I cannot believe it has been an entire week since I have written a post. It's not that life has been boring; quite the contrary. But I haven't had the time or opportunity, until this weekend, to process everything in my mind and heart.

We have a joyous piece of news to report. Baby Girl became a Christian this week! It was truly a great day for us on Friday.

Until recently, much of our morning scripture discussions has been between Little Son and me, but recently I decided to make sure that Baby Girl was aroused from bed earlier so that she could at least listen, even if she did not wish to participate in the discussion. She is not a morning person. I knew she needed to hear more of scripture at home than she was hearing. As it turned out, before long she approached me twice within a week to tell me that she wanted to "turn her back on sin", to use a phrase that we used when Little Son received Jesus two years ago.

So during our school lessons on Friday, November 21, she told me again that she wanted to "turn her back on sin" and "turn to Jesus". So I put the books aside, grabbed some materials I had kept on hand for this moment, and tried to assess her understanding of the Gospel by asking her questions, reading to her, and defining some terminology. Then we went together through our own very annotated version of the sinner's prayer, and then I joyfully welcomed her into the family of God. She was obviously very pleased with this new change in her life, and promptly went out to the family room to announce her profound and life changing decision to Little Son.

I would like to say that Little Son spontaneously threw his arms around his little sis to welcome her to her new life in Christ. But..... "sibling-ness" overcame all, and Little Son refrained from such a display of emotion. That is, until I told him how appropriate it would be for him to welcome Baby Girl into God's family. At that point, he did hug his sister, with giggles to punctuate the significance of the moment. As only a big brother can.

Now Baby Girl has already expressed an interest in meeting with the elders of our church so that she can make her decision public, and simultaneously join our church. This is a tough call for me, because I want to be absolutely certain that she can articulate her newfound faith and understanding of the Gospel. Although she appeared to "get it" on Friday, I feel that she needs more development before she can adequately convey her convictions verbally, on her own, without my assistance, to our church elders. I want it to be a positive, successful experience for her, so right now, I think she may need more time. Am I making a mistake by waiting? I am not sure. Should I "strike while the iron is hot" and her enthusiasm is high? Might she become shy and self-conscious later on? Dh and I need some wisdom here...

This morning in church we listened to our pastor as he preached about Psalm 100, a psalm that teaches us the proper way to express thanksgiving to God. He got to verse 3, which reads: know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. At that moment, Baby Girl smiled up at me in the pew and whispered: "I belong to Him!"

"You sure do, Baby Girl, you sure do!" I replied, giving her a big church cuddle!