Yesterday, our baby girl was baptized. This was not a new topic for our family, as P had been talking about salvation and baptism for a solid year. Once we were settled in Houston and had started regularly attending our church (Jersey Village Baptist Church), I decided that it was probably best that I approach someone to find out the process for baptism.
Luckily, one of my first friends at JVBC was our pastor's wife, so she was able to let me know what I should do next. I was hesitant about just signing Piper up for a variety of reasons, but the biggest one was that I wanted to make sure she was sure and fully understood her decision.
*I feel like I should stop here and point out that as much as I adore my girl, she and I are totally different in how we perceive and process the world around us. She is very intuitive, thinks with her heart, and doesn't need "proof" to believe in anything. Thus the reason why she will probably be 30 before Santa gives up the ghost.*
So, we made an appointment and went to talk to Ms. Nancy, our church's children's ministry director.
Ms. Nancy was able to talk with P in private and then with me present and it was very apparent that my girl knew her stuff and her decision was real. So, we put her on the schedule for the next Sunday that baptisms were to occur and off we went!
Our church doesn't do the traditional robes for the service, but give everyone a tshirt to wear and keep! I was a little surprised at this at first, but it has turned out to be an amazing gift, a reminder of that special morning.
Before the service started, our pastor, Andrew, talks with each person and gets a sense of their salvation story. Her answers were so sweet and innocent and she was thrilled that our pastor knew her name.
After Andrew talked with everyone, there was a prayer with everyone. This is where the happy tears started for me. To see my tiny girl (she was the youngest there by about 5 or 6 years) make such a huge decision and surrender her life to Christ at such a young age just overwhelmed me.
Since she was so young, those who were involved felt it was a good idea that I stay near her during the service. I was able to stand in the baptistry with her and take photos. For whatever reason, blogger won't let me post the video I took, but lets just say she was hysterically funny. Poor girl couldn't reach the bottom of the pool, so she basically clung to Andrew. Let's just say, they have a special bond now...
We were all so proud of P and her decision that day!
