plane.  We also had Grandma, Grandpa, Christine, and Harriet invited some of our Albuquerque friends, including Harriet's guitar teacher DJ and his wife, Ashli (so cool that they came!)  We definitely had a houseful, but at times like these, it is really nice to be surrounded by family and close friends.

We had a full day since I chose the earliest baptism time - 10am.  Harriet chose all of the music and helped make the program assignments.  We shared the baptism with the Brown family, so we got to plan half of the program. Aunt Jane played piano, Evan gave a talk on baptism and Janie helped him with the visual aides, Grace played her guitar (DJ helped her with a nice arrangement of When I am Baptized), Kate said one of the prayers, and Aunt Lis coordinated the activity in the middle when everyone is waiting for the kids to get dry.  She passed out note cards and had people write a message to Harriet.  I was so glad that we were able to make the program more personal, even at a stake baptism.

Harriet was baptized by her Dad.

Being genuinely happy is something that is often hard for Harriet to muster.  But, on that day, she was truly happy.   There were so many other elements to the day, I hoped that her happiness wouldn't get swallowed up in the details.  But, I know the best moment was watching her climb the steps out of the font with a true smile on her face.  As I dried her off, she quietly and sweetly said "I'm so happy."  I know she made the decision to be baptized for her own real happiness and that it did not have anything to do with the grand event, or the party afterward, or the pretty dresses, or the day with Harriet as the center (which she craves so much - to be the center.)  That little soul really does believe.  It makes doing the other things like making her invitations TWICE so that they were perfect, sewing a dress, buying a dress, throwing a party, and all the other fuss, so worth it.

Grandpa confirmed Harriet.  I don't write this to embarrass him, but it is definitely noteworthy how things happened.  He said the confirmation prayer and then just said "amen."  In his worry about getting the prayer right, he forgot to bless her afterwards, as is tradition to give a special blessing after the formal confirmation.  I was so worried that Harriet would be upset by this, but I knew that for some reason it was meant to be that way.  She, miraculously, did not let it bother her that day.  We asked Earl to give her a blessing on Father's Day.  In the end, I think it was actually really nice that she was able to receive that blessing at our house with just our immediate family (and Grandma and Christine.)  It was kind of a personal blessing for Harriet and I don't know if Grandpa would have given the same blessing in front of more people.  It was probably meant to be, that he forgot to do it on baptism day.

*Harriet's dress:  I don't know when it became tradition to buy a white dress to wear TO your baptism and to church the next day.  We certainly didn't do that when we were kids.  But, some Mormon mom invented it in the last 30 years and it's kind of a staple now.  Harriet was busy thinking about it a year ago.  She shopped for it and bought it at one of the white shops in Salt Lake LAST summer!  She was worried she wouldn't have another chance and she wanted THAT one.  Even though the date of the May baptism was really just almost too much to add to the end-of-the-school-year, it provided the perfect opportunity to take photos of her in her dress at the botanic gardens here in ABQ during peak flower season.  I feel so bad Grace was baptized at the end of winter when the March winds make it impossible to even go outside, let alone stand by a flower.  So, I don't have pictures like this of Grace.  Well, Grace gets other things that Harriet doesn't, right?  It all evens out in the end.

 Harriet came across some beautiful creatures in the garden.  This butterfly lingered long enough to snap some photos.

These irises were so pretty.  They made me miss the irises and flowers at our old house in Boston.

 I just love this shot.  The light through the trees was so amazing and the bench so darling.  And the girl!  So sassy and cute.

Grace, of course, didn't get dressed up to go with us.  But these pics of them together are so priceless. They show their personalities to a tee.  I can't believe how different my girls are from each other, and from me.

 Another adorable little insect that Harriet spotted in a tree.  She loves ladybugs and butterflies.

Well, I may not have pictures of Grace in a white dress in a garden, but that wouldn't be "her" anyway.  This is ALL Grace.  In a t-shirt and camo pants, doing her homework, in a tree.

