I Can't Wait Until I'm Eight

This past Saturday, December 5, Nathan was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In the months leading up to this special day, we had our share of rough moments and even days with him. As most of you already know, Nathan is very strong-willed. Often he and I had our power struggles, and a lot of times those happened at church. I also think he shows his nerves about something new by acting up sometimes. So I was worried that he wouldn't cooperate for his big day.

But the whole day and even the whole weekend went amazingly well! Grandma Anders drove up from Arizona on Thursday and spent the weekend with us. Grandpa Anders was supposed to fly in from work in Houston -- long story short, he got snowed in and we didn't get to see him (but he sure tried and tried to get here). Grandma and Grandpa Partridge flew in from Arizona on Friday.

Nathan & Grandma Anders

On Saturday morning, Nathan got to go around the neighborhood with the scouts and pick up food for a food drive. He LOVES cub scouts and didn't even want to wear a coat (it was about 30 degrees) because he didn't want to cover up his scout shirt.

The baptism was at noon. Besides our family and the grandparents, we had quite a few others come to support Nathan: Uncle Brett and Aunt Stephanie and their 2 boys, our friend Natalie, the Jackson family, the Fitch family, Brother Lepak (our home teacher), and even a boy from Nathan's school class that had been at the church for his ward party and decided he wanted to stay!

The baptismal program was all taken care of by another ward, so we got to just enjoy everything. After the confirmation, Nathan shook the hand of everyone in the circle and then came up and gave me a big hug, which was a very tender moment for me. I was then given the privilege of sharing my testimony with Nathan and everyone in the room. I've had a lot of tender and real experiences with the Holy Ghost lately, and so it was great to be able to share that with him just after he was given the special gift of the Holy Ghost!

Then we headed back home and had a nice deli-tray luncheon. Simple yet delicious! Grandma Anders had given him a book the day before that is a journal about his baptism. Natalie gave him a similar book at the luncheon. When he opened the first one, I was worried he would think it was a lame gift and get mad, but he got really excited about the book. When he got the second book, we told him he could take it to the store and exchange it for something else, but he decided to keep it. So now he has 2 books to remember this weekend! And he has spent all weekend taking the time to fill them both out -- it is so fun for me to see him so excited about it! Grandma and Grandpa Partridge gave him a chapter book about baptism & a tie tack (which he miraculously wore on Sunday -- he usually refuses to wear ties!), and he got a mini-size Children's Song Book from Grandma-ma. (Our sweet neighbors, the Denneys, couldn't make the baptism -- but they were so thoughtful to bring over a game and a card for him!) It was like another birthday around here! (Benjamin was having a hard time seeing Nathan get all the presents. Telling him "you'll get this when you turn 8 and get baptized" really didn't help!)

And then Ryan and I gave him his first set of scriptures and a case. He was SO excited for these that within a few hours we braved the cold and the holiday shoppers to go get his name embossed on them. We ended up exchanging the basic scripture case I had picked out for a fancier one that Nathan found. It has an extra pocket for his song book, and it buckles instead of zips. It also has a shoulder strap so he can wear it -- and wear it he did! When the bishop called him up to the stand to recognize him on Sunday, he started to pick up his scriptures. Since he wasn't going to be up there more than about 30 seconds, I whispered to him that he could leave them on the bench by me, but he would have none of that! He wore them on the opposite shoulder, and I had several people tell me throughout the day that he looked like a little missionary. So I made sure to take a picture of the look when we got home:
Every night when we put the 3 boys to bed, we read a "scripture" together out of one of the children's board books. Well on Sunday night, Nathan had his scriptures in the room with him (we do it in Benjamin and Joshua's room). I asked him if he wanted to read the scripture tonight and he did. I don't know if he picked it on purpose, or if he randomly opened them up, but he read us about 5 verses out of Obidiah! When I tucked him into bed a few minutes later, he shared that he now has a goal to read the entire Pearl of Great Price in the next month.

You do your best to teach your children. After about the tenth time of re-teaching, you wonder if they are getting it, and if so why they aren't applying it. But just like Elder Bednar said in last Conference, you keep consistently doing what you know will help their testimonies grow. It was so rewarding for Ryan and I this weekend to see that Nathan does have a testimony of Christ, that he loves scriptures, and that he can be good and choose the right. We hope that he will continue to make good choices and follow the Spirit.