Colden's Baptism!

Colden turned 8 last month! He was so excited and ready to get baptized. About 6 months ago, he planned his whole baptism...who would give the talks, what the songs would be. Everything. On his baptism invitation, I wrote something that he said about it:

I am excited to get baptized so I can wash away all of my sins 

and then receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

So we sent out the invitations. Most of them. My parents were able to come to town for his baptism. However, Rob's parents were unable to come because Bob had double (or triple?) bypass open heart surgery in July and wasn't able to travel yet. But the baptism was still great. My mom gave a great talk about baptism being the gate into the kingdom of Heaven. She bore a sweet testimony of Jesus Christ. I gave a talk about the Holy Ghost. And Rob baptized Colden then confirmed a member of the Church and gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost through the priesthood which he bears. After Colden's confirmation, I felt humbled and grateful to be the mother of such a spirit! It's going to be a journey, and hopefully a fun one, continuing to raise this boy!

Colden really has anticipated the day of his baptism. He loves the gospel of Jesus Christ. He even "read" the Book of Mormon all the way through earlier this year. He loves to teach lessons during our Family Home Evening and he often has wonderful insights. He can recognize the presence of the Holy Ghost in his life and in our home...and he can recognize when it's not in our home. He has an amazing faith when it comes to healing through the power of the priesthood and through prayer. Just today, he had a really bad tummy ache while we were driving between activities. He was moaning and telling the  "dumb" pain to "stop it." Then he said a silent prayer and he said that right after, the pain started going away. Within a few minutes, he didn't have pain anymore. He asked if sometimes prayers are answered a little later than when we offer the prayer and I said yes. Sometimes it's minutes, days, or even years. But our prayers are answered. His faith is really amazing. I hope it stays with him his whole life!