Emma's Baptism

My First Born, as she likes to be called, was baptized Sept. 21st, 2013.
It was a wonderful day.  It was sunny & warm.  TN in September is beautiful.

Emma was baptized by Joe, her loving daddy.

We had lots of family come into town to help celebrate Emma and her decision to get baptized.
Here is all the grandchildren on the Zimmerman side.  They were all there!  Aren't they are so adorable?!

Here is our family on Emma's big day.  I love them so so SO much.

Here are the members of the Priesthood that were able to confer the Holy Ghost upon Emma after she was baptized.  It was such a neat experience for all of us having them all here.

I have been looking forward to this event for a while now.  It's a right of passage for kids in the Mormon church.  You are baptized.  You are now accountable for your actions, which means you can now partake of repentance and the atonement.  You can actually take the sacrament and understand why and and what it really means.
I am so proud of Emma.  She has grown into a beautiful, smart, spiritual giant.  Sometimes I am overwhelmed at what she knows right now.  I feel inadequate at times because the world can be a horrible place.  I want to make sure I do my part to teach her right and wrong.  But I know she'll trip at times, as I still do.  But as long as I try my darnedest to teach her with an eternal perspective, I have faith that everything will work out in the end.
It was definitely an emotional day for me.  I went over to the church early to help set up the room.  her baptism was at 11 am.  So we headed over there around 10:30 and made sure everything was good to go.  She got changed into her baptism suit that my mom made.  It is darling and love it.  Lots of friends from the ward came to support Emma.  I was really touched.  We've only been here in Memphis for about 3 months.  But it seems to have been really easy to make new friends, which I am very grateful for.  Emma even asked the second grade teacher at school to come.  One of them did.  Again, i'm amazed at the strength and courage she has.  She has no fear when it comes to sharing something so important to her with friends.
I spoke on Baptism.  Her Aunt Marissa sang a beautiful song.  I, of course, was bawling while she was in the water.  While she and I were getting dressed, I made sure to take our time and just enjoy that moment. The wonderful moment right after being cleaned from all sin.  She was beautiful inside and out.  The guest out in the room were watching a slideshow I had made of Emma, pictures from birth to now.  After that was over, Joe spoke about the Holy Ghost.  She then received the Holy Ghost.  Our dad's, Matt, Josh, Spencer & the Bishop were in the circle.  Then Bishop Archdeacon & Sister Robinson spoke to Emma, introducing them to the ward and gave wonderful remarks.

After the meeting, there were refreshments and everyone socialized for a bit.  Once everyone left, we went to the temple (across the parking lot) and took pictures.  After that, we came home and relaxed.  Then the adult kids went to The Kooky Kanuck.  Then that night, we had Emma's pizza party and cake.  It was lots of fun and exhausting at the same time.

Busy fun fun day for all of us!