Sunday, May 03, 2009

baptism and blessing

april 11th was a very special day for our family. it was the day that our oldest daughter, nani, was baptized and our youngest daughter, mahealani, was given a name and a blessing. it was a wonderful "family" day. because nani was the only child being baptized from our ward, we were able to combine the baby blessing with the baptism. it was a very unique situation that we had a child old enough to be baptized just as a new member of the family was born!

 

nani was able to pick all of the speakers and the songs and i made the programs. on the front of the program we had this picture of the two girls:

nani mahea close

and written under it was the fourth article of faith:

"We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost."

 

then on the inside of the program we had this picture:

nani mahea

with this scripture from 3 nephi 27:20:

“…I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name…”

 

my mom and dad flew in from california to share in the special day, as well as mitch's parent's who drove over from arizona. we also had mitch's sister and her family and his grandma, "grandma great" in attendance! many of nani's friends and their families were also there!

 

nani asked mitch to give a talk on baptism which he did a wonderful job on! because his family was in attendance and none of them are members he talked about the first principles and ordinances of the gospel as found in the fourth article of faith above. he talked about what faith is and why it is important, about repentance and the steps to true repentance and forgiveness. then, he spoke about how Jesus Christ was baptized by immersion as an example for all of us to follow.

 

next, nani wanted some of her friends and their moms to sing "if the Savior stood beside me".

nanijumper

then, nani was baptized.

 

after her baptism, nani had asked my dad to give a talk on the holy ghost. my dad is a great speaker and did a perfect job on his talk. when he was preparing it he asked how long he needed to speak. i told him about 5 min. he had timed himself several times and said that he only had 3 minutes. then my mom said, "bert, did you allow time for crying? that will add an extra minute or so!" we all laughed! but sure enough, he did add some extra time for crying and it was the perfect length!

 

after nani was confirmed a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints and given the gift of the Holy Ghost mahealani decided to wake up from her nap...and she was hungry...and, of course it was almost time for her to be blessed. so, i found an empty room and gave her some "fast food" so she wouldn't scream through the baby blessing. it worked!

blessing dress

 

the blessing was lovely. my favorite part, if we are allowed to have favorite parts of a blessing, was when mitch spoke of her name. he mentioned that the meaning of her first name (night of the full moon) was similar to mine (moon goddess) and as such she was named after me. he blessed her to know that because of this she should strive to develop a strong bond with me and should turn to me for counsel throughout her life. he also spoke of her middle name (surrounded by love) that she may always know of the love that her family has for her.

 

i am so glad that we were able to have both the baptism and the blessing together. it was such a special time for our family! i am so pleased with nani and her preparations for this day. she truly has demonstrated that she is ready to be baptized and to take upon her the name of Jesus Christ. she has such a sweet and kind spirit about her. she serves her sisters and her friends willingly, she loves the Savior and desires to follow Him in righteousness. she has a testimony and knows that this is Christ's church and is so happy to be a member of it! and i still can't believe that our first baby is old enough to be baptized!

 

there were a lot of pictures that wished i had gotten, but was to busy to remember to take. i did manage to get my dad to snap a quick family photo...or two:

family laugh

this first photo was a result of this next photo:

family

we had to do something to get kawena to look at the camera and not pout. apparently, whatever tutu lady did worked!

15 comments:

jessica said...

What a special day! The more I get to know you through your blog, the more I am conviced we would be great "real life friends" if we could only live closer. At least I have you as a blog friend.

Your Hawaiian family ties are very similar to my Latin family ties. And my husband is also the only member of the church in his family. You actually remind me alot of my sister who also has four girls....anyway I just think you are awesome.

Lauren in GA said...

Many, many congratulations to your family. You have such a beautiful family and I love all of the pictures. I love the little pouty face.

I also got a good giggle out of the, "fast food" good thinking mom!

Darilyn said...

I love, love these pictures. Congratulations Nani, what an amazing decision you have made.

Amanda D said...

What a wonderful day spent with your family! You have a beautiful family, Mahina.

tutu lady said...

Very nice post! Love it. the first family photo did not show up. Maybe it's because of my location at the moment. (Wisconsin) All the rest are fabulous! Love this family!! Hugs and Kisses with Aloha.

Rachel said...

Congratulations! I can't beleive they are old enough for this. I love both of the white dresses!

Sarah said...

What a wonderful day!! They look beautiful too! Nani looks so much like you Mahina!

Melissa-Mc said...

What a wonderful day for the family. Your family looks gorgeous. Congrats to Nani on her baptism.

Nana said...

Thanks for sharing that beautiful day. Congratulations to Nani on her desire to be baptized. She will be a great example to her sisters.

shauna said...

Children are so beautiful dressed in white. That was a special day. Congratulations.

Amanda said...

Congratulations! What a beautiful family and darling girls! That's so wonderful that you could combine the two events!

Scott-n-Allison said...

Congrats to your family...what a great thing to combine two sweet experiences!

I was thinking the other day that Mitch always talked about "catching up" to everyone else that had more kids than your family...and now you have the same as us! What CUTE girls!...and what a CUTE family!

Grace said...

what beautiful pictures!! Nana looks so much like you Mahina, especially the older she gets. I still can't believe she is 8. It's great that her baptism could be so personal with Mitch and your Dad giving the talks at it. She will always remember that.

Bridget said...

What a great day for your family! Huge congrats!

My kids are going to the Cooks for a weekend while we go to Chicago. When I told Maren she said "But mom, how will I fall asleep? I can only go to sleep at sleepovers talking to Nani. That's just what we do." It was so cute.

Kristi David said...

What a great day and what a great family! I love your parents too! I'm so glad you were able to have the baptism and blessing on the same day. Congrats!