Miriam's Baptism

Miriam's baptism was a bit of an event. First, this girl has been talking about her baptism for a long time. Probably for a year or so she has been saying that she wasn't sure she wanted to get baptized, or if she did, she wanted to put it off. We have been trying to help her through her questions and concerns. And happily it seems to have worked. She still had some concerns about knowing when she was feeling the Holy Ghost vs. her own feelings vs. temptations, which we tried to help her with, but frankly I still struggle with sometimes. 

Because of all the bad health with our parents right now we decided to make the baptism happen in Utah if we could. Fortunately we were able to make it work through my parents' ward. It was a bit of a scramble to find a time that would work with a member of their bishopric, but it all worked out. We had Miriam's baptism on July 24, 2019 at their Stake Center. Because it was a bit of a holiday and there was family in town for the reunion, we actually had a ton of family there. That was so kind of everyone to take time to come support us.  My whole family, plus Ella and some Armstrongs were there. And John's parents, Sarah, Millie, Joe, and Norma came with their families. 

Patti made a nice program, and we picked up cookies and milk to have after. We had a Deru dinner at Kayla's house after, which was so nice of her. It was a great day. We were a little nervous about making it in time because we were driving up from Mesquite that day and needed to make it in time to get food, change, and set up. It ended up wonderful though. I thought the talks about baptism and the Holy Ghost were some of the best I have heard at a baptism. Millie and Marc gave those. My girls sang a musical number of "I am Following My Savior." It was really sweet. Kayla made her a beautiful baptism necklace with real rubies in it. She loves it. My grandma, Miriam, and I went shopping at the end of the trip to get Miriam real scriptures. That was so nice.

4 Generations!

Miriam is such a wonderful girl. She is a deep thinker and really considers what is going on. She is smart, compassionate, a leader, brave, strong, and loving. She has always had really big emotions and I think it is amazing to see her learning and growing in ways to embrace and control those emotions. Miriam is a hard worker and when she puts her mind to something she has no trouble following through with her intentions.

One thing that I think is amazing about Miriam is how easily she makes friends. It seems like she just has the kind of personality that people are naturally drawn to. She is so fun, and I think that people can see that.

Of course with that fun, she knows that she needs to watch herself to not let herself get too riled up. I think her efforts in self-moderation are pretty amazing, and I know it isn't easy for her.

At Parent Teacher Conferences last year, Miriam told me that she wanted me to talk to the teacher about her sentence fluency and behavior. I thought that was so sweet that she was self aware enough that she wanted us to conference about that. 

She can also be so goofy, like the time she made up a song about how much she loved her tongue. 

Miriam can also give the worst burns without even realizing it. She is good at saying that something always happens even if it just has happened one time. For example, I 'always' sneak ice cream because she saw me get some once when we were playing a game. 

She also struggles with being sassy, but is working on it. One phrase that drives me crazy is when she says "or else what?" when we ask her to do something. 

But really, I can't say enough good things about my girl. She is kind, hard working, loves reading and audiobooks, loves music, and dancing. She recently tried out for student council and made it. That was a brave thing to do. I love the girl she is turning into. I am so proud of Miriam and so lucky to be her mother.  

Here is a little video she made when she got the phone. What a goofball! We love her!

Here is a little get to know you poster we made for the first week of school.