So Amanda has informed me that it has been over a year since I last wrote anything on our "family" blog. I will have to admit that it has been some time since I last wrote, but my reasons for doing so were valid. The last time I wrote, Amanda criticized my writing saying that, "I went too far into detail and possibly gave more information than people needed to know about our personal lives". To this I stated that I would take a vow of (blogging) silence. Well I suppose it's time to return and also update about the activities of our family.

As my first posting after my absence, I would just like to echo what Amanda posted about. Our girls have grown up amazingly this last year.

Well, so I won't dive into "too much" detail about our family and our activities I will just share one of the most recent things that impressed me about my girls. On Christmas Eve we have a tradition of going over to Grandma Smith's house, going caroling, having soup, and ending with a nativity program. This year for the nativity, Kiya was asked to be Mary, and so she wouldn't be scared I was asked to be Joseph. We said okay and went and got our costumes on. The program started and when they called us out we walked over next to the manger and I sat/knelt down with Kiya sitting on my lap. When the story announced the birth of Jesus, I placed Jesus in the manger. As I did so, Kiya started to get rather restless. I asked her what was the matter, and she whispered back to me, "Daddy, I'm Mary, I have to go be Mary". After her statement she stood up, walked around to the other side of the manger, knelt down and clapped her hands together like she was praying. Confused, I again asked Kiya, "what are you doing?" to which she again responded by saying "Daddy, I'm Mary, I have to act like Mary." She didn't move from that position for the remainder of the program.

How on earth does a three year old know the humble and reverent demeanor that Mary probably had as the mother of the Savior of the world? We talked about the Christmas story, but never about how Mary acted. She just knew the importance of being the mother of Jesus, and acted like she thought Mary would.

I love these girls, and sorry to just focus on Kiya on this post, but I learned a great lesson from her that night that when we are given a name to represent, we are to represent that person to the fullest, and not just do the minimum. Every week we take a name upon us, and this experience has made me realize that I need to do a better job in reverencing the name I receive every time I take the sacrament and be a better example of that name in all I do.