Jonas' Baptism

Today Jonas was baptised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and my aunty heart could not be any more proud! Seeing my brother baptise his oldest son filled me with so much joy.

They are so adorable and I am so so glad that they chose to do the baptism here and not in QLD as I would have been devastated to not be a part of it.

So cute!

My brother and his little family.

It was another wonderful selfie opportunity with the boys while we waited outside afterwards.

Jared had organised for a friend of his to take family photos and they took another snap of all the available grandkids with my parents. Love it.

I then had the joy of driving all the boys back to Jared and Donna's for lunch. They were so funny, with so many giggles.

Because it was Easter Sunday as well, we had these gorgeous Slovenian traditonal dyed eggs that Katja and her mum and the boys had painted the day before. They looked so good! 

My offering for the day was this Minecraft (by Joseph's suggestion) Birthday cake for Jonas. The drip sure as heck wasn't perfect, but it was perfect enough to make this eight year old happy!

Look at that smile! It was worth every second of work that went into it.

Happy baptism day to our fave little dude. He was so happy.

❤

Best day.

Joseph's baptism

We had the most beautiful day yesterday being a part of Joseph's special day as he was baptised a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by his father. In our religion, children are baptised at age eight, allowing them to be old enough to make that decision for themselves and know what is expected of them. It's one of the things I love the most about our church! 

Our normally shy and out of the way child was very smiley and excited to be baptised which was lovely for us as parents. Look at that face!

I love him when he smiles. Melts my heart.

I found a way for Grandma and Poppy to share the day with us and I'm so glad I did. They were watching today, I am certain of it.

Everything went beautifully, with lovely talks from family members and a beautiful blessing from his father as he confirmed him a member of the church with assistance from his Grandad Neil and Uncle Jared.

Aunty Jenny made us these gorgeous CTR cookies in Joseph's favourite colour, bright orange! They were a big hit, especially with our few close friends who aren't members of our church that Joseph had invited to come along. It was lovely having them share the day with us.

We had a little afternoon tea in the hall and although a lot of people we had invited weren't able to make it, it was lovely just having all our nearest and dearest. This wall of photos I set up was a huge hit. So cheap, but really effective... everyone loved seeing the pics of him through the years, there were so many adorable shots to look at.

Joseph says his favourite part of the day was the "pizza cake" I made. I wanted to make it extra fun for him, so had a last minute of adding gummy pizza slices to the top of each rosette. He loved it and I was so glad I had done it. 

I mean, look at that face!

I also love this pic of Alex eagerly looking on, waiting to get into it.

Which they all did, the minute it was cut. Joseph loved the inside too, it was so fun!

Joseph told me he had the "best" day and was all smiles. I'm so glad it was a good day for him and something he will always remember.

I was also super stoked to get this sneaky shot sent to me from my neighbour who came to Joseph's baptism. She said to me, I don't know if you're allowed to take photos in your church but I took this anyway because I thought it was so special that you'd want to remember it. You're not allowed, but that kind out went out the window with covid now that we are constantly having to facetime people in for events like this. I absolutely love this shot and will cherish it. ❤

A baptism photo shoot for Joseph

For "the boy who never smiles," we had no problems today. I wanted to get some lovely shots of Joseph for his baptism invitations and set aside some time to make it happen. We got his hair cut nice and neatly to make sure Grandma would have been happy, that was so, so important to her. After I finished work on Wednesday, I took him home for a shower and neatened his hair up, put on some nice church clothes and dropped Madeline at dancing (Alex was at Nannaleahs) so we could go to the temple and get some shots on the grounds.

I was so proud of him. I told him, the sooner you smile and pose nicely, the sooner we can go home. It'll take fifteen minutes if you work with me.

And that is all it took! Done and dusted and on our way home in 15 minutes flat.

I honestly believe it was because none of the other kids were there with us... it was him and I, with all my attention focused on him, just the way he likes it. He is honestly best with one on one situations, so I thought it out ahead and made it happen.

