Baptism Day!

Well yesterday was Baptism Day!! What an exciting day it was too.

I had to reschedule and rearrange regular activities so that we could make the day a special one. Not only for the boys but for Mark as well because it was his birthday too.

You should've seen the boys in their whites. They looked so sweet, so pure, so innocent (well except for the gleam in their eyes!! I'm not too sure that was entirely innocent lol)

OMGosh I cannot believe how I felt while we were there. I got that awesome warm fuzzy feeling when Mark did his talk about Baptism and the Holy Ghost. I just felt good all over as Mark was reading what he had written and I know Mark felt good too because I could hear it in his voice and he got a little choked up when he was finishing his testimony. He wrote such a wonderful poem too .... .....

Your body lay in water
Cleansed of sins of old
Your soul to rise anew
Now a member of his fold

Meek and humble to our God
The Holy Ghost into your heart
Repentance for your sins
Time ... fresh you start

Gates of Heaven open to you
The path is oh so long
The long narrow path
To the place where you belong

Take the time to kneel in prayer
To have guidance on your way
Our Father speaks to us
If we take the time to pray

It was such a special night and I am so glad that Mark was there to share it with me. I know that our Diva was there in our hearts too because I could feel her there. I let everyone know that she phoned up before we left for the church. So they know you were with us also.

The boys said that it was the best feeling when they came out of the water. The little dude said he felt FANTASTIC and the big fella said he felt happy and clean.

It made me think back to when I was baptised not that I can remember a lot about it just that it was a very trying and difficult time because I had all this opposition from my parents. They were dead set against me changing my beliefs. Not that it matters now

I just hope that the boys can remember that wonderful feeling they had when they rose from the water and that they can keep that feeling with them always.

Baptism Interview

The boys had their baptism interviews this afternoon. They did so well! Although I wasn't with them during the interviews they came back full of smiles and laughter. So it was ALL good! Not that I doubted a thing. Even though they didn't always seem to listen they were taking the information in so WTG boys!!

The little dude was so cute. He gave the missionaries a quiz. He was so adorable and even handed them prizes. A little card and a marble. You just had to see it. It truly was wonderful!!

The clothes have been organised for them. They will look so cute in their whites. One of my concerns was finding some white underwear but we went to the warehouse and found some without any problems. So YAY something finally went smoothly for us!!
Tonight I'll organise the bag we need to take with us .. with things like towels, combs, etc. Hopefully I wont forget anything but I'll check again tomorrow to make sure I don't.

I'm outta here. I've got a head cold and I'm feeling rather yuk right now. If Mum was here she would say have a hot lemon drink, a couple of panadol and go to bed! Well I don't have any lemons but I do have the panadol (well a generic version of it) and a lemon herbal tea. So I think I'll have those and annoy the boys a bit before they go to bed!!

Missionary Visit

Tonight we had another visit from the missionaries. It was the boys last lesson before their baptism interview, which is tomorrow night. Golly I can't believe that they will be baptised soon. I just hope that they behave better tomorrow night when the missionaries come again. They had such a hard time sitting still and listening. They were fidgeting and it seemed like they were hardly paying attention. I know it can be hard for kids but golly these two really do know how to not pay attention. One can only hope ..
I still haven't heard from Maitland. I'm thinking that he definitely doesn't wish to come to the baptism even though we invited him, well Mark did but that doesn't matter. I know the boys would like it if he was there and I think he may even enjoy it if he did go. I think it would be great if he could come but it's not like I can talk him into coming I haven't heard from him. Oh well.

It's been a LONG day

Gosh today seems like it has gone on forEVER! The boys woke me up at 7:30 this morning and I haven't been back to sleep since. Gosh it's meant to be a day off but you'd think the boys thought it was just another school day wouldn't you! In fact they wont even wake me on a school day!! Not unless they're fighting and half the time I am awake long before they even get out of bed!

I swear the weather is great for ducks! It's been raining non-stop for the past 4 hours. I bet we have a nice little lake out the front. The drain we have near our driveway doesn't clear very well when we have constant rain .. in fact we often end up with stacks of water where we park the car and the 'lake' sometimes covers most of the yard. I wonder how much longer the rain will keep falling .. not that I should complain because we need it really.

We had the missionaries come over again tonight. They're preparing the boys for their baptism. In fact last night I was had some concerns about the boys being baptised at all. Not that I don't want them to be baptised but it was more of do they WANT to be baptised and did they know what it really meant. This afternoon about 2 hours before the missionaries came over Mark & I sat the boys down and we spoke to them about baptism, sacrament and what it means. I also spoke with them about repentance and what it means. I had to make sure that the boys understood that it means to be sincerely sorry for something not just an automatic response of being sorry. I've had major issues with them just saying sorry when I don't think they were being sincere about it. Now where was I ... oh yes the baptism... it went from something I was thinking about for the boys to BAM! It's been organised with a date and all. And not once were the boys asked if it was something that they wanted to do or not. SO I asked them and they said yes it was something they wish to do. So that was a relief because I was all ready to say STOP everything if they had said NO!
The boys were learning about the plan of salvation in today's lesson. The missionaries made it so much fun for the boys. I had spoken to the boys briefly about the plan of salvation when we had our chat about baptism. The boys really surprised me with the amount of information they remembered from our little talk. I honestly didn't think they had been paying attention very well. The missionaries made the discussion into a game which involved food (chocolate to be more precise) the boys were hooked. I don't think it was because the game was fun it was more the fact that there was food involved!!
Afterwards the big fella said it was the most fun he had had learning about anything to do with Church. So it must've been a big hit!!

