Scotty's Baptism

We had a bright, happy spot in the midst of this pandemic...Scotty got baptized! Originally, we planned to have the baptism at the beginning of May with all the other stake baptisms. Aaron's parents and siblings were going to come down for the week, and we were going to make a reunion of it. Of course those plans went down the drain that is COVID-19. That was really sad, but we decided to go ahead with Scotty's baptism and not wait for things to get better because it's really hard to predict the future of this thing.

Anyway, they weren't going to hold regular stake baptisms, and the stake primary president told us only two kids were planning to still get baptized before the June stake baptisms. So they said we could do it any day we wanted, and the coordinators would go fill up the font for us, and we'd just have the church to ourselves. We decided to do the baptism on Scotty's birthday! Annie was also baptized on her birthday, so we carried on a family tradition.

It was such a great day. Our two kids' baptism days have both been really special. I had a peaceful, sweet feeling on both days. I really have a testimony of ordinances and covenants. Scotty had his baptism interview on zoom the night before. And the bishop asked him, do you have faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And Scotty just said, ``Yes, I believe in them.'' It's true. He really does. We asked him the same question several times as he prepared for baptism, and he really does believe. It strengthened my faith to see his faith. I really believe eight year olds are ready to get baptized, and that God is pleased with them making covenants with Him.

Another special thing about this baptism was that our family all participated in the ordinance. Aaron baptized Scotty, and Annie and I acted as the witnesses. It was so cool to have that change in place before the pandemic so that families like ours could easily handle an ordinance without a lot of outside people. The bishop came, too, and it was great to have him there, to see a real live person. And he handled all of the technology. It was nice not to have to worry about that.

Afterward, we celebrated by getting Papa John's pizza for lunch. Then we had Scotty's beloved BBQ chicken salad and carrot cake. And he got soooo many presents. I said, ``Scotty, you're going to get spoiled.'' He said, "Oh, no! I don't want to be spoiled!" I said, "You won't be spoiled as long as you remember to be grateful." So he said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" 

He was excited about getting some scriptures from Grandma and Grandpa Dennis.

Scotty is a great kid!