We are members of The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints.
You know,
Mormons.
When a child turns 8 in our church,
they have the opportunity to follow Jesus' example and be baptized.
I'm so grateful for the choice I made at the age of 8 to be baptized.
Baptism is a sacred ordinance.
It's an occasion that children look foward to,
parents, also.
Being cleansed from sin and then receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
And then after the baptism,
there's usually a big hoopla to celebrate.
This has been a tender subject for me
as Wyatt approached his 8th birthday.
You see, humbly speaking,
Wyatt is pretty much perfect.
He cannot make a mistake, ever.
He is not capable of sinning.
He'll be like a child for his whole life long.
The scripture says that Jesus
"came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance;
the whole need no physician, but they that are sick;
wherefore, little children are whole,
for they are not capable of committing sin...
Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach—
repentance and baptism unto those who are
accountable and capable of committing sin."
{Moroni 8:8,10}
So having a child that gets a free ticket to heaven
is truly a blessing
but there was this part of my heart that was sad about
not having that special celebration for our boy.
Or was there....?
Once I stopped pouting and realized that, wait,
we can still rock this 8 year old thing with some pizazz!
We invited our dear ones
to Grandpa & Grandma's backyard
for a fireside program and ice cream sundaes.
There was lots of singing, some laughing and happy tears.
Wyatt shared some babbling into the mic.
There are certain moments in life
that are just so special,
it's like heaven & earth join up
and you feel a true fullness of joy.
They're the moments that remind me that pushing through
hard knocks are totally worth it.
Because this life is but a speck of our grand adventure.
That backyard was so full of love!
God's spirit enveloped us all.
I was so reminded that His love is so motivating, healing,
joyful!
And that we can keep going because of it.
Brian opened the mic up to anyone
who wanted to share some words to Wyatt.
There were so many sweet & inspiring words said
about our dear Buggy boy.
My goodness,
this kid!
He is the best.
And so cute!
{Go to lds.org to learn more about our faith.}