Family Visit, Jared Turns Eight and is Baptized!, House Painting

Dear Family,

Last month was so great I don’t even know where to start. The obvious place is Jared’s baptism, which leaves me feeling overwhelmed, wondering how I could possibly describe the sheer awesomeness of it to you all.

So let’s back up. A week before Jared got baptized, Eleanor got baptized (Connie’s youngest). Tammy flew down from AK with Eli and Eve (her two youngest) just so she could be there for Jared’s and Eleanor’s baptisms. Eleanor’s birthday is a month before Jared’s and she wait an extra two months to be baptized just so Tammy could come to both. She asked Tammy and I to speak at her baptism and it was a wonderful day. It made Jared all the more excited for his baptism.

That same week we went to see Aralia in her school play and went to dinner with our mom and her boyfriend, Lee. Tammy’s kids are SO cute! Jared loved playing with them and though they liked us ok, they really loved our dog, Kwigi. Jeremy just got a job in Boise (he starts in 2 weeks) and this trip gave us a glimpse of what life will be like having Tammy so close. We’ll finally have what we always dreamed of: that we could all live close enough to one another to get together for 4 day weekends just like when Aunt Susan and Aunt Ruth would come to Chicago and we’d go to the museums and different things.

Jared got baptized on March 30 and if you live in UT and weren’t invited it’s just because we had so many people there we honestly couldn’t fit anyone else. In addition to Ryan’s and my immediate families, Jared’s birth family came as well as several of his and our close friends. Because it was a stake baptism they had to put us on the stage for the confirmation, there were so many people there. Jared’s birthfather even almost came. But Penny (his mother) flew in from MD to attend and even helped me prepare all the food for the luncheon.

I have to interject here that I don’t understand why anyone loves hosting receptions or luncheons. That sort of thing is so far outside my comfort zone and a foreign world to me! Penny loves it though and since she’s Methodist and the only nonmember at the baptism, roping her into helping me was also a good way to help her feel involved in the whole thing.

The morning of his baptism Jared was so lit up and just so excited. He was honestly more excited than a kid going to Disneyland and even told us that it felt like Christmas Eve to him. : ) We got to the church early and he and Ryan changed into their white suits. Then Jared started looking for everyone that he knew was coming. He greeted everyone personally when they arrived and even showed them to their seats. I don’t think he’ll have ever a problem hosting a luncheon. In fact, he was inviting just about everyone to the baptism. He was practicing piano one day with his teacher (she comes to our house) and I overheard him invite her to the baptism and the luncheon.

My friend Mindy is in the stake primary presidency and over the baptisms. She kept telling me that it was going to be such a great day and that I would love it. “It’s all about them and the spirit is so strong,” she said. She was right. During the program I sat with Jared and then Ryan on my right and Leslie was on my left. I thought a lot about how lucky we are to have Jared and how well everything has worked out for everyone and what a great little missionary and example he is to all of us.

Then we went to the font and I sat front and center and invited Penny to sit by me. Jared entered the water and a look of surprise and elation spread across his face. “It’s deep!” he exclaimed. : ) Then Ryan baptized him and I started crying watching my two guys there in the water, feeling so lucky to have such a wonderfully loving and righteous husband and son. It was so much cooler than Jared’s baby blessing and even cooler than being sealed in the temple together.

After the confirmation the 2nd counselor of our bishopric got up to say a few words and then said he didn’t normally do this, but he felt like I needed to come up and say something too. Dang it! I don’t bear my testimony very often. I don’t think I fully understand what it’s about. On the one hand it feels silly to stand in front of everyone and say I know God lives when it seems like everyone knows the same thing. On the other hand, it feels so personal and it’s hard to share such personal things in front of everyone. I don’t know if I said anything that would’ve been worthwhile to anyone who attended the baptism. I talked about how everyone there knew we had waited such a long time for Jared to come to our family and that I felt so grateful to the people who sacrificed so that we could have our son.

