Baptism at Sea

Last week, Shane sent us a very unusual story of a baptism at sea, and this week, we got the pictures to go with it. Reading it almost makes me shiver sympathetically. Brrrrrr.


When we drove to the ocean baptism site, the sun was hidden behind clouds, the wind was blowing, and a storm was coming in. It was freezing, and the ocean was gray and turbulent. We forgot to bring baptismal clothes for Jodi, so Elder Doxey lent her his white pants and shirt, and 2 or 3 T shirts. We went to the beach, had an incredibly brief talk and prayer, and walked into the ocean. It took Jodi 5 or so minutes to come in. By the time she was in, I was numb. We had to enter the ocean too, Elder Doxey and I, the witnesses, to be close enough to hear the words Elder Rudaz said, and to see if she was totally immersed. Jodi started freaking out, and was about to cry because she can't swim, and she was afraid of drowning, and it was freezing. So, he quickly baptized her, and they ran out. However, he tried to do it in a wave, and waves move, so she was not immersed. We caught up with them and told them that it would have to be done again. She agreed to go back into the ocean and to be baptized again,, and we would go out farther in the ocean. So we went out, he baptized her again, and it wasn't complete immersion again. Oh, and it took us about 10 minutes to calm her fears of drowning. She got baptized a few more times, all without complete immersion. Then, finally, Elder Rudaz couldn't say the baptismal prayer in English anymore, so he started yelling the words in Spanish super fast, and baptized her. He finally got her immersed all the way, but, he had put his left arm to the square, so we had to do it again. He tried 2 more times, and at last, it worked. She was baptized about 7 times in the freezing, gray, turbulent ocean! Such a baptism I've never seen, and I hope I never see again. It was awesome, but crazy, and Elder Doxey witnessed in the ocean in his regular missionary suit.
Shane wrote that a baptismal font was about 15 minutes away, but Jodi specifically wanted to be baptized in the ocean.


This request of hers gives me a tiny insight into why all our requests made of our Heavenly Father are not answered as we'd like. Father knows best. And now, Shane knows something of stormy ocean baptisms, too. They did have permission though, so no rule-breaking was involved.

Man VS. Tree

If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
- Jack Handey

Update on the Quorum of the Seven Brothers

That's the name Jordan, the fifth brother, gave to the band of seven brothers he's part of. Since we just sort of reconnected with some long lost cousins from Atlanta, GA, and I invited them to drop by my blog, I figure this is a good time to update the doings of this notorious, glorious group, aka our sons.
1. Ethan lives in Washington, is married to Missy, and has three children, Brooklyn, Lilly, and Zaid. He's a very busy physician's assistant, and loves to talk national and international politics.

2. Kimball lives in Arizona and is married to Jessica. They also has three children,, Jaxon, Kade, and Sophia. Kimball is an entrepreneur, creating gorgeous hardscapes for those with a lot of disposable income. He likes to play basketball, and follow football.

3. Greg lives in Colorado. He has thre children too, Tori, Juli, and Christian. He's a great provider, (works for Purina), and has come in for some hard knocks over the past few years, but we think things are looking up. He is crazy about soccer, whether watching or playing it.

4. Neil lives in Colorado too, is married to Penny, and also works at Purina. They've been such a godsend for Greg and the children. He's into computer games and four-wheeling, both of which are out of my familiarity zone, but seem to keep him happily occupied.

5. Jordan awaits us in heaven, but is sorely missed in the meantime. I guess that's something we'll never get used to. He was so happy here, and I hope he's as happy or even happier there. We attended Brianna's marraige on his birthday this week, and then left flowers for him at the cemetery.

6. Colin is here with us in Boise. He's working at a company called Anything Wireless, playing in a band, busy with his ward activities, and a joy to have around. We're hoping he decides to get back into the college scene soon, while he's still so energetic, and unattached. He bought a motorcycle today, and will host a party around the fire pit tonight.

7. Shane is serving a Spanish-speaking mission among the people of New York, inviting anyone who's ready to come unto Christ, and apparently eating lots of potatoes, and enduring record snowstorms and windstorms. Nov. 2011 feels like a long time to wait before we hug him again, but weekly emails and two phone calls a year (at Mother's Day and Christmas) will have to suffice.