I can't wait to see the invites made up and ready, the shots are great! ❤

 

siope's baptism

i love seeing our primary kids being baptised! even more so when i've been asked to take some snaps of the day. our friends son siope was baptised on the weekend and it was such a special day for him.

i mean seriously, look at their faces. he and his dad are so stoked.

and the proudest mum in the world.

it was such a lovely service and i loved being able to be a part of it.

yay for siope!

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i was also asked to help to put together a talk for siope's nanna to give at the service. she was a little nervous about what to say - so i helped out. i'm leaving it here in case i ever need one at the last minute.

Faith & Repentance

In the scriptures we learn about Faith. Many miracles happened through faith and the actions of those that believed in Jesus.

The Fourth Article of Faith tells us about it. It begins by saying: We believe the first principles and ordinances of the Gospels are first, FAITH in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is something we know is true even though we can’t see it.

Now Siope does Nanny love you?

How do you know Nanny loves you?

Can you see love? Can you touch it? No, you can’t you just know it’s there by the actions of people who do love you and you have Faith that Nanny and Mummy and Daddy and Setita will always love you.

What about something else like the wind, can you see the wind, can you hold the wind. No, we can just see if as it blows thing like leaves along or makes the branches of the trees move. Something else like electricity is also something we can’t see but we believe or have faith that when we turn on a light it will work because there is electricity running through the wires to your house.

Faith is like these things you can’t feel it or hold it. It’s Just like love that you can only tell it’s there when you get hugs or someone does something nice for you. Or like the wind you feel on your face or the electricity that will turn on a light to brighten a dark room or recharge the iPad.

Faith is something that starts off small and grows as we study and learn more. It’s like your muscles that are only small now but as you get bigger and do exercises and move and stretch them over and over like daddy does when he goes to the gym your muscles will grow so you are stronger and can carry more weight and lift heavier things. Faith is the same. When we know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are there and we believe in them, our faith will grow and become stronger. We will have faith that they are always watching over us and will always answer our prayers and help us.

In the Fourth Article of Faith after number 1 FAITH, the second thing we believe in is REPENTANCE.

In the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 9:23 it says

“And he commandeth all men that they must repent and be baptised in his name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God.

In the Book of Mormon, we learn about King Noah and his priests who did not keep the commandments. The Lord sent Abinadi to warn them that they needed to repent. Abinadi taught them about Jesus Christ but King Noah was not happy and told the priest to take Abinadi and put him to death. One of King Noahs priests named Alma, believed in everything that Abinadi taught.

In Mosiah 18:1 We read that Alma “repented of his sins and iniquities (bad habits), and went about privately among the people, and began to teach the words of Abinadi”

We also have the opportunity or chance to repent when we do something wrong, and to try again and again, as many times as it takes us to get it right! Heavenly Father doesn’t keep count as long as we keep trying to improve. The most important thing about repentance is to admit we did something wrong and then do our best to make it better.

It’s easy for us to remember with the ABC’s of repentance

A – Admit that we were wrong – for some people this is the hardest bit.

B – Be sorry

C – CORRECT the wrong – that means if you can fix something you broke then you do, or if you have taken something that isn’t yours that you give it back. You just have to do whatever it takes to make things better.

Then last but not least is,

D – DON’T do it again, because if you do then that means you weren’t sorry and you haven’t repented.

So, if we are willing to have Faith and repent when we do wrong, we (or you) are ready to be baptised!

 

 

ngawai's baptism day

one of our absolute faves had her baptism today! miss ngawai rose. it was made even more specil by the fact that she was baptised on her actual birthday day!

let it be known here - we love their family so, so much - so much so that i've even worked a way to keep them around forever, by marrying ana off to joseph (they were mates before they were even born, mel and i were pregnant together) or manaia off to alex - or both, whatever works ahahhaaha.

it was such a lovely day. the weather was perfect, everyone was happy and laughing and the baptism and service was beautiful. ngawai had asked madeline and i to sing during the service and we sang a gorgeous song called a child's prayer that i have always loved.

