Miranda is...EIGHT!

I can't believe it! I knew this day would come, in fact we have talked of little else around here, eight is a big age for our family. In our church, eight is considered the Age of Accountability. It is the age when you are considered old enough to be baptized. In Moroni 8:8-12 it talks of baptizing children before they are accountable is a mockery of God. We are taught to have faith of a little child, with their innocence. In modern revelation found in D&C 68: 25, 27, it specifies the age of eight.

I am so excited for Miranda to be born into the gospel and to have such a firm foundation in our Savior. With baptism she receives the greatest gift of all. The gift of the Holy Ghost as her constant companion as long as she lives in such a way to hear his guidance. I hope she will grow in her appreciation for this constant companion. She will be guided along the right path and receive confirmation of good choices with positive feelings even when her decision maybe the tougher road. I have been so blessed to have Miranda be not only my first child but the oldest of the bunch. While she is not perfect, she is such a great example to her siblings of how to love the gospel and wanting to learn as well as making good choices. I love this little girl so much and am so proud of her. They always say you learn more from your children than you can ever teach them. I whole-heartedly agree.

Not only does Miranda, reach the age of accountability, get baptized (at the end of the month), receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, she gets to start attending Activity Days. Growing up it was similar to Pioneer girls or maybe cub scouts for boys. They will get to do lots of fun things. They will focus on the Faith in God program. The purpose of the Faith in God guidebooks is to help boys and girls ages 8 through 11 live gospel principles, develop testimonies, and build friendships. The program also helps boys to prepare to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and girls to become righteous young women. The activities for the program are outlined in two guidebooks: Faith in God for Boys and Faith in God for Girls. I can't help but be excited to watch her grow but can't help but want to hold her close, conflict of interest.

With all that we celebrated last night with family. As all of our kids are, Miranda was completely spoiled. We started the day with they typical waking up and singing of Happy Birthday and doughnuts. When possible Jeremy takes the kids birthday off of work. So he walked the kids to school. He then met Miranda and had a cafeteria lunch with her. They both enjoyed it, what a special treat. Her friend surprised her with a gift after school. It was so thoughtful! We had a quiet afternoon, except when I lost my patience and had to leave before I ruined Miranda's special day. I was able to come back quickly. (I just added that to remind you I am so far from perfect!) Then we had Aunt Tamra, Uncle James, Hunter, Uncle Chris and Grandma Bev over for Miranda's dinner of choice, barbecue hamburgers, green salad and fresh fruit salad. Miranda actually helped with the fruit salad, she was very excited to help with "her birthday dinner for the first time." It was like summer, FABULOUS. I have missed barbecues. After dinner Miranda got to open presents. Miranda got a bike from us with Jeremy promising to teach her how to ride it since they don't make training wheels for bikes her size. She also got some adorable clothes, a CD, two Wii games and a mini digital camera. Our friend Cindy knows that 8 is extremely special for us and offered to make Miranda's birthday cake. She did an excellent job!

Instead of a birthday party she decided she wanted to go see Wicked in San Francisco. I think she will enjoy it, for those of you who live under a rock (just kidding) it is about the origination of the Wizard of Oz characters. Kind of like the prequel to the Wizard of Oz. Let me be very clear, the play is nothing like the book. Well it could be similar but the book has mucho raunchiness and the play has NONE. For my big 3-0 Jeremy took me to LA to see it, while my fabulous sister-in-law and her co-horts watched my kids for the evening. I really want to go with Miranda for two reasons 1) it will be her first musical and it makes me sad I won't get to see the excitement on her face as she sits on the edge of her seat learning a new appreciation of music and performance 2) I have seen a few musicals and this is my favorite, so far. With Jackson being so young I can't leave him for that long. Those are the breaks!

I started this post on a spiritual level and ended very frivolously. I do know that this is such an amazing time for Miranda and am so grateful I get to be her mom through it all.

Miranda, Happy Birthday, I love you so very much.