January 23, 2010 - "I don't know if there is a record for this, but if there is, I think we came close"

We thought of everything... Printed the programs, set up the chairs, had nice pictures around, verified that everyone would be there, brought a change of clothes, and even remembered the dry underwear. It was all going to go smoothly, right?

Papa preformed the Baptism. The picture on the right is my favorite!

I have to document this or we may forget details, although I doubt it will be soon forgotten. The following account is from my own perspective and it may have been different for someone else. If you were there and want to comment to share your perspective on the events, that would be great, thanks!

Spencer got into the font and as my dad said the baptismal prayer he said, "... of the Father, and (he took a breath in) the Son, and of the Holy Ghost..." I did not know if he had said "of" where he took the breath or not. He put Spencer under the water and EVERYTHING was covered. They got out of the font and pulled the plug and went into the bathroom and started to change. As everyone filed back into the other room, my Brother-in-law says, "isn't it 'of the Son'?" Yes, it is. So he hadn't actually said it right. I took most of guests back into the other room and they were going to get Spencer and Papa back into the font to do it again without everyone watching. The problem was this... the water drains very quickly. It takes 2+ hours to fill the font, but only about 10 minutes to drain it completely. By the time they got back into the font and put the plug back in, there was only about 1.5 feet of water in the bottom. Dad said the prayer and tried to baptize him but he couldn't make it all the way under. So they tried 3 or 4 more times with no luck. They added more water to the font. By this time, almost all of the guests were back in the hallway watching - talk about pressure! They tried 3 or 4 more times with no luck and again added some water. At this point Spencer had a foot come up twice, a leg once, a forehead, an arm, and I'm sure I'm missing a few. I was watching from the side and saw my oldest son's face. He looked exhausted and frustrated. He looked up and I thought he was going to cry. He said, "We'll try one more time and then stop..." At this point, I thought, "oh, no! He's giving up!!" Boy was I wrong... He continued... "and then stop and add more water so we can try again." I have never been more proud of my little man. He handled the whole situation with a maturity I had never seen in an 8 year old before! I can't remember if there was only 1 time more or not, just that he was eventually baptized properly. It was a good opportunity to explain to our friends and neighbors who are not members of the church of the importance of performing ordinances perfectly and with exactness. It was a baptism that none of us will soon forget! (Note: No one actually counted, I thought there were at least 8 times, many others thought it was around 8, so we decided it was 8 times total. The counselor from the Bishopric that was in attendance thought it was much more than that, possibly 10-12 times. As BD said, "that's a lot of sins...")

Here are the family members that were in attendance.

Just for a record, Grandma Tarbet gave the opening prayer, Nana Peterson gave the first talk on Baptism, a musical number - "A Child's Prayer" was sung by Trisha Snow (the Primary Chorister, my Visiting Teacher, and Spencer's former tutor) and Jill Barnes (Spencer's Primary teacher), Papa Peterson baptized Spencer, Dave and Grandpa Tarbet were witnesses, Grandpa Tarbet gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, and Dave confirmed Spencer, and then we had welcomes from Emily Allred (Primary President) and Randy Christensen (from the Bishopric), Jaclyn Peterson gave the closing prayer. The music was led by Heather Ure (Spencer's Primary teacher) and Brother and Sister Allred took turns playing the piano. The opening song was "I am a Child of God" and the closing song was "If the Savior Stood Beside Me." It was a nice service and we are grateful to all who came and all who participated!

Here are some pictures of Spencer in his new suit. No, they aren't great, he was not in a smiling mood when I took them. I had to bribe him to smile in the last picture.