Abby has defiantly disobeyed her mother, and gone and turned eight. In fact, she did it eight months ago. I was so upset about it, that i'm just now able to blog about it. (yes, let's say that that's why i haven't journaled this until now...) She could have been baptized just a few weeks after her birthday, but agreed that it'd be better if we waited a few months for the weather to be nicer and for extended family to come during Spring Break. And in those months a small miracle happened--Reid's sister, Alisa, and her family moved here to their new house they just built!!! We have been wanting family here for 9 years, and having them here has been so great. Their son, Christopher, also turned eight, and so these cute cousins got to share their baptism day together.
Abby had a wonderful showing of friends--friends from our old ward, Northridge, friends from our new ward, Grandview, and several non-LDS friends from school, including her teacher Miss Blagoue. Our former neighbors and dearly missed friends Hannah, Brooke and Marcus, and RaeLouise and Steve came. And our current neighbors Mark and Musetta came, as well. The room was full. And Abby was thrilled about it.
Grandpa Allred gave a wonderful talk on baptism. He shared a story of two boys putting silver dollars in a poor man's boots. Mid-talk little Norah, came up to him, so he scooped her up and held her. Then little Asher came up and he scooped him up with the other arm, all while giving his talk. It was just so sweet! And all the Allred grandkids sang "Jesus Came to John the Baptist." I played the piano so I could only see the smiles on everyone's faces. I was later told that Winnie and Kate were both leading the music while they were all singing, cute girls. My sweet Abby was baptised first, by her wonderfully amazing dad. She was nervous, but mostly excited. They had practiced many, many times here at home. In fact, all the kids had practiced--because it looked so fun. The water was a bit shallow that day, but, like most things that get thrown at her, she just dealt with it, no complaints.
Abby's dress has a long story behind it, which is neither interesting nor sentimental. But Abby saw it and loved it. I made a few alterations (cut off the wrist-length, lace-cuffed sleeves, removed some other excessive lace, etc) according to Abby's wishes, and it turned out just adorable on her. Abby had gone shopping with Aunt JuJu a couple weeks earlier when Julia was here for a visit, and got her very own headband and her very own nailpolish. So her nails were a light green and she put her headband on as soon as she was all dried off and dressed. She was so cute and methodical and organized about the whole thing--it was clear that she'd put lots of thinking and planning into how this all would go, and didn't want to miss a single detail.
I'm so proud of this little girl. She still feels like my little girl, but she is growing up. Dangit! She is thriving at school. She just announced that she is the only one in her class that is reading at a 6th grade level. She pretends that she doesn't like the challenging work she has to do, or the advanced testing required of her. But it's pretty obvious that she does. She got her dad's brains and her mom's humility. It makes for an interesting combination,
She's still a wonderful peacemaker at home. When James is being difficult (which is more and more every day) she is the first to patiently show him a way to calm down. She's taking piano and guitar lessons, and if she's in a good mood she really enjoys practicing both. She's onto yet another wonderful soccer season. I wasn't going to sign her up, but the coach forced begged me to bring her back. He says that his team needs her. She's really good with rules, and soccer has a lot of rules. She's also good at helping those on the field remember where they're supposed to be, etc. (She get's her bossiness from her mom, as well) Coach says it's fine if she only comes to one practice a week. That sounds doable, even to me.
It's rare that I get frustrated with Abby. But on the occasion that I do, it almost always has to do with her absent-mindedness. That girl misplaces and loses everything! It's almost funny. Almost. Except when she's about to miss the bus and can't find the assignment that was JUST in her hands and is due today! Times like that can be quite frustrating. I've started charging her $.50 everytime I find something that she's misplaced. I'm not sure it's helping her at all, but at least I'm earning something for all my hard work.
She and Grace were asking me the other day to tell them stories of when they were little. I had some good stories of naughty things that Grace had done. But I couldn't think of a single time when Abby had been naughty! It just wasn't, and isn't, in her blood to purposely hurt or disobey others. She's not perfect--she is emotional, overly sensitive, and absent-minded. But when it comes to making good choices--she's who I often find myself looking to for an example.
I'm happy that she chose to be baptized. Of course, to some extent, it was expected of her, and she probably knew that. But we tried to help her really understand that this was a choice that she was making. And that she could decide when and if to do it. I'm proud of her for choosing to follow Jesus's example. She understands and strives to keep God's commandments. She is a light in our home, and I feel pretty lucky that I'm the one that gets to raise her--or watch her raise herself.
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