Erin's Quest

I read an article in the Ensign nearly two years ago about a little boy who wanted to read the Book of Mormon before he turned eight and was batized. I was so impressed by his story that I decided that each of my kids should read the Book of Mormon before they are baptized too. Erin and I started on this quest in January of '06. We started out small, reading a few verses a day. This was a major accomplishment because we had just moved to a new house in Illinois, my Granny had passed away the previous October, and Sean was born the day after Christmas. We were busy. We are always busy. We found that maintaining a reading schedule during the summer and through moving to Masschusetts was difficult, and we weren't always consistent.
Then about two weeks ago, in the middle of the night, I sat straight up in the bed and had this thought-Oh no, we aren't going to finish in time. Sure enough, when I checked the calendar and did the math we would have to read four pages a day to hit our target by August 7th, the birthday, or a little later, for the baptism day. I sat Erin down and told her what we needed to do, and then I let her decide. She thought we could maybe read five or six pages a day. We are now consistently reading four pages everyday.
I tell this story not to brag about what we are doing or to make someone else feel guilty, but rather as a tribute to a seven year old who has learned to love the scriptures and who just won't give up. Honestly, I was ready to throw in the towel and chalk it up to one of life's experiences, but I was set straight by the example of my own daughter. I find that refreshing.
While in Utah, I bought Erin her first set of scriptures. She was very sure of exactly what she wanted them to look like; blue with silver indexed pages and her name on the front written in silver cursive letters. Now, I can have my own scriptures back during church and she can use her own. I think to myself that these are the best of times, but then somewhere in the back of my mind I feel like life will only get better from here with new challenges and triumphs!