Summer Trip part 7: Noah's Baptism

One of the biggest events of our trip to Utah was at the very end when Josh joined us on our trip and baptized Noah. In our church, children are baptized at age 8. Turning eight years old is a big deal.:) We had been noticing Noah grow and mature so much in the past few months. He is more perceptive and aware of others and their feelings. He is more helpful and conscientious in his decision-making. I was baptized when I was eight and my brother-in-law, Richard baptized me. It was really cool that Josh could be the one to baptize Noah. Noah looks up to him so much. I couldn't think of a better person for my kids to look up to.

 Such a great day!

Denise made another awesome cake for the occasion. Noah chose a favorite Book of Mormon story that we kind of tied in as a theme. It was about Samuel the Lamanite. The story is about a person in Ancient America who was standing on a wall getting shot at by arrows. Samuel's faith kept him safe from getting hit by the arrows. I gave a short talk and mentioned Noah's great faith and ability to dodge life's arrows. 

We had an amazing meal with almost all of the Utah family. 

 We gave the little guys lots of red punch!

Here is our group. Thanks for coming guys. It was such a special night.

On a side note: Noah's one request for a family activity was for all of us to play capture the flag together after the baptism. Noah loves competitive games like that. He's got a huge sense of adventure. A storm was rolling in and these dark clouds made it dark earlier than expected. We decided to play anyways in the dark. We played at a park that was in Josh's parents' housing development so it was a block away from the house. It turned out that Noah's team didn't win the game. We all rounded up the kids and Noah went home a little ahead of the group. We got inside and started chatting. I wanted to check on Noah to make sure he wasn't upset about losing and I couldn't find him anywhere. I searched the house for like five minutes. I got really nervous and the guys went out in the neighborhood and started searching for Noah. After a minute or so (which seemed like a eternity) Noah was found a few blocks away! It turned out that Noah to lost in the neighborhood which is very maze-like. He was got pretty scared and was crying when we found him. When we brought him inside he told us that the bishop who was overseeing the baptism an hour earlier had found him after Noah had said a little prayer. Not to get too mushy or anything, but I was so grateful Noah felt like he had someone to turn to when he was scared. Noah felt that his prayer was answered and I believe it was too. We feel very blessed to have God in our lives.