Birth and Building

So my baby is turning eight on Friday. For many this may not seem like such a big deal, but in the LDS faith, eight is the age of accountability; when a child is baptized and becomes responsible for their own sins. Prior to a child turning eight, it is the parents' responsibility to teach a child right from wrong and how to discern the good when making choices. So this is it, have I done everything I should have done to prepare my daughter for this step?

We have always made our children's baptisms a big deal with lots of family and food. The kids have always had a special outfit to wear after the baptism, they received a set of "adult" scriptures and they each wore the same outfit to be baptized. Like everything else this year, Emily's baptism will be different. She will still have the special outfit to wear after, but she already has her "adult" scriptures courtesy of the ward and the outfit that her brothers and sister wore to be baptized burned with the house, so she will be baptized in an outfit borrowed from the ward.

But what will be truly amazing and different about Emily's baptism will be that we will be in our new home. If all things were normal, Emily would be baptized on Saturday. This is the first date scheduled for baptisms in our area immediately after her 8th birthday. She has told us she wants to wait for our house to be finished to be baptized. She wants her baptism party to be the first big family event in our new home.

So now we wait. Building a house is alot like being pregnant I've decided. Eight years ago I would visit the doctor every few days waiting to be told it was time to have my baby. Now instead of "Maybe next week", we hear "Maybe in six weeks", but here we are waiting again. I am sure the result will be worth the wait just like it was eight years ago. Happy Birthday Emily!