Diva mentioned to me that the boys may play up a little now that a baptism date has been decided on. That they may tell more fibs etc .. well I think they have in fact they've been rather niggly and mean to one another. I felt sorry for the big fella he got hurt where boys should NOT be hurt at all. The little dude was warned that he would go to bed if he was naughty again tonight.
Well the boys are no angels but they were pushing their luck a little. Not long after dinner they were sent to bed. In fact they were in bed by 7 p.m. I know they were tired because they tend to misbehave more when they are. The little dude must've been exhausted because he was fast asleep by 7:30 and the big fella was asleep by 8 p.m. I guess these early mornings were getting to them. Let's hope that they have a great sleep tonight and they will be just wonderful tomorrow morning. (One can only hope!!)

Here it is not even 9 p.m. and I'm the only one up, even Mark has gone to bed. There is nothing on tv to watch. I can't be bothered knitting ~ it makes my right arm ache and my left hand sore. I've even taken some nurofen like the GP said but today I don't think it's made much of a difference. I'm debating whether to go watch some tv, put on a video/dvd, make something with PSP or even just got to bed and read. Maybe I'll just sit here at the computer and play games until I feel tired ... hmm playing a game sounds like the only thing I am capable of doing right now ..

A Baptism Date .. .. ..

We spoke with the missionaries when we were at Church today they will be coming over again on Tuesday. It seems they have been thinking and praying a lot on our behalf.

One of my main aims was to get the boys to be prepared for Baptism. Well we have now set a date for both of them to be baptized!! We are aiming for the first Saturday in May! (May 6th)
The missionaries said that since the boys are still young they do not need to have the same level of understanding as adults do so they can be baptized earlier than I believed was possible!

So it looks like we have a lot of preparing to do. They still need to learn a lot more and I know the missionaries will help us with this. Although my first thought after they suggested a date (they originally said the last Saturday in April) was we need white clothes! My goodness we don't really have any but that isn't a problem. But as Mark pointed out to me once we got home is that we don't need two sets of white clothes it's three!!

I am worried about what my Dad will think. It's one thing living here and being able to go to church without him saying anything. He has always been against my being baptized as a Mormon. I'm worried that our relationship which has been really good of late will be jeopardized when he hears about the boys being baptized. Mark said that I shouldn't let that bother me and that we shouldn't hide the fact that we have been going to church. He's right but I don't want Dad to end up being annoyed with me. Especially since we are closer than we've ever been.

I'm still excited about the boys being baptized though. I just don't want to mess things up with Dad.

Our Visitors

We had a few visitors last night. Maitland popped in for a visit, I had the feeling that he would come over today, but that was a good thing he's been a bit down in the dumps of late. We also had the missionaries come over too. That's also one of the reasons why I knew Maitland would be here. I'm not sure how I knew but I just knew.

It was great having the missionaries here. We're going through the lessons again from before you are baptised. Mark and I felt we needed to revisit these lessons to give us a better perspective on things and to also refresh our memories. After all its been over 10 years since either of us were baptised. I also thought it would be a very good thing for the big fella to hear. I really would love it if he were to be baptised. The little dude too come to think of it.
The big fella had such a hard time concentrating. In fact at times he was just down-right silly!! But that is nothing new for him! He tends to be super silly when we have visitors. I became a bit annoyed with his behaviour while they missionaries were here. I know I shouldn't be but I was. I guess I need to learn more patience.
While we were going through the lesson I noticed that the missionaries looked more at Maitland and the big fella. But I'm thinking that was because they hadn't heard they lessons before.

We've arranged with to have the lessons after Church on Sundays. Mainly because we live so far from away from the ward and the missionaries only get a certain amount of kilometres to travel each month. And frankly they would use a lot to come and visit us more frequently. So rather than monopolize their travel allotment we agreed that it would be much better to have the lessons straight after church.

Mark was saying how he would love to baptize the boys. In fact, I think that would be absolutely awesome! I would never have dreamt that someone I know so well would be able to baptize them. I can just imagine it and it would be such an honour if the boys chose to be baptized and to have it done by Mark.

I've been so worried of late with how I've been feeling. How I feel like I am a hypocrite and that I really don't deserve to be happy or to have things go my way. I hate feeling this way but sometimes it feels like I just can't help it! Mark even threatened to phone/email Diva and tell her exactly how I have been. Anyway, Mark & I had a really good talk, well he spoke & I listened. He made so much sense, saying how everyone deserves help (I still believe otherwise). I still have that thing in my head about not accepting or rather not asking for help because it shows weakness. Silly I know but that is how I have always felt & I need to stop thinking and feeling like this. However to me its valid even if it makes no sense to anyone else because it is how I feel and regardless of what people say your feelings are real and valid because they belong to you.
And even with all my faults & problems Mark accepts me as I am. Gosh I love him to bits! I am so lucky to have him in my life. I'm so glad he is part of our family.