Trenton was baptized on October 8th, 2011 by his father. It was such a special day we had been preparing for all year. Trenton has been a sincere student of the scriptures. We do not have to remind him to read. We often find him falling asleep at night with the scriptures on his chest. We have had many Family Home Evening lessons on baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost. And the covenants and blessings that come with it. I will say of this special day - he was READY.
I can't overemphasize how blessed we feel to have Trenton as our oldest child. He has such a strong testimony and a natural desire for obedience. He is a good leader & example to his brothers and sister.
We had many family members who were able to come, including his Great Grandma Alley. That was such a special treat. The week leading up to the baptism was a difficult week. My Grandma Poljanec (my Mom's mom) developed a lump in her throat, had it operated on and eventually diagnosed with advanced throat cancer the Monday prior to the baptism. She was given 1-6 weeks left to live and passed away Thursday before the baptism. I can't count how many times plans were changed for who was coming and not coming (as Emily said, it was about every 15 minutes at one point) and my head was spinning with logistics of hosting or not, baptism or not, traveling to a funeral or not all within the span of 4 days. I talked to a dear, wise friend as I was in tears the morning Grandma passed away and she gave me such sound advice. She told me to "Keep your own House in Order. Take off your daughter hat and your grandaughter hat right now and put on your wife and mother hat. That is where you will have the most influence this weekend. Make your house a sanctuary for all who come there. You can do it." And that's exactly what we did. My mom helped get affairs in order for Grandma, then drove from Pinedale, WY to Parker to attend the baptism. It was a pretty amazing accomplishment. We celebrated the living and cherished Grandma and her legacy.
We were blessed to have Emily and Johnny come for a few days prior to the baptism and I couldn't help but cry when sweet Mary surprised me by walking through the door with Luke. I don't know what I would have done without her. She was such an immense help in every way that weekend.
The morning of the baptism we awoke to two surprises: Steve had pinched a nerve early that morning and was in so much pain he couldn't move. After a hot shower, Ibuprofen, a muscle relaxant, and a lot of prayers he was able to function well enough to perform the sacred ordinances. We also awoke to 4 inches of snow. Trenton came in our room and said, "You have got to see this." He whipped open our blinds and said, "Look at this, Heavenly Father made the earth white for my special day."
The baptism was absolutely beautiful and we felt very supported and loved by our dear family. Some things I never want to forget about it include Emily's fabulous idea of writing down testimonies while Trenton and Steve got dressed, Mom pulling off a musical number after losing her mom only two days prior, Anna's talk that spoke so well to Trenton, Brittany & JD Gardiner helping cover strawberries in chocolate that morning, and our cousin Allison Anderton coming with her 4 little ones including her 5 week old all by herself to support us.
Other highlights of the week included...
Special cousin time - they "bathed Cameron" for over an hour together. Darn cute.
The night before the baptism, we had a delicious dinner and really fun evening at White Fence Farm. Oh my it was a blast and SOOOO delicious! We went there as children growing up and it was neat to introduce it to our in-laws and children.
We had a little birthday celebration for Johnny a week or so early. I am finding I love being an Aunt and spoiling, teaching & loving my nephews as much as possible. The kids really looked forward to celebrating this little man's 3rd birthday - OK, so did Steve and I.
It was a beautiful, bittersweet weekend, made all the more special having so much family love!!!