It did make an impression on Jared though. He has brought it up several times since the baptism, and always says, “you were so happy that you happy cried.” I know it was important to him. Before the baptism he and I were walking the in halls and he asked me if I was going to bear my testimony at church the next day. “Because mom,” he said, “this is a very big day. And it’s important for you to bear your testimony. Will you please bear your testimony tomorrow?” I promised him I would and I got Ryan to go up there with me. So he got to hear it twice which was like candy to him. That really surprised me.

After the baptism we went back to our ward building for the luncheon. We had some nice sandwiches with various fruits and things. I asked Jared what kind of food he wanted at the luncheon and all he said was, “make sure there are plenty of almond joys there.” : ) We bought a little over a thousand of the mini almond joys. Penny used a bunch to make a poster with his name written out of them and then we stuck the rest in bowls by the sign. He loved it and 2 weeks later we still have plenty left over.

I wondered if I’d be able to tell a difference in Jared after he got baptized. I do. There’s something just there that wasn’t before, an intangible but very perceptible change about him. He seems more grown up and wiser. It’s a spiritual difference, almost like he’s more solid than he was before. I don’t know how to describe it, but I like it. He’s still an 8 year old boy, but there’s something different there.

Jared also got to see his birthfather briefly last month. Penny stayed with Mike when she came out for the baptism (he lives in Bountiful) and we took her from the airport to his house. This was only the 3rd time in his life that Jared’s seen Mike. It was only s brief visit (maybe 5 minutes), and they were both shy. But Mike looked happy to see Jared and afterward Jared and I talked about why we don’t see Mike.

I told him that Mike had prayed with Leslie about which family Jared should go to and that he loved Jared very much before he was even born. But he was surprised after Jared was born. He loved him even more than he did before. So much so, that he told Leslie, “let’s keep him.” That part made Jared laugh. : ) Then I said to Jared, “you know how it’s very hard for you to say goodbye to someone you really love? Sometimes it’s so hard you can’t even say goodbye. Mike’s a lot like that too. After he gave you to us we sent him letters and pictures and he wrote us letters. And the letters and pictures made him happy and sad. It made him happy to see you happy, but sad because he couldn’t be with you. So he asked us to just write him once a year. That’s what we do. Every year on Father’s Day dad and I write Mike and send him pictures of you.”

I thought Jared would be sad that we only write Mike once a year, but his reaction was just the opposite. “You send him pictures EVERY year?!” I think he realized Mike has always been there, just in the background and I could see him thinking about all the pictures Mike has of him. Later I asked Penny how it was for Mike to see Jared. Mike said he was hoping he’d get to hear me talking to Jared in German and of course he did and he really liked that. Mike is very proud of his German heritage. His father’s German and comes from Füssen which is near Munich. He was also surprised by how much Jared looks like him and Jared seems to have been equally surprised. I didn’t see Jared’s face, but when Mike opened the door he said it was like they were both in shock, thinking “you look like me!”

In other news we’re repainting the house, and by we I mean we hired someone else to do it. Ryan’s doing the trim and doors, but we have a couple guys who came in to do the walls. We had some venetian plaster put on a few walls and will be putting a tile backsplash in the kitchen. It’s turning out really nice, but we feel a little bit like we’re living in an episode of Hoarders. Most of the furniture is pushed into the center of the room, we took all the books off the bookshelf then dismantled the bookshelf and shoved all of that into the tiny guest room in the basement. We had to take all the DVD’s out of the entertainment center so it wasn’t as heavy to move. We couldn’t find a place to put those, so we put them in suitcases that are also sitting in the middle of the room. Jared says we should leave the house this way forever. He likes being able to run around the perimeter in each room and that there are so many hiding places. He wants to invite his friends over for a giant game of hide and seek. We said no.

That’s about it for us, or the Cliff’s Notes version anyway. Can’t wait to hear from everyone else. I’ve really liked getting all the reunion emails from Katie. They make me feel connected to my extended family again and I’m really excited about a giant reunion in 2015. I especially like the part that we, the cousins, are in charge. This is our chance to give The Aunts a thank you for all the work they did over the years keeping our family close together.

Love,
Sherry, Ryan, and Jared