Happy 8th Birthday Taylor

How do I begin talking about Taylor? Chris & I have looked at each other and said a number of times, "how did WE get HER as a daughter?!". She is one of the sweetest girls I have ever met. Her heart is soft towards God, she loves her brothers & sisters and is constantly laying down her own preferences to serve them! One of the highlights of her weeks is going early with daddy to church and helping set-up for our meeting! She is still my avid reader, devouring anything given to her. She even tried reading a few chapters in Augustine's Confession of the Faith. It was just a little to advanced for her to comprehend. But her even attempting is a sign of her brilliance. She has taken fairly quickly to learning the piano this year. She loves to sing, dance, draw and serve mommy!

It has been such a fun week celebrating her life. This was her year to skip having a big party. But in talking with Chris we remembered how last May she moved away from her home on her birthday week and there were a few months of praying, through tears, for God to bring her new friends. We had many wonderful people who moved and went with us for the church plant but at the time there were no obvious friends for Taylor. Well in thinking of who to invite to her party this year she had 10 new west valley friends to invite!! We thought that was worth celebrating in and of itself and made an exception to our every other year party decision!

Boy did we party :) I think this could've been the best birthday party the Daukas' have thrown yet! Taylor loves reading mystery's, particularly Nancy Drew. So with some help from the internet and my friend Ruth we threw a mystery solving themed party. I'll take a couple posts to show how we pulled it off! I don't want to forget as I've got two more girls behind her that will probably want to do the same sort of thing when they are her age.