Abby's Baptism

Abby's baptism was a wonderful and important day. She was baptized today, May 2, 2009. I am so happy she has made the decision to enter the kingdom of God on the earth. I now have two children who have made sacred covenants with Heavenly Father to take upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ. Baptism is just the beginning. It is the first saving ordinance of the gospel and is necessary in receiving eternal salvation through obedience. All who desire eternal life must be baptized, like the Savior was, by one who possesses authority from God. Abby was baptized by her father, my sweet husband, Rob. She received the gift of the Holy Ghost to be with her always. Baptism doesn't take very long as far as time is concerned but its effects reach through eternity. Abby is a sweet and loving girl. I love her so much. We have a lot of fun together laughing and talking about anything and everything. I am so glad Heavenly Father sent her to me. Abby was baptized on the same day as some of the other children in our ward. The other children were: Alex Huhtala, Isabel and Annika Wood (twins) and Tyra Grant. All the children who were baptized, plus the children who have already been baptized in each of the families
(Hayden LeBaron, Hannah and Hailey Huhtala, Jaren and Hannah Wood, and Dalton Grant) stood on the stand and sang the song "When I am Baptized." I led them and Kathryn LeBaron played the piano.

Amy Huhtala gave the talk on baptism. She mentioned the rain we were receiving today was a perfect object lesson for cleaning the earth and a reminder of baptism. My mom, Pauline Bastian, gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. She talked about what we must do to always have Him with us and shared a couple of her experiences.

When Abby received the Holy Ghost, Rob, Bill Routt, Matt LeBaron, Kim LeBaron, and Brother Martin were in the circle. She looked beautiful all dressed in white. Jessica made her a special necklace for the occasion.

I wrote down the words that Rob said in her confirmation the best I could. These are the things he said after giving her the gift of the Holy Ghost:

"Abby, we love you. Your Heavenly Father loves you. He is happy with the decision you have made to be baptized a member of the Church. Make those decisions in your life that are pleasing to Heavenly Father. I bless you that through prayer, scripture study, and church attendance you will become familiar with the Spirit. Live your life to have Him with you. Look to those around you for guidance, especially your mother. Conduct your life in obedience to righteousness. You are an example to your brothers and your friends. Pray often. Think and ponder the things that you learn. I bless you to have patience to feel the Spirit and understand the importance of repentance in this earthly life. Be the kind of person to live worthy of the blessings of the temple. We love you. We are thankful for you in our family. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

As you can see, the blessing was beautiful and so is she!

After the baptism we gathered at our house for lunch. We ate sandwiches made with rolls, meat and cheese prepared by BYU catering, thanks to Keith's wonderful discount. (Keith works for BYU bakery). I assigned everyone toppings for sandwiches like lettuce, and tomato. Others brought chips, and fruit. I make two Texas sheet cakes and Mike and Debbie provided loads of cookies brought by Kim and Lynne. Mike and Debbie and family were unable to attend due to two of their kids being sick.

Loved ones in attendance were: Pauline Bastian, Allison, Bill, Amanda, Rachel, and Sarah Routt, Cherisse and Annalee Jaeger, Ashlee, Ben and Gavin Mullins, Cherisse Glaus (Cherisse Glaus was there for lunch but forgot about the baptism, oops!) Kim and Lynne LeBaron, Jessica, Annebel, and Shelby Mathews, Matt, Tiffany, Libbie, Kezzie, and Tessa LeBaron, and of course Rob, Hayden, Bastian, Abby, Weston, and me.

