Ariel's Baptism

In the weeks leading up to Ariel's baptism on several occasions it really hit me that as much as we love and cherish Ariel and are grateful that she is part of our family and that she is alive, her life doesn't belong to us, we have the privilege of being a very important part of it, and are doing the best we can to fulfill our responsibilities as parents and set her on the right path, but ultimately she belongs to our Heavenly Father. She was His daughter before she was ours. This perspective is both humbling and motivating. It motivates me to be a better parent and fills me with a sense of purpose and gives meaning to my interactions with her. I am so happy that she chose to follow the Savior and be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. A few years ago I was worried that she might not be prepared for baptism when she was eight, so in the past few months, I pulled out my old missionary "discussions" and went over the basic principles of the Gospel with her and was satisfied with her understanding and impressed with her insights. It has strengthen my testimony in the doctrine that at age eight a person really is ready to be held accountable for their decisions and that they can really grasp deep spiritual principles like repentance and forgiveness.
With the commotion of the day, I didn't manage to get a picture of Ariel and Nikolay in their white clothes before the baptism, but this is right after they changed their clothes (for the second time, Nikolay had missed the word "and" in the baptismal prayer, and they had to change back into their wet clothes and do it again, I was glad to be able to share with Ariel that I had to be baptized 3 times before it was just right because my hair kept floating up) before we headed back to the chapel. The sweet peacefulness and assurance from the Holy Spirit overwhelmed me with a marked impression that this was one of the most important moments in her mortal existence.

So many people came to support Ariel on this special day. I felt an outpouring of love from both family and friends. With all the details that rested on my shoulders as the mom, from inviting people to participate in the program and printing it out, to deciding on and preparing refreshments, to preparing the white clothes for Nikolay and Ariel, I was worried that something wasn't going to go right, but everyone around us pitched in and everything went smoothly and I was able to really enjoy this important day. From my family my parents flew out from Wisconsin, the Miners drove down from Boston, Jacob and Emily hopped on a bus from NYC, and Svetlana flew out from Salt Lake City. For the program Emily and Jacob said the opening and closing prayers, Mom and Dad gave the talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost, Rebekah played the piano and accompanied her girls plus Adriana and Annika for a special musical number. Two of Ariel's friends from school also came, one of which is the daughter of my dear walking friend, and it was so nice to have her there too and get to introduce her to my family. There were also plenty of close friends from our ward who came to support her and share this special day with us.
It was so nice to spend time with our extended family the whole weekend, swimming at the hotel pool, staying up late talking 2 nights in row. And the girls had a ball with their cousins who go to sleep over Saturday night. Friday night Mom, Dad, Emily and Jacob came over when they all got in town and the kids got to show off and goof off with everyone. At one point Mom said that watching my kids interact at this age reminds her of us when we were little.

We went to our favorite park and photo shoot location here in Alburtis, Lock Ridge Park. Ariel just loved spending time with her favorite cousin, Elise.
The kids had a great time playing hide and go seek/tag with Grandpa, and later Jacob.
Dallin and cousin Camille, "hiding" in a doorway of an old stone structure.
The whole crew.
Grandma and Grandpa with eight out of their 14 grandkids.

It was so much fun having Grandma Svetlana stay with us for 3 nights. She really spoiled everyone with gifts and taking us out to eat and miniature golfing, pictures to follow.