Cousin Kate's baptism

Ethan and Kate are only 6 weeks apart.  I need to find a picture of the two of them as babies together... they were so cute and so opposite.  Kate was dark with tons and tons of dark hair.  And Ethan was light with very little blond hair.  They were adorable... and still are:)

I can't believe it's been 8 years already.  Kate was baptized yesterday and I wanted to write a tender mercy so that I won't forget.  The baptism was at 9:30am so we were frantically trying to get everyone up and ready to leave by 9:15.  About 9:05, I asked Tom to start loading kids in the car.  I was still in the bathroom getting ready.  But for some reason, I passed right by my phone on the nightstand by my bed just as it had finished ringing (it was still on silent from the night before).  I took it into the bathroom with me and saw my mom had called.  When I called her back, she said her husband, Miner, had taken the car to help out at the church and hadn't come back yet.  So I said we could give her a ride.  I sent Tom and the boys off to pick her up while I took the baby with me to the Stake Center.  After the baptism, my brother gave Kate a really nice blessing with her confirmation.  And during that blessing, it hit me that the morning was a tender mercy.  It wasn't just coincidence that I passed by my phone at that exact moment, or else I would have left and never noticed someone had called. And that Tom was already loading the kids into the car and ready to go.  And that Kate was apprehensive about having Miner there.  But it was important that my mom was there.  It just all fell into place.  And it just reminded me how Heavenly Father knows each of us individually.

We all wrote Kate a little note to keep.  Ethan's was very thoughtful (I need to get the exact wording).  "I hope you felt peace when you got the Holy Ghost.  I hope you felt special inside.  I hope you can keep the commandments cause that is Jesus' way.  I hope you can be kind to everyone.  Love Ethan and Eli."  It was very sweet.

Speaking of my sweet boy, Ethan is always so excited to be the first one up to share his testimony on fast and testimony meeting.  And he really shares a good testimony and has thought about it.  It isn't just the usual stuff kids say.  He is very brave and a good example to me.  And when he was little, I thought there wasn't a spiritual bone in his body... he seems to be turning out okay.  So far.