Baptism Weekend

This weekend our daughter got baptized. It was pretty amazing. Grandparents and an aunt and cousin came out on Friday. On Saturday, we finally had some nice weather and started the day with a soccer game. You know, she played, we watched. We then came home, and due to the urgency of getting our garden out, and finally having decent weather (snowed Thursday and Friday) and a little unexpected time, we got most of the garden into the garden. We still have approx. 20 more plants inside, but will get them out once we have more walls of water - hard to believe we ran out of them! Thanks to Grandpa for all of his help filling those babies up... what a back strain!

The remainder of the day seemed to be filled with the baptism. Since I'm blogging about it, I wanted to share a little bit about what we believe in regards to baptism:

Faith in Jesus Christ and repentance prepare you for baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ taught by example that everyone must be baptized of water and of the Spirit (the Holy Ghost) for the remission, or forgiveness, of sins. Through baptism by one who holds priesthood authority and through receiving the Holy Ghost, you will be spiritually reborn.

When you are baptized by one with the priesthood authority given by God, having repented you receive a remission of your sins (Acts 2:38). You make a covenant, or promise, with God to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, to follow Him, and to keep His commandments. In return, He promises to forgive your sins and let you return to live with Him, provided you keep your covenants. You are briefly immersed in water, as Jesus Christ was baptized. Baptism by immersion is a sacred symbol of the death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it represents the end of your old life and the beginning of a new life as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

We must be baptized to become members of the restored Church—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—and to eventually enter the kingdom of heaven. This ordinance is a law of God and must be performed by His authority. A bishop or mission president must give a priesthood holder permission to perform a baptism or conferral of the Holy Ghost.

Little children do not need to be baptized until they reach the age of accountability, which is eight years of age, as they are redeemed through the mercy of Jesus Christ ( Moroni 8:4–24; Doctrine and Covenants 68:27.)

This information comes from www.mormon.org and similar information can be found at www.lds.org (and their explanations tend to be much more succinct than mine.)

After getting ready, we went to the church and had the honor of witnessing Carlie's baptism as she made special covenants with God. She was baptized by her father, and then confirmed by her father, while her grandfathers, a friend, and two members of the bishopric stood in the confirmation circle.
There really aren't words to express my feelings and emotions of this sacred event. We are so grateful to all who shared this special day with us. We are also very grateful to everyone who gave fantastic talks, played and led the music, and did the musical number - it was all very sweet. Everything went smoothly, and a very sweet spirit was there. We were pleased that some friends, two of her teachers from school, and some neighbors also attended.
After she was baptized, she said that she felt special inside - she felt something she'd only really felt once before (when she made a really good decision, when faced with a very difficult choice.) We are so proud of her, and her desires to make good choices.
Thanks to everyone for their love and support. It's been a busy, but amazing weekend!
I included a couple of pictures of the ladybug release - a friend gave her 300+ ladybugs to release after her baptism - what a thoughtful gift - she knows our daughter well!