Dan and I, the lucky parents of these seven, pray for them constantly, and love them mightily.

March Magic

For the second year in a row, March has brought us a lucky visit from Ethan, Brooklyn, and Lilly. Pure fun, and high energy, too! When the girls bounced out of bed Saturday morning, Brianna was ready with an invitation to walk to the farmers market with her. The night before, they were so excited by the wonders of the new fairy room that they'd barely eaten anything other than a few marshmallows. We'd broken out the fire pit for the first wiener and s'more roast of the season, and I'd made potato salad and cole slaw, but although they stopped long enough to roast a hot dog each, they never got around to actually eating them. They were too busy to pay much attention at all to food.. So I asked Brianna to see if she could tempt them with some juicy strawberries or something that contained more nutritive value than marshmallows while they were there. They came home laden with strawberries, bananas, watermelon, apples, pears, asparagus, a few honey sticks, and a bag of Strawberries and Cream popcorn. Brianna washed the strawberries, while Brooklyn carried out three cups of water and a blanket, which Lilly and Brianna spread on the trampoline, whereupon they had a breakfast-picnic of berries and popcorn in the sunny backyard. Staying close to home, making sand castles in the little park type space by our house, laughing at Ethan's and Colin's kite-flying antics, and watching movies, Saturday was kind of a time for winding down after the exciting but exhausting Disneyland vacation their family had just returned from.

The other March magic? We finally met Brianna's fiance` yesterday. He spent several hours with us, just visiting, helping Brianna move her belongings, teaming up with Ethan to solve the nation's healthcare crisis, picking up a cute little dining set they bought from Craig's List, and so forth. That's how we came to find out that we really like him, which is very good, because it would be even harder to see our beautiful, kind Brianna go if we didn't. Not until this past Thursday had she given me the go-ahead to call all the brothers to let them know she was getting married on March 16th, Jordan's birthday. Not having known she was even dating, they were pretty surprised. One of them, the most tender-hearted of the bunch, got pretty choked up, wishing her happiness, understanding that her upcoming marriage was right and good, but feeling sad that Jordan had to miss out on the bright future they'd planned together. It was tough last night when I briefly became overwhelmed with the feeling that Jordan really got a bum deal. We're certain that Jordan would want Brianna to take this step in her life, too, but it is bittersweet nevertheless. One of her worries was that people would think she no longer loves Jordan. I assured her that that was not the case, that everyone would be happy for her and Jason. And so we are. We pray for them to have a long and wonderful marriage. And we pray that our Jordan will have compensatory blessings of joy far beyond our mortal comprehension, from our wise and loving Father in heaven.

Just Plain Old Happy

No, that's a clumsy way to describe feeling happy. I've got to do better than that. It's just that for some unknown reason, whenever March comes along, my spirits lift. Higher and higher, they soar kind of like the kites that grace March's breezy blue skies. Getting Shane's missionary letter and a couple of pictures of him to boot, only made the first day of March all the happier.

I wrote to him that I was studying Jacob chapter 5 today, and that it wasn't one of my favorite chapters to study. Learn something new every day! I studied it, and found it fascinating! Everybody, seriously, go to gospeldoctrine.com and check out the commentary on that awesome chapter. Pick a time when things are quiet though. It's 77 meaty verses long.

Shane has recently written about two people whose circumstances are anything but happy.. Last week, he wrote about an investigator named Ashlee, and this week he wrote about Pedro. Ashlee's mom used Ashlee's identity to borrow a large sum of money which she is not paying back. AShlee can't get money for schooling because her credit is messed up with this debt in her name. Pedro has no job, no money, speaks no English, has no place to live. Some people are letting him stay with them, but they force him to drink with them in the evenings against his will. When Shane and his companion, Elder Rudaz, went to visit him, they said they hadn't seen him for a few days and had no idea where he could be. Wow. And it's been snowing like crazy there on Long Island. At least we know about these people and can pray for them now. So here I am with a request. Please pray for Ashlee and Pedro, the people of Chile, Haiti, and everyone who is in need. It also feels as if we should be profusely thanking our Father in heaven for our blessings. The gospel, safe and comfortable homes, people we love and who love us in return, - we are blessed beyond measure. And I believe even more blessings are on the way.