She puffs out her chest just thinking about it. She is so excited.
The other kids are excited. They can hardly wait.
Max is excited. He is baptizing her (which kinda makes my heart swell). She somehow got hitched on to that idea last year when someone told her Max would be old enough to baptize her when the time came.
Oh boy she loves that brother of hers.
Amidst all the excitement and preparation, I have had mixed emotions.
First of all, she is my baby. Getting baptized is a pretty big indication that she's growing up, gosh darn it! But second of all, this is Lucy. I have pondered over whether she is really ready. Does she really understand it all?
In our church we wait until children are eight so they can make their own decision to be baptized. By the time they're eight they have a pretty good gage of their free agency. They know what is right and what is wrong and they have a pretty good concept of God and Christ.
I so want my children to understand this step of faith they are taking. I want them to understand that it is a covenant they are making with their Heavenly Father to follow His Son. I want them to understand that each week when we take the sacrament at church they are renewing that covenant. I want them to understand that they are following Christ's example. (For more about baptism click here.)
We've had most of our other kids have some sort of missionary discussions in preparation for their baptisms (more on that back here).
But preparation for baptism is a little different in China. We don't have missionaries here. We don't have a church building. We don't even have a font. (We are using the home of a family who lives nearby who have graciously offered to let us use their big spa tub...the closest thing we can get to a font over here.)
In the midst of my apprehension, wondering whether this little girl of mine is ready or not, she has taken it up a notch in her prayers. She has cracked us up with how she follows along and sounds out the difficult words when she reads her allotted two verses each time it comes to her turn in family scriptures.
And then, a couple weeks ago we were sitting in church. During the sacrament Elle nudged me and pointed to Lucy. This is what I saw:
Maybe she was just thinking about how much she wanted to color right then (she doesn't get to color until after the sacrament). But I like to think she was connecting her little heart to God.
Yes, I believe that little spirit of hers is ready for Saturday.
Sure, there is always more to learn, no matter how old you are. But every now and again, because of some insightful observation she makes or sweet question she asks, I think Lucy is more ready than I give her credit for. Sometimes, when all is quiet and I can cup her cheeks in my hands and look right into those beautiful blue eyes of hers I feel the love God has for that girl He has entrusted to our family.
And I'm so grateful for all that her little soul full of faith teaches me every day.