On December 14th, our church announced an age change for the ordination to the priesthood. Haken will be turning 12 years old this June and would be able to be ordained to the priesthood. However, under these new changes, 11 yr olds can be ordained in January of the year they turn 12 yrs old. This means that Haken could be ordained a full 6 months sooner than we anticipated. This was a huge surprise for us and I was pretty emotional about it when I read the announcement.
When I heard the news I had a confirmation that this change was from God. The youth of our day are so ready for this change. They are more prepared than ever before. Haken has been doing family history and indexing for the last year and been on fire. He absolutely loves it and has really gained a testimony of the restored gospel by doing that work. He could not wait to be ordained so he could go to the temple to perform baptisms for those names that he had found. When he came home from school that day we sat together as a family and read the letter from the first presidency to them. Haken sat there for a minute and then said "wait...that means...I can go to the temple?!"
On Sunday, January 6th he was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood in our home by Shad. A member of the bishopric and the Noonans came to our house for the ordination because I was still staying home from church with the twins. We had grandma and grandma Anderson and Grandma Lori on facetime to see it.
I am so proud of him being worthy to be ordained to the priesthood. He is a special kid and such a great example to his siblings. He was so excited to pass the sacrament and attend the temple. He didn't have to wait long. That Friday, January 11th, he went to the Indianapolis temple for the first time. He had his clothes all laid out in his room ready to go the night before. It made me laugh when I peaked in there.
He was able to take the names of the ancestors he had found and performed baptisms in their behalf. I wasn't able to go, but Shad loaded up the new 15 passenger van and headed to Indianapolis right before the storm came in the next day. Haken's friend Laney was also able to go for her first time with him. Monica, James, Eliza, Dayna Perkins, and her three kids, Bryton, Meadow, and Micah also came. It was the first time we had taken the van out and everyone had a great time together. I was sad that I wasn't able to be there, but I'm sure there will be lots more opportunities to go with him. In fact, we went the next Friday to Nauvoo when we had all of the grandparents in town for Jack's baptism and the twins blessing.
My mom had flown in on the 7th of January and Steve and Kristin had flown in on the 17th.
Steve and Kristin had never been to Nauvoo before so we decided to go the next day. We loaded up the 15 passenger van with all of our kids, the 3 grandparents, Monica, Eliza, and Laney. It was our first time having our whole family together in the big van. The twins traveled really well. Grandma sat between them and popped in the binkis when needed.
We stopped at Carthage jail on the way to Nauvoo. I fed the babies in the visitors center while everyone else took a tour.
We grabbed some lunch and then headed into Nauvoo. When we got there Shad dropped us off at the visitors center, except for Steve and Kristin. He took them to explore Nauvoo a little bit. It was freezing! There was a huge storm coming in the next day. I sat in the theater and fed the babies while Monica and my mom took the kids on a sleigh ride and wagon oxen ride. They had a great time even though it was cold.
Then we headed to the temple. My mom watched the kids in the welcome center while the Haken, Laney, and Eliza did baptisms and the rest of us went and did an endowment session. I was so grateful that my mom could come with us so I could go to the temple. With us being so far away from any temples and the babies being so small I didn't think I would be able to go anytime soon. It was a huge blessing.
We headed home, grabbed some pizza on the way, and beat the storm home. The next day was supposed to be Jack's baptism at 10am. We decided to postpone it until Sunday night hoping the weather would be better. Unfortunately, the storm was pretty bad so they canceled church on Sunday. We were supposed to bless the twins in sacrament meeting that day. After talking to the bishop we got permission to have Jack's baptism that day at 1:00 at the church anyway and bless the babies then as well. We figured it would be safer to have it earlier in the day than in the evening when it would ice over again.
It was such a memorable day! We had so many of our ward family show up to support us. We even had a few nonmember friends come. Our neighbors, the Cunninghams, and our friends the Leser's were there. Jack also invited his teacher from school, Mrs. Benedict, and she was going to come when it was on Saturday, but couldn't on Sunday. He handed out invitations that Shad had made and some actually came.
After Jack was baptized Shad blessed each of the twins. He said it was difficult giving 3 different blessings right in a row but he did a great job and I felt like he gave them each a blessing that the Lord wanted them to have.
Some notable things that the twins were blessed with was for Tennyson to have a "stead and calm presence in our home and help others to see clearly through the chaos in their life" and Chapman to "direct the energy that you have towards the work of the Father to bring souls to Christ and to be a source of happiness in other's lives."
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| Tennyson on the left and Chapman on the right |
I am so grateful for a worthy priesthood holder in our home. I am so blessed to have a husband who honors his priesthood and cannot only bless our children but also perform the saving ordinances that they need for salvation.
January was a month of ordinances that I will never forget. Four in one month must be a record!
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