Jackson is Baptized

On February 4, 2012, Jackson was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It was a very special day for him.  His Katschke grandparents drove up to be there for him, and he had many friends come.

This day was a huge milestone for many reasons.  In our religion, we believe that age 8 is the age of accountability; meaning the age when a child can be held responsible of his actions and understand what the difference between right and wrong.  Before age 8, we believe that a child does NOT need to be baptized in order to be saved in God's Kingdom.  Turning eight and being baptized is sort of a rite of passage, and children who have grown up in the church look forward to this day from the time they are very young.

Jackson has always wanted to be baptized, but a year ago, he almost changed his mind.  When he turned seven, in true Jackson form, he began counting down the days until he was eight and could be baptized. . . until we told him that he had to go all the way under the water.  Jackson was terrified of going under water.  When he'd go swimming, he might dip his face in the water.  If he was dunked, he'd panic and scream.  He refused to go in the water without a life jacket.  He hated showers and washing his hair in the bath.  (Don't worry, I made him clean his hair anyway.)

As a mother, I really worried about this.  I didn't want to traumatize my child by making him be "dunked" if he wasn't ready.  I called my mom.  She gave me some great advice -- apparently, my younger brother was terrified to be baptized as well.  We decided that we needed to really explain to Jackson what it meant to be baptized, what would happen, and how he could prepare.

We took him to a friend's baptism.  We pointed out the ceremony, and when it came time to draw a picture or write a note to the person who was baptized, Jackson drew a gem of a picture.  (I can't find it right now, otherwise I'd take a picture and post it.)  The picture had Matt standing in the font, and Jackson standing on the stairs into the baptism font.  Matt had a little speech bubble saying, "Jackson get in the water, NOW!"  Jackson had a thought bubble that said, "NOOOOOOO!"  However, he said he still really wanted to be baptized.

Over the summer, we encouraged him to practice putting his head under the water.  He was very hesitant, and it took massive amounts of encouragement to get him to try. . . until the family reunion when we went to Lake Lemon in Indiana.  He decided to swim under the water all by himself, and he was so proud.

From that moment on, he was a water bug.  He enjoyed holding his breath under water in the bath tub (enough that it freaked me out when he wouldn't move for 30 seconds).  The hardest part about getting ready to be baptized (for Jackson anyway) was overcome.  He only had to practice the procedure with Daddy in the living room.

Jackson's Baptism Day was especially neat for me to watch my child all dressed in white, who had struggled with a fear of water for year, calmly walk down into the font, hold his father's hands, and be baptized by the authority and power of the priesthood of God. 

 (before the ceremony)

He had picked all the songs, and not one was a baptismal song, which made me smile, and all were near and dear to me.  The opening song was, "My Heavenly Father Loves Me," which Jackson calls "Blue, blue sky." This was a song that my mom sang to me from the time I was a little girl, and so it always meant a great deal.  The special musical number was "Families Can Be Together Forever," sung by a sweet girl in our church who's family Jackson just adores; and the closing song was "I Feel My Savior's Love," which is Clarissa's song -- my Natalie and her sister played it at Sissy's graveside.

Matt and I each gave a talk on baptism (me) and on the Holy Ghost (Matt), and we each bore our testimonies, and my dad bore his as well.  Below are pictures of Jackson after the baptism and with his cousins and friends:

being a goof with friends:

 with his cousins being a goof:

My sister-in-law was there with Jackson's cousins, and they came back to our house afterwards for donuts and juice.

I'm so glad that Jackson made the choice to be baptized.