Eliza's Preparation

Eliza has a big day coming up in a few weeks.  She'll be turning 8 and will be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  This means that she is making covenants with Heavenly Father to live in accordance with His commandments, helping other people and building her own faith and testimony.  In the LDS Church, we believe kids are capable of taking on this responsibility at 8, because by that time most children have developed the maturity and understanding to be held accountable for their actions.

One of the things I do with each of my kids as they prepare for this special occasion is to take them to a temple of their choosing (we're spoiled to have several nearby) and do a little photo shoot.  Last week I took a look at the weather forecast and saw that our unseasonably warm weather would soon be ending, and proposed that Eliza and I go take pictures during a small window of time we had between activities on a Thursday afternoon, before the cold weather hit the next day.

I asked Cat to help Eliza get ready so that I could practice piano with Jack, and the girls got so involved in primping (which included not only curled hair, but also mascara, lipstick, and blush) that our small window of time became an itty bitty window of time.  I took the following pictures during the 15 minutes Eliza and I were at the Mt. Timpanogos temple, but I think they still turned out pretty well.

When I sat down to write this blog post I started thinking about how Eliza's preparation for her baptism has involved a lot more than taking pictures.  Here are just a few examples of the positive things Eliza is doing that are helping her to build strong character and become a good member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Eliza is a good friend, and she's very loving and patient with younger kids.

Eliza tries to be a good student.

These are pictures from her "Math Facts Challenge," when she and her friend challenged

each other to answer the most questions in a minute.  Eliza won by one question.

Eliza is obedient, helpful, and appreciative.

I found this little scribble the day after I'd stayed up making muffins for the

kids to have for breakfast on a morning when Ben and I would both be gone.

Made my heart happy.

I'm so proud of Eliza and the good choices she's making.