The long awaited baptism has finally come to pass. Jess turned 8 a couple of weeks before we left Sicily, but opted to wait till we got to Dubai. That was nice of her considering we were already shipping school stuff and Christmas boxes to ourselves and squeezing in a baptism would have been tough. We were quickly welcomed into the large Branch here, but had several things to iron out. Records had to be moved, white clothes bought, house permission obtained. The branch shares a beautiful large villa with the Dubai ward. It has been modified inside to allow for a large sacrament meeting room complete with podium, stand, and sacrament table. But there is no font in the building(house). Almost all baptisms take place in a pool in a member's backyard. The Muse family kindly agreed to host Jessica's baptism and she couldn't have asked for a more beautiful location. If we are over there again, I'll have to take a picture. They have an amazing pool and yard. The only bummer was the weather. A cold front had blown in and the pool heater had gone out so the water was chilly and there was a cold wind blowing too. For those people who have snowy winters, I know we won't get any sympathy, but for us thin blooded wimps, we felt the desire for hot chocolate.
I'm going to mention the clothes issue just because it was a unique thing for us. They don't have the standard stash of various sized jumpsuits. I had to find a white dress for Jess (the one I made over the summer has little daisies with yellow centers around the neckline and I wasn't about to unpick all those petals! It took two malls and lots of popping into children's clothing stores, but we had success. Sister Clason kindly picked up a pair of white pants at the distribution center for Matt when they went on their temple trip to the Ukraine. Hooray, they fit perfect. His own are in his temple bag back in storage. Now he's got a backup pair.
It was a lovely service. Isaac gave the baptism talk and Sister Van Moorsel. Jessica's primary teacher, gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. I led the songs and Makenna gave the closing prayer. The whole family was involved. Over 30 people besides ourselves came which was just very touching. It was a school/work night, but the branch is very supportive. We feel very blessed to be here.
Jess was all smiles and very attentive. She sat on Matt's lap most of the time. At first, I think it was for comfort and nerves. Then for the second half, more for warmth. We are all very proud of our little girl for making this big step. She loves her new scripture bag from grandma Terry (If only those scriptures would come!!) and is working on memorizing the Articles of Faith. She loves going to Activity Days. She bore her testimony for the first time after she turned 8. We are awful proud of her, but a little sad that she is growing up so fast.
I'm going to mention the clothes issue just because it was a unique thing for us. They don't have the standard stash of various sized jumpsuits. I had to find a white dress for Jess (the one I made over the summer has little daisies with yellow centers around the neckline and I wasn't about to unpick all those petals! It took two malls and lots of popping into children's clothing stores, but we had success. Sister Clason kindly picked up a pair of white pants at the distribution center for Matt when they went on their temple trip to the Ukraine. Hooray, they fit perfect. His own are in his temple bag back in storage. Now he's got a backup pair.
It was a lovely service. Isaac gave the baptism talk and Sister Van Moorsel. Jessica's primary teacher, gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. I led the songs and Makenna gave the closing prayer. The whole family was involved. Over 30 people besides ourselves came which was just very touching. It was a school/work night, but the branch is very supportive. We feel very blessed to be here.
Jess was all smiles and very attentive. She sat on Matt's lap most of the time. At first, I think it was for comfort and nerves. Then for the second half, more for warmth. We are all very proud of our little girl for making this big step. She loves her new scripture bag from grandma Terry (If only those scriptures would come!!) and is working on memorizing the Articles of Faith. She loves going to Activity Days. She bore her testimony for the first time after she turned 8. We are awful proud of her, but a little sad that she is growing up so fast.
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