This was the last baptism that I will arrange as the mom. Like every milestone that reminds me that my babies are getting big, it felt good. Deep and profound and without a hint of regret or longing for anything that’s past. Sigh. It was lovely. I’ve loved how each of my kids’ baptisms have turned out…all different but all exactly what they needed to be.
Can I tell you a secret, though? To be totally honest…Corra’s dress was my favorite. I loved the other girls’ dresses, of course. But yeah…this one was my favorite.

When I graduated my dad gave me a real pearl necklace. I wore it on my wedding day and now Naomi and Corra have worn it at their baptisms. (Layna wasn’t left out on purpose, I just forgot. Because I’m not on it all the time). Maybe I’ll wear it at their weddings. It has history and you know how much I love tradition history. My husband is a stud and someday I’m going to do a collage of him and his kids on their baptism days. If these pictures of him and his girls on their baptism days turned out so well…the wedding pictures are going to make me cry. Yay! for being surrounded by photogenic humans.
Also, for the record, I never imagined that I’d be that mom in that family, where goofy faces are an integral part of every photo shoot. And I certainly didn’t think those would ever end up being some of my favorite pictures. Oh, Life. You’re so weird.

Everything came together nicely. This was actually the first time I spoke at one of our kids’ baptisms and I only cried a little bit. Being a mom is the best thing that ever happened to me and anytime I get to talk about how much I love my kids or my husband, I get choked up. Luckily the same thing happens to Neil so we are totally on the same page. Our poor kids are doomed. Something that we found was a super cool silver lining of the pandemic was the practice of broadcasting events like this via the internet. This meant that my dad and Neil’s mom were able to watch and be a part of it. Naomi played a violin solo (and did so well!) and so her grandparents also got a mini concert…bonus!

The fruit rainbow and mini cupcakes were a hit afterwards at the chapel. Neil and Garyn had to jet to race the boy to a Youth Conference service project and I raced home to do a luncheon for all our family. Cupcakes first, other stuff later. Corra said that being allowed to eat lunch in our front room with everyone instead of just in the kitchen was the best part of the whole day. As you may have surmised, I am a very mean mother.

So it’s over. I’ve moved on to planning Naomi’s 12th birthday for real and making sure Garyn is set for his first day of school Monday. Life marches on and I love every minute. Even those minutes when I’m stressed and overwhelmed and not sure how I’m going to survive future minutes. I’ve managed so far and somehow it just gets better. I think my next major kid shindig outside of birthday parties will be a mission farewell…again I say, “Oh, Life. You’re so weird.”