Ellie's Baptism

March 31st was Easter Sunday...but it was also Ellie's day.

A day we will all remember for the rest of our lives.

It was the day she publicly declared that Jesus Christ was the 

Lord and Savior of her life...and that she wanted to follow Him all the 

days of her life.  It was the day her Daddy baptized (or "bath-tized according to SG)

her in front of friends and family and she will never be the same.

It was a big day for our church because besides baptizing 9 people we also dedicated

9 babies and kids...we had our largest crowd to date and overall had

such a powerful service celebrating that He Is Risen!

After Travis preached the service moved outside for the baptisms...

our dear friend Jenny was the first to be baptized.

A great one to prepare the way for Ellie...she is a freshman at ASU 

that I have been discipling this year and she is a dear friend 

to our girls!

Then Ellie was up...

as she and Travis practiced she, with Travis' guiding questions

shared her testimony of how she had asked Jesus into her heart.

Here's the general story in her words:

Ellie: "We were driving down the road on the way to gymnastics one day and we 

were talking about gymnastics.  Then I stopped talking about gymnastics and started talking

to God.  I asked Him to come into my heart and wash away my sins."

Travis: "Then when did you tell Mommy about this?"

Ellie:  "After gymnastics we were getting ready for lifegroup and I went up to Mommy

and said, I'm not going to think about myself anymore.  And Mommy said, That's great, why?
Because on the way to gymnastics I asked Jesus to come into my heart."

We SO love her testimony because while we'd been saying for a while we 

felt like she was ready to ask Him into her heart, we knew it hadn't happened yet...

and then when it did, it was clearly the Holy Spirit initiating with her and her responding to Him.

It was also clear that she understood that with Jesus in her heart, she would be changed.

She would be able to "not think about herself anymore."

So powerful and so real.

So it wasn't long after that that we started talking about baptism.

Our dear friend Danielle took these amazing pics...

she literally caught every little moment!

This pic is priceless to me because I have a similar memory

and pic of my mom wrapping me up and hugging me right after I was 

baptized when I was 8 in Lake Waco!

Then we all got to pray over her...with all our church family!

Unforgettable...a life dedicated to the Lord...may she 

walk with Jesus wholeheartedly all her days.

A sweet Easter Sunday for our family!

After the service we had a little party to celebrate (of course...

we love to celebrate in the Phillips' family!)...with Ellie's favorite:

homemade mac and cheese!

and Emily made a cake (again, of course...wouldn't be a party without 

a cake from our Emily!)

It was so special that Mimi and Poppy got to be a part of this day!

 Full of life, full of personality, full of Jesus.

Love this little Ellie Joy...fits her name so perfectly...

LIGHT and JOY.

(and so much fun--with Mimi's scarf on her head to end the evening!)