Grrrrr8 to be 8

It is GREAT to be EIGHT!!  Benson turned 8 eight days ago and it's been one big party ever since!  He decided he wanted to just have a party at home and have our undivided attention on him.  It was fantastic!  We played a "crate paper high-jump" game and Ben (Jared's brother won) in the adult tournament and Benson won in the kids match.  We played some pretty intense games of ballon volleyball; Ben and Benson put together a mouse trap car; and we were fascinated watching the rains/hail come down for intermission! 

The other awesome thing about turning eight is that Benson chose to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This is a very important decision Benson has made and he took it very seriously.  Since January, he has been reading the 531 pages of the Book of Mormon and he finished it the day before his 8th birthday.  That's about 2-3 pages per day that he read.  He wanted to know for himself that this Church was true and he found that out after reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it himself.  He has been such a great example to Jared and myself and to his little sisters as he has prepared to be baptized.  

This weekend has been exciting for us all as family has come to celebrate with Benson.  He was so excited to be baptized!  And having 3 sets of grandparents here just increase the excitement!  At noon yesterday Benson played his second flag football game.  And I don't know if he just had super-extra adrenaline that made him perform extra well or just a large cheering section cheering him on.  Either way, he did awesome!  If there was a star-player award given at the end of the game he most certainly would have received it!  And that's not just me being bias.  He was on fire!!  He pulled down 6 different kids flags, stopping most of them from getting touchdowns!  After 2 or 3 kids had already tried and missed someone's flag, Benson caught up with his super fast legs and pulled that flag right off!  His coach said, "I don't know what you fed benson for breakfast today, but make sure you give him some of that again next week because he did AWESOME!"  I was so happy for him!!  Makes a mother's heart proud to see her son doing sometime he loves and doing it super-duper well!!  :)

After some quick showers, he was ready for his baptism at 3:00.  It's hard to describe in words all that was done and felt during those next few hours, but it was simply perfect.  The room in which his baptism was performed in became holy to us.  The peaceful feelings from the Holy Ghost were so strong, touching everyone's heart in a noticeable way.  Benson was the only child getting baptized that day so it was personal, intimate, and meaningful to him in every way.  Ben and Grandma Great Beth gave great talks about baptism and the gift of the holy ghost; Claire and I sang a song; Grandma Diana was the pianist; Grandmas Susan and Shirlene gave the prayers and Grandpa Breon and Terry were the witnesses.  It was simple.  The focus was on Benson and his choice to follow Jesus Christ.  It was, in my mind, exactly how it should be.  I was unexpectedly emotional throughout the entire process.  My heart was just so filled with love, peace, and joy in seeing my son CTR--Choose the RIGHT!  I'm so proud of Benson and we were grateful for our family that was able to come support him in this decision.  Our weekend was perfect!  Wish it could have lasted longer...but we enjoyed every second we had together as a family unit.  Congratulations Benson!  It is great to be eight!