Have I ever mentioned how I adore my daughter? She's my precious princess. There still isn't a day that goes by when she doesn't amaze me to pieces. She's smart. She's beautiful. She's athletic. She's ambitious. She takes the world by the horns and runs with it.  It hasn't always been this way. She was a tall, gangly, skinny, geeky kid when we first moved here. She wore glasses, had braces, just the epitome of dorkiness (hey, she knows!). The boys in her 5th grade class would beat her up at recess, to where she was coming home with bruises. She was being tripped by these boys in the hallways, and her milk was shoved out of her hands at lunch. It was brutal and cruel, and it almost broke my baby. But there were precious women who prayed for her over at W@H, and Lesley made her a prayer shawl which she still cuddles up with (even now, as she babysits Lesley's daughter!). We kept saying to her, "Hang on, baby. Just hang on. It gets better from here."

We just never understood how good it could get.

She is now in 8th grade. A member of the Student Council. Joining Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the dance club. Good buddies hanging around with her. The phone constantly ringing, and she actually had 1200 text messages a couple of months ago. She is involved in everything, working on her silver award in Girl Scouts, an assistant with Cotillion, too many dance classes to count. Yesterday she brought home her athletic uniform. See, tomorrow is her first cross country track meet. This child woke up at 5:30 in the morning all summer, and ran with the junior high and high school cross country teams. Dedication like I've never seen in her.

Where did this come from?  There are two turning points that show just what character my baby girl has. I promised her that if she would stick out the horror of 5th grade, we would make that summer, the summer between elementary and middle school, her Makeover Summer.  We started with contact lenses. We took her to Clinique and got her a makeup makeover. We got her hair cut (she wanted it colored, so we did that, too). We went on a shopping spree to the hot spots: Hollister, American Eagle, Aeropostale. This was just a band aid, but you know what? It worked. It gave her the confidence she needed to be able to look in the mirror and see what a confident, amazing young lady she is.  The second turning point came shortly after she began middle school. Her academic team went to the park. She slipped and rolled down a very muddy hill, getting completely covered in gook. I picked her up, hosed her off, and she showered and changed. She didn't want to go back to school, but I said, "This is your decision. You can choose to let this defeat you, or you can make this a joke before others can turn you into a laughing stock."  So we armed her with some clever phrases, picked her up a frappucino from Starbucks, and returned her to school.  As the legend goes, she walked into math, and the class turned and looked at her, completely silent. She smiled, tossed her head, and said, "That's why my mom and dad pay for ballet lessons."  The rest of the class burst into laughter, and what could have been a pick-on moment became the running joke, with Emily leading the charge, the rest of the year. That taught her a very valuable lesson, which she carries close to her, even today.

So, tomorrow is the first cross country meet. I know very little about cross country, but I am so impressed with what I've seen happen to my baby girl this summer. I will be on the sidelines cheering and videotaping as she runs through the finish line. She's asked me if the boys could come, too, so I will get them out of school about half an hour early.  I'm proud of her!  I'm so glad she's the daughter God chose for me.