Pure Joy

Today was definitely one of the best days of my life. I had the great pleasure of watching Rachel get baptized. It was such an incredible experience. I never knew life could bring so much joy in one single moment. Even now, 12 hours later, I'm having a hard time writing about it because I'm still a little overwhelmed by the experience.

Before the actual baptism, I had the opportunity to introduce her and talk about how wonderful she is. That alone was wonderful. She just glowed the entire time. She had family and friends there to support her, many of whom brought her gifts. She carried around her new scriptures in the cool pink bag from Grandma and Grandpa Texas the entire day, and I don't think she took off her CTR mood ring even to go to bed. The entire experience was smooth and perfect. Nothing went wrong at any point in our morning, and the meeting itself was great. She did have to be put under twice because her foot came up the first time (the whole foot, not just a toe), but she didn't mind at all. She reminded me I had to do it three times. Plus the water was warm, so she liked being in it. The look on her face as she came out of the font was one I will never forget. It was pure joy, and it exactly echoed how I felt.

I really like that we wait to baptize our children until they're 8. This was a decision Rachel made. She wanted to do it. I can't imagine seeing an infant baptized has nearly the same power as watching your child, who's old enough to know for herself, choose to be baptized into the church you hold dear and precious. She chose this, and it means that much more knowing it was her choice.

I'm sure this was a wonderful day for Rachel, but this is my blog, not hers. Today I got to see my daughter get baptized into the kingdom. It was definitely one of the greatest days of my life.