Alex's Baptism

I am still sad to this day (and probably forever) that I did not get more pictures at Alex's baptism. I didn't even get any of him in his baptismal clothing. But even with a lack of pictures, it's a day I will always remember. I feel lucky that the stake we live in does baptisms on a ward level. I didn't want Alex to have to be baptized with a whole bunch of kids he didn't know and feel like a lemming waiting to be dunked. And it just so happened that he was the only one in our ward getting baptized in April, so we got to plan the whole program. It was a little nerve wracking, since I had never done this before. But thanks to the internet, I was able to figure it out. My favorite thing was getting to do the program. I really went crazy with it. My computer doesn't have many programs on it, so once I figured out what I wanted it to say and the pictures I wanted on it, Ryan took it all and made it look beautiful.

Here is a picture of the front and back of the program.

This shows the inside.

After doing the research, one of my favorite things I had found was a little section that talked about the child's favorite things. And I got a lot of comments about that little part... and the adorable pictures of my handsome boy!

Alex got to pick out who did what in the program. He decided I was going to play the piano... and I'm not sure if it was a good idea or not. The bad things about it is I wasn't right up close for the musical number and it was hard for Darek to listen well to other people while I was back there. The nice thing about it was no one could see me crying my eyes out when Alex was singing (more on that in a minute). He chose the prayers and the talks. The one thing I requested of him was the musical number. When I was baptized many years ago, the musical number was "When I Am Baptized". My siblings got up and sang the first verse and chorus and then I sang the second verse and they joined back in for the chorus. I loved that and I really wanted Alex to do the same. Only since he doesn't have older siblings, I asked his cousins to sing with him. Darek got up there too and knew some of the words, which was really cute. But when Alex came in by himself on the second verse, I totally lost it. He has the sweetest voice and sang beautifully! I was SO happy to be back at the piano and take a minute or two after the song was over to regain my composure again. I was so impressed with him to sing by himself though. He was so nervous and I wasn't sure how it would go. But it was perfect! The baptism and confirmation were perfect and the talks were also amazing and just for him. Our bishop commented that it was the most spiritual baptism he had been to and I would have to agree with him.

After the program we went to another room and had a little luncheon. It was fun to visit with everyone who had taken the time to come. We had most of Ryan's family there and all but my brother and his family from my side of the family. There were friends, neighbors and primary workers there as well.

I was so proud of my Alex and the choice he made to get baptized. He is such a wonderful son, brother and cousin. He sets such a good example (most of the time) for others... even me!