If Stones Could Talk... Coupled With Some Baby Talk

I must confess I came late to the notion of infant baptism. As an eight-year-old little girl, I had walked the aisle of the First Baptist Church in Opp, Alabama, during a fall revival to the strains of the venerated hymn, "Just as I Am." Two weeks later I was fully immersed in the water tank at the front of the church by Pastor Andrew Templeton. My beloved grandmother, Julia, had bought me a brand new white slip to wear under the white robe the church provided me. I was nervous about the dunking, but I remember that the pastor put a new white handkerchief over my nose and tilted my head back ever so gently. It was what I felt when I came up out of the water that stayed with me all these many years: a sense of purpose, a cleanliness, a freshness, a feeling of being made whole and new. It was a feeling that has never faded with the passage of time.
It was this that I longed for my children to know and to experience for themselves, but lo and behold, my husband and I found ourselves as newlyweds involved and members of a Presbyterian congregation. Full immersion baptism and Presbyterians just don't seem to go together. Instead, the Presbyterian denomination largely ascribes to the sacrament of infant baptism. And when our children were born, I did not just acquiesce, I scoured the scriptures and talked with the pastors about the why's and the wherefore's. I never really had my questions answered to my satisfaction, but I finally decided that it was not a "deal breaker" for me. I would be willing to stand beside The Husband as we offered our children for the sacrament of infant baptism. I confess I was never wholly comfortable, but nonetheless, each of our four children were baptised as infants.
However, I saw it with different eyes when both Little One and Little Two were baptised in their respective PCA churches. I saw the beauty of looking toward the promise of these childrens' salvation much as Abraham had looked toward the promise of the nation that God would give him, even when his wife was long since past the age of childbearing. It was a powerful step of faith to believe God for something so great. Both baptisms were deeply touching and deeply moving moments for me. I know the water does not save, it is only the blood of the lamb poured out on Calvary that can redeem the souls of men and women and little children, but I believe with my whole heart that the Lord is a God who keeps his covenants and his promises from here to eternity, for He is a God who cannot deny Himself. And so I look to the day when Little One and Little Two will say of their own accord, "I believe, Lord Jesus, and I am yours." Without a doubt, it will be one of the most joyous days of my life, and the most important day of theirs. May it come quickly.
Here are some pictures of the dress Little Two wore for her special day; the beautiful decor her momma put together and then a picture of Little Two on the floor today as she was scooting around. She is a happy child who brings her own sunshine wherever she goes. Her smile lights the darkest corners of my heart and makes me so thankful to be her grandmother, her Nonna, or whatever it is that she wants to call me. Rest assured I plan to come whenever she calls. No matter where I am or how far away...for Little Two has my heart. She is so very dear to me.