Cat's Baptism

Cat was thrilled to have the special privilege of being baptized on her birthday.  Our Stake in Orem had a designated day for all of the kids who'd turned 8 in the previous month to be baptized, so almost everyone had to wait a while before the day arrived.

Cat was ready and excited to be baptized.  She knows so much about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I am confident that she will continue to be a force for good as she grows in righteousness.

It was a bit of a challenge to celebrate Cat's birthday with fun and festivation while commemorating her baptism as a sacred event.  I also wanted to make sure she felt special, without detracting from the baptism itself.  I had to borrow some things from Oma (picture frames, table cloth, flowers) and get some things printed locally, since we were away from home.  I had programs printed, some pictures from our little photo shoot at the Provo Temple, and a simple booklet, which contained testimonies from Cat's parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.  The booklet also had pages for guests to write messages for Cat and blank pages in the back to glue in pictures from the baptism.  I was really excited about this keepsake, and though it seemed overshadowed by the many gifts Cat received, she has taken care of it and I hope she will value it for a long time.

I prepared a little video for everyone to watch while Cat was getting dressed.  In the video I tried to show her personality and capture the various stages of her life.

It really was such a treat to have so much family with us for Cat's baptism.  Cat involved many of them, too.  Opa (great-grandfather) conducted, Alysa (great aunt) played the piano, Madison (1st cousin once removed - ha!) led the music, Ben performed the baptism and confirmation, Andy (uncle) and Jamie (great uncle) were witnesses, Oma (great-grandmother) and Grammy (grandmother) gave the talks, and Amy and Megan (aunts) gave the prayers.  Here's the whole group:

We ended up being pressed for time when the baptism was over because many of the kids at the reunion were going to see "Monsters University" and Cat really wanted to go for her birthday.  We were all stressed out trying to make it happen, but we took a few minutes to walk across the street to take a family picture in front of the St. George Temple.  I'm so glad we did.

I'm very proud of Cat and the young woman she is becoming.