I've been anticipating this day for a long time...it has weighed heavily on me from the moment I knew her father wasn't going to be alive to perform this ordinance. I very much believe that one of the reasons the two of us finding Tony and his family when we did was for Melissa to be baptized by Tony. He has filled that role in her life beautifully.
As he was confirming Melissa and she had all these hands on her head, Tony told me later that he had to push the hands up as he was confirming her so she didn't get too weighed down. That made me laugh...that's a lot of heavy hands on a little head!
I sure do love this family. We, like all families, have our ups and downs and we struggle. Along with our struggles and tears we have found love, laughter, and some resemblance of understanding with each other. We take it a day at a time.
What a beautiful dress Grandma Olsen made for her. She loves it so much and she looks so beautiful in it. I am so blessed to have her as a daughter. She is so helpful, kind, and beautiful inside and out. She is spunky and funny and it's never boring with her in the house that is for sure. I am so proud of the decision she made to be baptized. She has taken it very seriously, she is always trying to be better and make good choices. She recognizes when she does things wrong and really tries to work on it. I am so proud of her. She is turning into a wonderful young lady. She loves her brother and sisters and is quite a little mother to Elly. She always wants to help me with Elly. She loves to play with her, feed her, burp her, change her diaper, and she LOVES to dress her up. Elly very much loves her too.
This blanket was made for Melissa by her Aunt Stephanie Green. I had given Stephanie some of Joe's clothes so that she could make a blanket for Melissa and I was very surprised when she had it done for her baptism. Talk about a room full of crying people. It was a very sweet moment that I am sure not one of those people will forget. Joe's testimony was put on the quilt as well and Kristi read it to her. I am grateful that I had the prompting on her birthday to pull the letter out and read it to her before then so I could explain it. I had always wanted to be the one to read it to her first and I'm glad I took the opportunity. I hope the way I explained it helped as Kristi read it to her again. We have been very blessed to have the family we do. It was pretty crazy to try and get 3 different families together, but we did it and it worked out so well. It was an amazing day with an amazing sweet spirit that filled our hearts. I know Joe is very happy with her and with how far we have come. As much as I wanted him to be able to do it, I know it happened exactly the way it was supposed to and he is happy watching down on us.
