Preparing for Brooke's special day was kind of surreal. We'd been talking about it for a while, but it was hard to believe it was actually time for our little girl to be baptized. We consulted with Brooke about her program, and she helped us invite those who would participate. We asked Sister Duff to play the piano, Rachel Smith to be the chorister, Grandma Meador to say the opening prayer, Papa Meador to give the talk on baptism, Nay Nay to give the talk on the Holy Ghost, Sister Bassett to welcome her to Primary, and Papa Clark to say the closing prayer.
Brooke had also asked Kinley to be the second witness of her baptism. That whole conversation was really adorable. I had explained to Brooke that you had to be a baptized member to be one of the two witnesses, so Brooke wanted Kinley and I to do it. We called Kinley one day on the way home from Activity Days to ask her. Aubrey answered the phone, so when Brooke asked to talk to Kinley, I worried that Aubrey was going to get her feelings hurt. When Brooke asked Kinely, she said, "Oh, yes, please!" in the cutest voice. Brooke was excited, and then I tried to quietly tell Brooke to explain to Aubrey that you had to be a baptized member. But then Brooke said, "I would have picked you, Aubrey, but you aren't baptized yet." Haha, that wasn't the way I wanted her to phrase it, so I tried to coach her on smoothing that over. In the end, I texted Mel to explain what happened and she said it didn't seem to phrase Kinley or Aubrey. So, that was good :)
I wanted everything about Brooke's day to be special and beautiful, but not overly complicated. I tried to simplify by buying an invitation template on Etsy that also had a coordinating program template. Printing them was a whole other story because the cardstock kept getting jammed in the printer, but my Mom was able to help late one night and we got them all ready to go.
We picked up flowers on our Costco run (two bouquets, one for each side of the pulpit), along with a bunch of cookies. I had no idea how many people would actually be there, but I wanted to have enough so we planned for 125. We were also using the beautiful pink carnations that the Funderburks gave Brooke for her birthday.
I had everything sitting on the kitchen table so we could grab it all and leave on Sunday afternoon. Kevin left a little earlier than the rest of us so he could start filling the font and clearing any clutter from the different rooms. As I was running around the house trying to get the last few things ready, my mom so kindly loaded the car. I was about to head out with Colby, but he was panicked about not being able to find a token he had found at church that day. I promised I would help him find it later, but he wouldn't back down and started throwing the biggest fit, stating that he wasn't leaving until he found it. I was on the verge of tears and told him that we needed to leave because it was Brooke's special day and we needed to set up. He adamantly said, "It's NOT her special day." (He had been struggling a bit with all the gifts and attention Brooke was getting for her birthday, her party, and now her baptism.) I was trying to remain calm, but the more he threw a fit, the angrier I got. At one point, I very grumpily said, "Get in the car, NOW!" We walked out to the car, both of us in tears, and I was both angry and sad that this was how we were heading out for the baptism. When my dad asked what the problem was, I simply said that we couldn't find the token, and he knew exactly where it was! Apparently he didn't know what I was doing in the house or what we were even looking for. I walked back into the house, got the coin, and was in tears as we drove away.
Just then, Kevin called me, and I tearfully told him that we were on our way. I turned on some peaceful music and tried to bring the Spirit back to our car. It worked, because after a few minutes I was able to talk to Brooke about how she was feeling and what she was thinking.
We got inside and started setting everything up. We first set up the refreshments in the Relief Society Room, and I loved how everything was turning out.
And I used the flower garlands I had purchased for her birthday party last year...
The kids set up the water station...
Then needed a cookie break, haha...
As I went to the entry table to set up the programs, I realized that we didn't have any of the flowers. I was instantly sick to my stomach! When I asked my mom, she mentioned that she loaded everything but the flowers because we would need to hold those once inside the car, and then they were forgotten on the kitchen table. I hadn't even looked over there since I knew she had loaded everything. I wanted to go back for them, but it's like a 25 minute drive back to my house, and another 25 minutes back to the church. Mom said she would finish setting everything else up, but it also made me nervous to leave when I wanted to oversee everything. In the end, Mom and Dad went and picked up all the flowers and made it back with 10 minutes to spare. That might have seemed crazy, but the flowers were beautiful and I wanted them as the finishing touch. Although, I realize now that I didn't even take a picture of the bouquets we put in the chapel, haha.
When I was looking for a tablecloth a few days prior, I remembered about this beautiful lace doily my Grandma made. It was the perfect touch and hopefully was special to Brooke...
The programs...
And the guest page...
Guests included: Jarretts, Tiffini Duff, Hawkins, Peacocks, John Golden, Gary Habicht, Crumptons, Danielsons, Smiths, Taggarts, Andersons, Myers, Dayleys, Victoria Elliott, Sturgills, Palaus, Funderburks, Bassetts, Nay Nay and Papa, Lundeens, Hibberts, Peggy Maynes, Richeys, and Grandma and Papa Meador.
Then it was time for Brookie and Kevin to change into their jumpsuits. Brooke was a little nervous, but was so sweet about the whole thing.
The program was beautiful, and then it was time for us to head down to the font for the baptism. Kevin and I really wanted a special musical number or something during the transition from the chapel to the Young Women's room, so we asked Rachel Danielson to play "Baptism" on her viola while Melanie accompanied her on the piano. It was absolutely perfect and definitely brought the spirit during what is normally a slightly irreverent transition.
A friend in the ward sent me this picture, which was kind of cool...
Brooke told me that she purposely didn't look over at all the kids because she felt nervous about how many people were there. I was just so proud of her because even last year, when we would talk about her baptism, she would say that she only wanted family there because she didn't want a bunch of people watching her. I tried to explain that there were a lot of people that loved her and would love to show their support, but it wasn't until a few months ago that she felt comfortable with that.
Helping her get changed when she came out of the font was one of the most special experiences we've ever had together. She was just glowing and I felt so happy and full of joy.
Kevin was so happy as well to have baptized his little girl.
While they changed, we asked everyone to write little notes to Brooke. Melanie took this picture of the kids working on their notes. I am going to turn them into a little book for Brooke because the notes are absolutely precious. They are not only expressions of love to Brooke, but also words of advice on staying close to our Father in Heaven and always striving to keep the Holy Ghost with her.
And all these kids...
Sweet girl cousins...
On the drive home, she wrote in her new personalized journal from Sister Bassett, so she'll always have that to look back on. We felt so incredibly grateful for all the support from family and friends. The chapel was full of people that love our sweet Brooke, and I know that meant a lot to her (and us). Sister Bassett, the Primary President, made a comment to me that she has NEVER seen a turnout like that for one child getting baptized. We really are so blessed with incredible friends and family.
We are so proud of our girl! The day was wonderful, and I hope she'll always remember how she felt!
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