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*Harriet's baptismal outfit:  no jumpsuit from the church closet was good enough.  She wanted to be baptized in a dress.  Lots of other wards I have lived in have had a supply of dresses for the girls, but not here.  So, I made one for the little darling.  I was so nervous that it would be too sheer or that it would float up.  I did my best to alter the pattern to make it longer and straighter and shopped for just the right fabric and did a double layer.  I am not a seamstress.  I have so many friends who are so good at sewing, but it is one skill I do not have.  So, I was super happy that it truly turned out really well, just as I had intended, and the double layer of fabric plus a slip were opaque enough for the water.  We even tested it out in the shower to make sure.  Water proof dress.  Check.

I braided her hair across the back so that it would stay put in the water.  This was at the end of the day.  Looks like it stayed pretty well!

 Presents:  We opened presents with the Barnhisels and Grandma the night before.  She got all the traditional things - A CTR ring, journals, scriptures, a scripture bag, jewelry for church, and Grandma's traditional gift - a silver engraved frame for her baptism picture.

She has waited so long to have her own set of scriptures.  So happy!

*Invitations:  I was so frustrated.  I won't go into the details, but basically, our ward/stake waits until the last minute to offer/assign times for baptisms.  I didn't know what time our baptism would be until TWO Saturdays before!  I wanted really nice invitations, but at that point, all of the nice ones were mail order and I didn't have time.  The 24 hour print jobs were my only option.  I found what I thought were beautiful card stock invitations.  They were expensive enough!  I couldn't imagine anything that expensive would be total garbage.  Well, they were.  I took them home, fumed for a night, and then took them back the next morning and started over.  I had HOURS into that invitation.  Now, 2 days later... more hours, and Costco printing for the win.

*Food:  Harriet really wanted to choose the food we ate for her open house.  Unfortunately, Harriet doesn't normally eat food for lunch.  She couldn't come up with a single "lunchy" thing that she liked that we could serve to at least 50 people.  So, I had to serve food that Harriet didn't like.  It was all delicious, but just not Harriet's favorites.  I did deli sandwiches on rolls and croissants.  Grandma Barbara made a giant bow tie salad, and we had a couple of little sides.  The silver lining was that Aunt Melissa hand-carried four dozen CTR sugar cookies from Granite Bakery in Salt Lake, on the plane, and brought them to ABQ!  I still can't believe she did that, but they were adorable and completely delicious.  Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Lyle also provided a white cake.  Harriet would eat cake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if she could.  I guess she did end up having her favorite thing for lunch - sugar!

*Guests:  I tried to take photos of Harriet with everyone who came.  Somehow I missed DJ!  I'm still sick about that one.  He was so extremely adorable.  He got super dressed up in a bow-tie and brought her the most beautiful card with some money in it.  I am so grateful for everyone who took time out of their Saturday to get dressed up and come to the church and support our family.  Besides our family members, we also had the Ponds, Martins, Hoods, Jeppsons, and Howards over.  (Merediths, Wilts, and Wixoms weren't able to make it.)  Some of them brought presents as well, so we opened a few more things.

Savannah Hood and Harriet

Gillian Pond and Harriet

Christian and Maren Howard and Harriet

The Martin Family and Harriet

Wow, what an amazing day for her and for us.  I'm so glad we pulled it off and that so many could make it to spend it with us.  I was also very grateful that none of us woke up sick that morning.  Just a few days before, Grace had gone to bed throwing up.  David gave her a special blessing that she would get better fast and Harriet one that she wouldn't get sick.  Thankfully, Grace only missed one day of school, and Harriet didn't come down with anything.  I was dying that she (and our whole house full of guests) would wake up vomiting on baptism day!  That was a huge blessing right there - that we were all well and baptism day could happen at all.  

I love this sweet little girl.  She is a strong force in our family.  I am so proud of her for having such strong spiritual connections and believing like she does.  I am extremely happy for her that she was finally able to be baptized and that everything went as she would have liked it.  Whew!  Congratulations Harriet!