Heavenly Father, are you really there?

And do you hear and answer every child's prayer?

Some say that Heaven is far away

But I feel it close around me as I pray

Heavenly Father, I remember now

Something that Jesus told disciples long ago

"Suffer the children to come to me"

Father, in prayer I'm coming now to thee

Pray, he is there

Speak, he is listening

You are his child

His love now surrounds you

He hears your prayer

He loves the children

Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of Heaven

look at these gorgeous sisters! baby sister was sleeping at the time though.

and with their proud as punch dad. ana was so funny, kept popping up in the photos. 

and my beautiful friend mel with them.

aren't they just the cutest family!

congrats to our lovely ngawai, what a special experience for you, we were so thrilled to be a part of it. 

learn to love - yw baptism

one of our beautiful young women was baptised this morning and it was such a special experience. we have watched her grow over the past few months, coming from a member family who have been less active for many years, she had never been baptised, but has decided to do so.

she is such a sweet, fun girl and our presidency were so pleased to see her make the choice. we even decided to sing together at her baptism and were blessed with the most wonderful spirit in the room as we did so.

come follow me, the saviour said

then let us in his footsteps tread

for thus alone, can we be one

with god's own loved begotten son

come follow me, a simple phrase

yet truths sublime effulgent rays

are in these simple words combined

to urge, inspire, the human mind

is it enough, alone to know

that we must follow him below

while travelling through this vale of tears

no this extends to holier spheres

for thrones, dominions, kingdoms, powers

and glory great and bliss are ours,

if we throughout eternity

obey his words "come follow me"

i was really impressed with the final speaker at the baptism, one of our bishopric counselors who spoke about the importance of "learning to love", which really made me think. it is so true, we do need to learn to love. to love people who love us, to love people who don't, people who have hurt us and people who we may have hurt unintentionally. it was so thought provoking!

so - think who needs you, and learn to love ❤

madeline's baptism

on saturday our little madeline was baptised as a member of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. in our church children are baptised when they reach the age of eight, which we recognise as the age of accountability, also giving the children the opportunity to chose for themselves whether or not they want to become a member. maddie decided she was ready, so her baptism was organised for the saturday immediately following her birthday.

she wore the same dress i did for my baptism, with a slight modification... it had to be run in! i was such a skinny child and it looks like she is even more so!

our friends at winter woodworking made her a beautiful coat hanger to put the dress on beforehand, with her name and the date on it. so cute!

madeline was baptised and confirmed a member of the church by her proud daddy, who although is a total toughie in real life, has the softest spot for his little girl, even though they argue all day everyday haha.

i just cannot believe she is 8! it feels like it wasn't that long ago they put that teeeny baby in my arms. she was so small, so perfect and all ours. and now? god gave her red hair because he knew she needed a warning label! 

jen was on hand as always to make this gorgeous decked out number 8 cake. it looked and tasted delicious!

i am kind of ticked because i raced into the hall once everything was over to quickly pop the last of the food out and was instantly mobbed by hungry children, so i didn't get to take a photo of it all set up... believe me though, i loved it and it was exactly what i wanted! the only pic i have is this one mum snapped on her phone. i wanted something easy that everyone could enjoy so i put together a dessert bar, with pink lemonade and hot chocolate with marshmallows - one each end, with cakes - brownies, carrot cake, banana cake, birthday cake... and then some cupcakes and donuts (which just appeared on the day thanks to some lovely friends, i was thrilled!) and icecream, complete with cones, sprinkles and 100s and 1000s. 

it was the most perfect day, surrounded by everyone we love. maddie even invited two of her friends from school, who both came and their parents loved it! and let's be honest, what better introduction to the church is there than an occasion like this?

i am so lucky to have such a beautiful little family and amazing friends around me. madeline we are so proud of you and the wonderful choices you've made to be here! ❤