DADvocate

During the winter and spring, my daughter took a sewing class through the 4-H club at our local agriculture extension office. The cost of the class was cheap with the cloth, pattern and other supplies costing more than the class fee. My daughter just turned 10 on May 7, so I thought is might be rather ambitious that a 9 year old was taking the class at all. But she is a very bright, confident and motivated young lady.

A few weeks ago, she showed me the skirt she had made. The skirt had a double ruffled bottom (I guess that what you call it) and wasn't the simplest thing you could make. I thought she did a good job and told her so.

Today, I came home from work to discover, that as part of the sewing class, her skirt had been entered in a 4-H contest and she was the county champion! Next she gets to show her skirt in the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville later this summer.

My daughter never ceases to amaze me. She has a quiet confidence along with the necessary ability to do many things, and she does. In the third grade she decided she would the reader of the year for the entire 3rd grade at her school. (Over 100 3rd graders) She did it, scoring a reading level equivalent to a high school freshmen.

To top it off, I found out about my daughter's accomplishment just before going to my 13 year old son's band banquet. One of the highlights of the banquet was that his band scored "distinguished" in a recent band competition at Morehead State University. My son plays the baritone horn. I'm just proud that he's good enough to be part of a band that good.

Some days having kids can feel like pure hell. But days like today remind me that my kids often give me more than I can ever give them.