Maybe you're wondering why I keep calling it "Brother's Day"? :) I will tell you. But of course, I'm going to make the story longer than it needs to be... I get that from my Grandpa :)
Having Bradley's baptism and Jack's blessing on the same day was something I struggled with, simply because I like to do things the way that I do them :). I don't combine special occasions like this, I like things to be separate, and everyone to have their OWN moment/day. I talked myself in and out of the idea several times and then settled on not doing it because I didn't want to inconvenience the Bishop. Well, oddly enough, as we were discussing the matter on one of our walks, we ran right into the Bishop! We talked to him about how their special days would need to be so close together and the first thing he said, even interrupting what we were saying, was, "Why don't you just bless Jack at the Baptism?" (We had gone to great lengths to change Bradley's baptism day so that he could be baptized on a different day from Enoch, so it was already not on the day it was supposed to be and with just our family.) This gave me a little more encouragement, to hear that the Bishop was so for it. But I still had my reservations. I knew it would be more convenient in a LOT of ways, for more than just myself, as far as the luncheon afterward, and inviting everyone out, and I knew that Jack was too young to care. But I did worry about how Bradley would feel about sharing his big day. He had watched his big sisters enjoy their baptism days, getting ALL of the attention and all. So I was nervous to even propose the idea to him. My boys have a tendency to go along with things I ask them about simply because they like to please their Mommy. Sweet huh. So anyway. Before finalizing our decision, we approached Bradley with the idea, and crazy enough, he was ALL FOR IT! He loved the idea of sharing the day with the coolest, new member of the family. He loved that he got to have pictures taken with him, he loved that it was THEIR day. Such a cool little kid. I was so proud of him. And then he did the ultimate, and named it "Brother's Day" :). Awesome huh!
So we began planning.
I think we've gotten really good at planning these kinds of things with low stress. It just means spreading out all the preparations over several days (and in our case, weeks). Things were funny this time, with having to buy a suit and get it tailored, and all the new boy things that we weren't familiar with yet, but for the most part it was the same as with the girls. At least with the non-spiritual parts of it.
For the important Spiritual preparations, however, each kid has been so different. It's neat to watch. They all have their own style. I loved watching Bradley through this decision. He was so sure of himself, so ready and so easy-going about it all. There probably weren't a LOT of surprises for him, but if there were any, we wouldn't have known. He knows how to keep his cool :). I love that about my Brad. And how he takes it so seriously. That means a lot.
SO the big day finally came!! We did so good at getting ready the morning of. We were on time to the church, had everything we needed. Jack of course needed to be fed, and there were some guests who were late, so it all kind of worked out together because of that. The program went really smoothly, I was happy about that. We'd worked so hard on getting it just right. It went like this:
Opening Song: "Praise to the Man" (a new favorite of our kids' :) )
Opening Prayer: Aunt Nancy
Bishop conducted, Aunt Sarah lead the music, and Andrea Petersen our neighbor played the piano
Grandma Ruthie did the talk on Baptism (she compared life to a road trip and using the scriptures as our road map, also choosing the right driver)
Nate baptized him
Grandpa Russ and Uncle Brent were witnesses (Dan had not made it in time thanks to traffic)
Then Charity and Kelly (Erika stood up in the front with them, her choice :) ): Famililes Are Forever
Talk on Holy Ghost: Aunt Meg (she used a stop sign to explain the roles the HOly Ghost has, very cool!)
Nate confirmed him
Uncle Dan, Uncle Chris, Uncle Brent, Grandpa Russ, Uncle Mark, Bishop Pierson, Simon and John Kirshbaum (Heidi's boyfriend) all stood in the circle.
Then for their convenience, they stayed up there and blessed Jack right after.
Then the Bishop talked with Bradley reminding him of the things Grandma and Meg had talked about.
Then we sang When I Am Baptized
and Aunt Jen said the closing prayer.
Such a nice day. All of the Primary Presidency were there, and so sweet and helpful with it all. We really had a lot of support from everyone and I loved that.
I only cried a little.
Bradley, baptism was so neat. I always get chills when someone goes under the water and comes back up. The Spirit just pours over you! It's so cool! I think it might be even stronger when it's one of your own little investigators. I feel like we've worked so hard on teaching Bradley the importance of this day and having the Holy Ghost. It's such a huge responsibility to be in charge of teaching these little ones all that they need to know to get them to this point. I feel very honored to be Bradley's Mom. I know he is a special little boy. I know that our Heavenly Father loves him and that he has a lot of work for him to do as he grows and strengthens his testimony. I hope we can be aides in getting him to the position that Heavenly Father wants him to be in one day. I know he will do so much! I can't say I didn't miss being able to help get dressed afterward. I loved that time with the girls and admittedly did feel a little left out of everything this time since he's a boy :). But he gave me a sweet hug afterward, and I will always have the sweet moments that Bradley and I have shared talking about these things. I am glad that he and his Dad get to share that time as well. It's just such a special day!! So neat!
Jack's Blessing was beautiful. I'm so grateful to have a Man who can perform this ordinance, and who takes it seriously. I love hearing what he says and feeling the Spirit testify that it is what Heavenly Father would have him say. It was just so sweet. Just like Jack. He is such a peaceful, calming influence for our family.
I will write down the thoughts I had during Jack's blessing in my journal as usual.
What a beautiful day!! I really couldn't have asked for more.
Here are the pics!
Since I had to go in the Mother's Lounge to feed Jack, I left my camera with my Dad, he gave it to Charity, and we ended up with a lot of fun pictures of beforehand:
It's not hard to believe these two looked like twinners when they were babies :) They still look a little alike..
I guess all my worrying paid off, because Jack did marvelously during the whole program! I fed him, he burped, then I bounced him a little on my lap during the first part, and then he decided a nap was in order! He slept through the rest of the program, including during his blessing. Such a sweet little guy!
Lots of supporters!
I love this picture. I'm so glad we stopped and took pictures after, no matter how dorky we may have looked up there in front of everyone :)
I might have to frame this one.
It was worth a try :)
Becky sent me a bunch of the pictures she took throughout the day... these were my favorites:
I can't get over Lukey's face :) And now I know where Bradley was looking in the better picture of everyone else that Sarah got ;) Fun stuff.
We of course had a little luncheon afterwards at our house. It was nice. I keep running things through my head, and thinking of things I didn't think of that would have made it better, but I'm sure I'm just being my paranoid self. I loved having everyone here, and visiting... that's always fun. I think everyone had a good time. It was just a neat day, all the way around!
