Kinley's baptism

My sweet niece, Kinley, was baptized on her 8th birthday!  She asked me to give the talk on baptism, which I was honored to do.  I practiced by talk to Brooke and Colby, and when I asked them what they thought, Brooke responded with, "I think it was really good, but probably only the adults will understand it."  Yikes, that wasn't what I was going for, haha.  It was only 3.5 minutes, so I didn't think it was too long or too complicated, but I revised it a bit.  I practiced with Kevin that night and he said it was great, but suggested that I try to read it less and maybe that would drag it out an extra minute.

I knew that I would get emotional at the end when I spoke to Kinley about what a special girl she was and about how much her Heavenly Father loved her, but I wasn't expecting the emotions within 10 seconds of speaking.  As I tried to get through my opening comments, Melanie was also emotional and even Kinley was choking back the tears. There was such a special spirit there, and I have no doubt that it is because of the special girl that Kinley is.  She really has such a pure and gentle heart, and I appreciate her example to Brooke and Colby.  

Papa gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, and then it was time to watch the baptism.  My kids were right up at the glass to get a good look, and I'm so glad that they watched their cousin taking such an important step.  Brooke will be 8 before I know it, and she has told us on multiple occasions that she only wants our immediate family at her baptism because she doesn't want people looking at her.  I hope she changes her mind because there are a lot of people who love her and would want to be part of her special day.

Can you tell how much Brookie loves her cousin?

These sweet girls are definitely best buddies and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

I made sure to get a few with Colby as well because he gets left out of the "girl pictures" pretty frequently!

After the baptism, we headed over to the Peacock's house for a family dinner and birthday party.  Kinley had a few other cousins there as well, and the kids all played really well together while the adults chatted.  It's great living close to family, and we loved celebrating such a milestone birthday for this sweet girl!