Her big baptism day...

 Pictures of her special day...

Hugs and words of encouragement from Daddy

 Getting ready to start... finally!

Even her teachers came to support her!

All of the Goody cousins

these two...

I had been anticipating Courtney's baptism day for some time now. Dustin and I had talked about whether or not she was ready to be baptized or if she understood at least a little about what it was. We had even talked about it with our Bishop and he told us to fast and pray and that he supported whatever decision we made. Earlier this year in the spring, I was home with Courtney and she very matter of fact, said to me, "When I'm 8, I'm going to be baptized." After that, the decision was an easy one to make. She definitely had the desire in her heart to be like Jesus and be baptized. I have also had worries in my heart that going under the water would scare her or make her nervous and that she wouldn't go into the font with Dustin or a million different worries I came up with. And on the morning of the baptism, we had several different hiccups.
First, we got there early to leave some time for them to change etc... well, no one had been there filling the font or setting up chairs or anything! So Dustin made some last minute calls and someone came to unlock the font and start it filling up, a process which takes from 1-2 hours and the baptism was supposed to start in 15 minutes! Needless to say, we started about 35 minutes behind schedule, but it turned out great in the end.
Courtney was very nervous and scared from the time she first put on the white jump suit. She started crying and I was having a hard time getting her to calm down. I gave her hugs and lots of reassuring words but she was just out of her element and wasn't quite sure of what to think of it all. We were outside talking to her and our Bishop pulled up just then and kneeled down in front of her and spoke with her for a minute and I think it started to put her mind at ease. We came back inside and she was still crying a little bit and so Dustin took her back outside to talk with her and I stayed inside and was talking to the parents of the other little girl getting baptized in our ward. Her mother suggested that their daughter go first to show Courtney that it would all be ok. What a great idea, why didn't I think of that myself! Outside Dustin & Courtney had said a little prayer together and the same idea popped into their heads too. Courtney asked if May could go first!
What a blessing that extra time was for us to get things the way they needed to be for her to feel ok. Courtney & I watched May be baptized from the back corner of the entrance to the font and when she was all done, Courtney walked down into the font with Dustin with no fear, just faith! It was one of the neatest most spiritual experiences I've had with Courtney to date (and there have been a LOT!). It was a great day that we were able to share with many different family and friends and I'm forever grateful for the experience!