Birthday girl

Today was Rachel's birthday. And she had the priviledge of getting baptized today too. It was a GREAT day. There were alot of people who came and supported Rachel. Rachel wanted to give out some invitations at school for her baptism . She did most of them herself. She folded some cardstock type paper and drew designs on the front. Then we printed off some cute pictures of her in her baptismal dress and put all the information of where and what time it would be. She ended up giving 7 away.....one to her bus driver. One to each principal. One to her teacher. One to one of the P.E. teachers and two to her good friends. What a little missionary.

She was very excited when her bus drive emailed to let us know that he would be coming and brining his whole family with him.....his wife and four of their kids. They even left their church early in order to make it their on time. We felt very blessed that they could come. Her bus driver made each of my five kids bracelets. They had different colored beads on them and each color represented something spiritual. It was AWESOME.

My sister came from Springfield with Sara and Leila and one of Leila's friends. That was a great blessing....I love spending time with them.

Don's mom and husband came. Del was able to stand in the circle when Rachel recevied the Holy Ghost. What a blessing. It was so good to have them. They brought dinner and a cake. Oh the joys of having a good cook for a mother in law. YUM.

There was alot of the ward members that stayed to support us. It was really FULL and we felt so blessed and loved. We love this ward soooooooooo very much.

I am so very happy with the decision Rachel made to be baptized. She is a great and loving daughter. She tries so hard to do what is right and I have seen a HUGE growth in her in just this last year. She is really growing up. She has a lot of love for her family. Her heart is HUGE. When I picked her up from piano last week she had gotten some candy from her teacher. She made sure to save EVERYONE in the family some. She received two snicker candy bars today from her primary teacher. She gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and said that the snickers would remind her that as she keeps the commandments there would be many who would snicker...and that she would need to remember to NOT listen to the snickers but to do what the Lord would have her do. She shared both the snickers with all of us....which pretty much meant that she didn't get much. She really has a concern for her little sister. She really makes it a point to watch out for her. She holds her. She loves her and she plays well with her. I am so thankful for Rachel. We are blessed to have her in our home. She is kind, loving and fun.

Yesterday for her birthday I took her to get her ears pierced. She got her hair cut....super cute. Then we went out to lunch and went to Ross to find her a cute hair piece to wear for her special day. Then for her special dinner for today she wanted bacon, sausage and pancakes but since Don's mom was bringing dinner for tonight I got up extra early this morning (with Caleb's help) and made the BIG breakfast. WE put the initials RP for her name made of candles so we could sing to her. It was fun.

At then end of the night when we were upstairs getting kids ready for bed we found a big pink note on our bed....it said.....THANKS FOR EVERYTHING YOU DID FOR ME. I LOVE YOU. FROM RACHEL. How much sweeter can you get? I feel very blessed to have children that appreciate what they get and even more grateful when they express that gratitude.

Rachel....we love you. We are grateful for you and are so eternally grateful that you have been placed into our family. What a blessing. Happy B-day girl.