We went to Utah for Thanksgiving. It was wonderful to see grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. The highlight of the trip was Luke's baptism. He was so excited to get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. Grandpa Mike conducted the meeting and had some nice words to say about Luke. Grandpa Brent gave a talk on baptism and about making good choices. He shared a story of young child who was a prince and would be the next king of France. He was kidnapped and exposed to all sorts of vile and evil things in the hopes that the king could be corrupted. After six months, they realized their efforts were failing and the king would not participate in the evil things around him. When asked why, the young child responded, "I was born to be a king." Grandpa Brent told Luke how important it is to remember that we too are born to be kings and how important it is to not take part in the evil around us. Maryn played a piano solo of Amazing Grace and played it beautifully. Daron's confirmation was very touching as he told Luke how much we love him and his Heavenly Father loves him. After the baptism we went to Mike and Sue's for refreshments. Everyone was congratulating Luke and I could tell he was very touched by the whole experience. He came up to both Daron and me at different times during our gathering at the house and told us how much he loved us. It was very sweet. When we got home, he wrote in his new journal for the first time. Being the nosey mom that I am I had to take a peak at what he had written. He said he wouldn't mind me sharing it. He wrote, " When I was at my baptism I felt happy, loving, and grateful for myself. It was weird. I never felt that way before. I liked having everybody around me. I felt good. When I got to my grandma's house, everybody was asking me questions about my baptism. It was fun at my baptism." At church on Sunday Daron bore his testimony and said how much he loves his kids and what a joy it is to see Maryn and now Luke make their first covenant with their Father in Heaven.