Draper Temple Open House

Our family had the opportunity to tour the new Draper Temple before it was dedicated. I got a call from my wonderful sister-in-law, Debbie, who thought it would be great if we could do it as a big LeBaron Family group. We reserved tickets to the open house in December and were scheduled to go in February. I was excited to share this experience with our children because it's not often that you get to tour a temple as a family. Due to illness and schedule conflicts many family members were unable to attend. It was a beautiful temple! At one point during the tour we entered a sealing room where a couple is sealed for time and all eternity. We got to sit down and a couple briefly told of the importance of the sealing power within the walls of this room. Afterward we were able to see our reflection in the two mirrors across from each other representing the generations of our family who have come before us, and those who will come after us that can be sealed together in the temple. It also represents our life before this life and the sealing power that binds our little individual family together through eternity. Weston held a brochure of the temple in his little hands and would find each room that we were currently in, in the brochure. Rob walked with Hayden and explained many things to him as he was full of questions. Bastian walked with Uncle Joe for most of the tour and Abby walked near me holding Annebel and Shelby's hands. She loved the beautiful chandeliers, and we all marveled at their beauty in the Celestial Room. The Spirit was there. I was inspired by all the artwork of the Savior in the temple. Someone not of our faith cannot go through one of our temple open houses and not KNOW that the Savior is central to our beliefs. I want to get a great big picture of the Savior and hang it in our home.

After the open house, we walked to the nearby stake center and saw a beautiful collection of paintings of the Savior. We feasted upon the complimentary cookies and drank from the mini-water bottles that were provided. It was a wonderful day.

First Family Home Evening of 2009

I was hoping the first FHE of the year would be a great one. The message was great, but the kids were having a particularly hard time not wiggling, jumping, pushing, and more. I had to get after them. Why is it that sometimes they behave so well, and then sometimes they are bouncing off the walls? I think Hayden was the only one that listened the whole time. Rob was at work until 9:30pm, so he missed out on the brawl. We sang the Primary song I Lived in Heaven. Bastian had the lesson. He held up a picture of Joseph and the first vision and asked us questions about the picture. We read Joseph Smith History 1: 11-20. While Weston catapulted himself from the couch to the ottoman (and I was sooooo frustrated), we talked about how Heavenly Father answers prayers, how powerful Satan is, how light conquers darkness, and how Heavenly Father knows us by name. I did throw in the statement from Darth Vader, “Do not underestimate the power of the dark side.” Satan knew that Joseph would be a “disturber and an annoyer” to his plan. I gave my kids FULL permission to be a disturber and annoyer…….to Satan.

Just like Joseph’s experience with Satan not wanting him to learn the truthfulness of the gospel, Satan doesn’t want us to learn it either. We talked about the ways that Satan does this and the things that we can do to follow Heavenly Father’s plan. Satan tries to tell us that we don’t have time to read the scriptures or they are too hard to understand, or that we don’t want to go to church, etc. Then we talked about the ways we can follow Heavenly Father’s plan. Hayden and Abby both said, “We can go to church.” I wanted them to know that is important, but that there are things they should be doing AT church. We talked about what some of those were. Hayden said, “We can listen to the speakers in Sacrament Meeting.” Abby said, “We can be reverent during class.” Bastian said, “We can listen to our teachers.” Weston cried…not because he was touched by the Spirit but because he was in trouble for coloring, biting the pillows, and springing off from almost EVERY surface in our family room. He did not give an answer but said, “I’m sorry for doing that,” and hoped that he still got a treat. If there’s one thing that Weston is good at, it is meaningful, heartfelt apologies.

I then gave my children a charge to learn the songs taught in Primary because if they learn them well, the messages in them will be with them forever. I love my children so much. I want them to KNOW the important things. I am trying to do a good job in teaching them and even through my frustration from misbehavior I hope they can feel that. We closed with the song I Am a Child of God. It was my turn to pick the treat this week. We had a variation of Skywalker Smoothies from the Star Wars Cookbook. It was strawberries, banana, pineapple sherbet, and vanilla ice cream blended together. Mmmmm good. The real recipe calls for strawberries, banana, orange juice (or pineapple, or grape juice) and ice. Ours tasted MUCH better with the sherbet and ice cream! And yes, Weston DID get a treat.