Great to be Eight - Almost

Hard to believe that our sweet, little Maiya will turn 8 years old this year. She can't wait! In our religion, a child turning 8 has the opportunity to be baptized and Maiya is never one who wants to be left out of a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. She and I attended our 17 year-old neighbor's baptism yesterday and she was beaming at the thought that THIS is her year.

We attended the annual Baptism Preview for all of the children in our congregation who will turn 8 years old this year. There are 19! Wowsers! She was all smiles walking into the decorated room with the delightfully delicious dessert table in the back with donut favors - in the shape of an '8' on a stick - and cupcake towers with LifeSaver gummies - in the shape of an '8'. It was all about the kids and the only thing that made her smile disappear for a split second was looking at the list of names and seeing that she is one of the last ones to be baptized this year with a birthday in December.

Maiya is the one that doesn't grumble when we remind the kids to grab their scriptures. I was sitting in Sunday School when her Primary teacher quietly walked into the room and knelt down by me, and whispered,"Maiya is really worried about not having her scriptures. She said you have them. She just wants to be prepared." Okey dokey. I grabbed a Book of Mormon from the 'church bag' and handed it over. We both chuckled a bit later when I was able to chat with her, finding out that the children who had scriptures were asked to find a verse and Maiya looked at her teacher, bug-eyed, "I don't have my scriptures!"

Sure love that girl. It's great to be almost 8!