May 2nd, 2014
Luke loves to laugh. Luke loves to play ANY game or activity at ANY time with ANYONE who is available. Whether it be playing catch, jumping on the tramp, playing chess, card games, Life, Mario Cart, XBox games......anything. He loves to cook and is definitely our little chef. He has, more then once, made his family a delicious meal of Macaroni and Cheese when his moms been busy. Luke has been the source of so much love and happiness to his parents and brothers. Also the source of surprise wrestling moves on his unsuspecting brothers, amazing contorted faces in almost every picture that is taken of him, having an endless supply of jokes, and the worlds most astounding nostril flare. He is extremely quick to respond when a family member needs a helping hand. He loves to share his testimony, and does every chance he gets. Luke loves going to church and is so excited to be baptized. (Luke's baptism announcement :)
After getting his baptism interview, bishop Lethbridge called Jess in for a bit without Luke. He told him that Luke was one of the most prepared children for baptism he's seen out of all the kids he's interviewed. He wanted Jess to tell me that. It made me happy. :) Bishop also said that Zombies came up as they were talking...something about going under the water and back up being symbolic of rising from the dead....zombies...I take it that it was overall a very special interview. :)
Baptism day came and we were ready! I love this picture with ALL OF MY HEART! The both of them are so handsome. And Luke is filled with such a beautiful light. He was so excited and a little scared that day.
Dad was out of town that day on business so he took Luke out for Ice Cream earlier that week. Then they stopped by the Stake Center and he showed him where the font was and talked about what would happen during the baptism.
Jess and Luke drove down early Saturday morning in Jess' truck so they could get the jump suit for Luke all set---Luke said it felt SOOO big. I came down with all the kids and mom when it was closer to start time. Luke and Jess were sitting on the front row with the other 4 kids getting baptized that day from our ward (Joe Meline, Alaina Steed, Lane Butterworth and Kennedy Miller). He was so full of life. Each time someone new came into the chapel for him he would walk to them and thank them for coming. He started asking Jess questions about his baptism day (which he can't remember) so then he walked over to Grandpa Winn and asked him if he remembered it. I don't think they got very far on that line of questioning.
The program was lovely--and my personal favorite part of the whole pre-baptism program was this:
All the kids getting baptized sang, the When I am Baptized song;
the one on his invitation. Rachel (Joe's sister and our boys' babysitter) played the piano.
(I may have thrown this together a few days before the baptism day...but all the moms were totally with me and we were all glad they did it. Luke said he was nervous but glad they did it in the end too.)
It was so so so so perfect and beautiful and touching and just...did I already say perfect? They sounded like sweet little angels. They sang both versus and didn't need papers so they were able to just look out at all of us. Luke's teacher Bro. Walter Adamson spoke on baptism and Josh Byrnes spoke on the Holy Ghost. Luke was last to get baptized so he got to see all the others go.
I loved every bit of it. I just got to sit and feel the Spirit and see my favorite people and enjoy the day!
Here are Luke's feelings about this special day:
“I woke up feeling really tired
because I woke up at 5:00, tried to go back to sleep but I couldn’t. I had breakfast upstairs—toast, marshmallows,
and Fritos. It was really nutritious. Then I put on my Sunday clothes. But I didn’t
have them on for long because then I I went to the church with dad and changed
into the jumper, which was really baggy.
I got to sit in the front row with Joseph Meline, Lane Butterworth, Alaina Steed, and Kennedy
Miller and my dad. Everybody started
coming so I went to greet them. The Infangers came last but I was still really
happy to see them. While we were waiting
to start, I asked Grandpa (Winn) what it was like to baptize dad (because I was
feeling really really nervous (like a 7 or 8)…I don’t know why, but I just was) Grandpa said it was cool. Also I asked Grandpa Winn To be a
witness. I’d asked Scott the night
before. I felt really good asking them
because I knew they could and really wanted to come, because they were my
family.
We (the 5 getting baptized) sang
a song. It was When I am Baptized (the Rainbow Song), and we sang it right
before we got baptized. It was really
high. On a scale from 1-10 I was about a 9 for nerves.
When it was my turn, I went in
the bathroom, I went into the baptismal font-I was feeling nervous, but not
that nervous, but still nervous, like a 70 (out of 10). I’d practiced it with dad a few times the day
before and we did it good. I walked down
the stairs and looked out at everybody—it was kinda weird—everybody watching
me. The water was warm, dad said the
prayer, and I felt the Holy Ghost—I felt happy.
But once we were done, after dad said the prayer, it was freezing. When I was changing, my towel accidentally came
off so everyone saw my bum—Bro. Butterworth, dad, Joseph and his big brother—it
was really embarrassing. When I was
trying to get my other underwear back on, I was doing an underwear dance to get
it back on because I was so wet.
I was the last one in (I was the
last of the 5 to be baptized). When I
was in I had to wait like 25 minutes for it to be my turn to be confirmed. I
was okay with it since I knew I could wait.
After I was confirmed, my mom went up, said the prayer, and I ran up to
hug her on the stand (it made her feel so so so so happy).
Then we went to my house for
food—we had donuts and fruit kabobs, bagels—and smoky bacon wrapped sausages. Then everybody ate, and we
played games. We jumped rope, and we
played with the Lindquists, the Woodwards, the Infangers, and the Andersons.
It was a sunny day so we played
outside for a little bit, then came inside and played Minecraft with Ian and
Cooper. Afterwards everybody had to go
home. Then sis. McMurtry came and gave
me a pillowcase I can color, a tithing jar, and an activity book. I also got a 3 TIES! An orange one (that I wore) from Grandma
Adams, a blue CTR tie from Grandma Winn and a purple tie from Andrea and
Aubrey.
My favorite parts of the day
were getting baptized, eating and playing.
I was nervous during the day, but also happy the whole day. The end!”
(in the confirmation circle
there was: Dad, Grandpa Winn, Scott, Jason Woodward, Adam Lindquist, Chris
Infanger, Bishop Lethbridge, Bro. Meline, and Riley)
Coolest faces ever.
That night Luke invited Ian over and we had a BBQ.
Ha! I love moms face in this one especially! It's like she's secretly planning to murder someone....so sinister. HA!
The next morning Luke made us all scrambled eggs for breakfast. He's adorable. I love him so so so much and am soooo grateful he made the choice to be baptized!
