Chloe's Baptism Day

On December 8th, Chloe was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was a very big day in her life.  Her baptism day was such a special event.

My parents were already in town, and the weekend of the baptism, Ben's family started arriving.  His parents and all 3 of his sisters and their families came over the course of 2 days.  The total headcount in the house for the weekend was 22 people.  Can you see why I was stressed about getting into the house?  As soon as we put the offer in on the house in the summer, I knew we had to be in before Chloe's baptism.  Our old house would never have fit 22 people.  But we made it (just barely).

My sweet girl on her special day!  I think Christmas time is such a special time of the year to be baptized.  We are already celebrating and remembering Jesus Christ and His birth, so to be following the commandment and example of Jesus to be baptized at this wonderful time of year makes it even more memorable.  I love a beautiful girl all dressed in white.

Right before we left for the church, Chloe opened some really neat gifts from family members.  Ben and I gave her her very own quad set of Scriptures with her name engraved on them.  She received many other wonderful and thoughtful gifts from her extended family included scripture pencils, necklaces and jewelry and special memorable items to remember this wonderful day by.

Her baptism was at 1:00 p.m.  We arrived at the church around 12:30 to get some pictures taken.

Family shot!

We are so glad Grandma and Papa were able to travel the long distance to be here for this special day.  It meant a lot to have them here.

Being the first baptized, Chloe is setting a wonderful example for her younger siblings.

I love this girl!

Mitch really wanted a picture alone with Chloe.

The twins needed a break from pictures for a minute and sat down with Papa to rest.

All of the Andros cousins.  It was so fun to have all of them here.

My kids were super disappointed that their cousins on my side lived too far away to come.

Chloe and cousin Stella.  We were able to attend Stella's baptism this past Spring.

Nana and Papa

Baby Preston really took a liking to Chloe that weekend.  During the baptism program, as they were talking about Chloe over the pulpit, Preston stood up on the pew and yelled "Chlo-eee!"

A group shot of all of the family who was there.

After pictures, Chloe and Ben went and got dressed in their baptismal clothes.  It was unlike anything Chloe has ever worn before and she was good natured about it, but thought it felt weird.

Before the actual baptism took place, we met in the chapel along with the family of the other little girl  that was getting baptized.  The program started with the Stake Primary President introducing the 2 girls getting baptized and telling fun facts and stories about them.  Then we sang beautiful baptism music and listened to talks on Baptism and the Holy Ghost.  The talks were wonderful and I felt the Spirit very strongly.

Chloe and everyone who came for her baptism were then dismissed to another room to watch as Ben baptized Chloe.  The baptism was such a beautiful thing to witness as her mother, knowing that all of her sins were being washed clean and knowing that when she does make mistakes, that her Savior has promised that if she repents, she can be forgiven and made clean again.  After she was dried off and dressed back in her white dress, Chloe was confirmed a member of the Church by Ben and received the gift of the Holy Ghost.  The Spirit was incredibly strong and witnessed to me the importance and rightfulness of what Chloe was doing.  It is was day and feelings I will not soon forget.

  Our Bishop and ward Primary President (who is a wonderful friend of our family) said a few remarks before we closed the meeting.  Chloe had a few sweet friends from the ward (and school) that came to support her on her big day.  Grandma Cynde was there as well.  We appreciate and love all who came to be with us.

In her new journal she received on her baptism day, Chloe recorded her feelings about her special day:

"My baptism was amazing.  I felt as clean as can be.  I want to do it again.  When I got in the water it was warm for a minute and then it got cold.  When I got out I felt the good feeling.  I felt like I was in a pool.  It was cool.  But when I got out I was soaking wet.  And I was freezing too.  But I felt the Holy Ghost."

(Shared with permission from Chloe).

The rest of the weekend was filled with fun, food and family.  We had such a great time spending time and visiting with everyone.

Yummy!

We all love food!

Aunt Bethany and her phone were a crowd pleaser!

On Saturday night after the kids were in bed, the adults had fun going through "boxes of junk" from our garage that the previous owners had left.  It was quite entertaining.  They left so much stuff- lots of it useable (not to be confused with necessary or wanted stuff).  We let everyone help us sort through it and take anything that they wanted or could use.  Lots of it was stuff you might look at and ask, "Who in the world would need/want this?"  One of those items was a 6 foot inflatable Homer Simpson blow up Halloween decoration.  What in the world?  And it gets better- there was two of them.  (What in the world?)  

Random stuff, random stuff- get it while it's hot!

The cousins were all excited to sleep together the first night.  But when the 6 oldest kids were awake at 4:00 a.m. and woke me up (and did NOT go back to sleep), we decided all kids would sleep with their parents the next night.

Leah and Papa were twins Sunday morning in their tye-dye shirts before church.

Ben and his sisters and mother had a mini surgery session before church.  Ben has had a sore on the bottom of his foot for months.  Upon telling his mom and sisters this, they insisted he lie down and they investigate.  This led to the use of a head lamp and some needles used to poke around.  This happens often in the Andros household- lots of experimental medical procedures.  When Obama Care fully kicks in, this may be the new trend in households across America.  (Kidding.  Or not...)

Grandma and Papa grabbed a quick picture with the kids before church.  They had to fly home that afternoon.  We had such a great visit with them.

All of our guests left Sunday afternoon, except Ben's parents who stuck around for a few more days.

Chloe loved having Nana play Christmas duets with her on the piano.

The twins loved going to Ikea with me and Nana and Papa.  After the 1 hour child care/play land ran up, the girls were entertained by pushing around their own mini carts.

We had a wonderful time with them for the 4 days they were here.

We had visitors for 2 weeks straight after we moved in.  We enjoyed and were thankful for everyone who came to stay with us.  Everyone helped with so many projects to help us move in.  We wouldn't be  even close to this unpacked or organized without the help of so many extra hands.