Bekah's Baptism: The Cloud of Witnesses

I wanted to show you some of the pictures of the people who came to share in the evening with me. I didn't put up all the pictures...some people are blog anonymous. But I thought you might enjoy the sampling.

Mike and Lara were the first to arrive. They were the ones who gave me those beautiful replacement stones I told you about yesterday. Lara is my mentor, and Mike helped video the baptism. They are one of the most beautiful examples of a couple in love I've EVER seen. Love them.
You know Greg and Angi. :) They've been in my life for a long time and have taken good care of me. Angi made cupcakes for my after-party. (Yes, there was a party.) They were SO GOOD. She had something like 280 cupcakes to make last week, and yet she took time to come to the baptism. Meant the world to me!

Julie Crandall and her kiddos drove an hour or so just to be with me. Julie, as you might remember, has been a friend of mine for several years now (back to the college days) and she was also a faithful encouragement to me in the desert. I was excited that after all that, she got to be here to see something good in my life! (And her son wasn't drugged. I wanted to make a note of that to explain his expression. HA!)

Ronda!!! Even though she had company, she took time to come on over and be part of the night. Thanks for coming, Ronda! Love you! (Please make a note that I was trying to relive my Florida vacation - also with Ronda - by sporting the beach coverup!)

My parents were in attendance. I've been keeping them pretty busy lately with all the end of work parties...baptism parties...I'm trying not to let them rest. :)

After spending a whole work week with me, the lovely Jamie Bennett also came down and not only attended, but HELPED. She helped get the food together before the party, she helped video the baptism, she took pictures for me. Love her!!

My adopted family....Sandee and Kari. Sandee is like my second mom, and Kari is like another sister. So glad they could come - and so glad they wanted to come!

Rachel, one of my former co-workers, brought her baby and came out to be part of the night. Rachel and I used have some good hear-to-hearts at work. I miss her!

And of course, Rachel Ashley. She took all the pictures of the baptism itself - and you'll get to see those tomorrow. THANK YOU RACHEL for all your hard work after a very busy week of hard work!

And now for some candid shots....

Talking with Brian Holland, who baptized me, about the presence of fish in the pond. It was a source of concern for this chicken. Just hanging out before everything began. This would be about the time I started to get unbelievably nervous and emotional.

I played a song by my friend Brent Vernon...a great song called Fully Yours. I wasn't sure how easy it would be for everyone to hear the words (turned out great) so I put the words in the little booklets I gave out - and they followed along during the song.
Mike and Jamie recording....
Lara and me after the baptism.

One of my favorite pictures - a very special moment with my dad.

And a moment with Sandee. I realize this is not all that flattering of me, but it's how I looked for most of the night. :)

Come back tomorrow to see the baptism itself. :)