Shelby

Over the last few Grati-Tuesday's I've been introducing my children. This week I'd like to talk about my daughter Shelby and why I'm so grateful to have her in my life.

Shelby is my middle child from my first marriage. From my first marriage I have three children a boy, 15, Shelby, who is 14, and a boy 11. My husband has two daughters (my stepdaughters) 14 and 9 and he and I have together our last child, Abigail who just turned four.

Shelby is beautiful on the inside and out. She is smart, funny, talented and she has true compassion for others. You may have heard me talk about how smart she is before, when I blogged about her winning the essay contest, but she also has the good common sense which is so hard to find in a teenager. I don't worry about her making so many of the mistakes that some of her friends might. And she doesn't follow the crowd. She will lead, or make her own path, but she is not a follower. That fact alone makes me tremendously proud of her.

Shelby is funny. If you walk into a room and Shelby is there, you won't have any trouble spotting her. She's the one rolling with laughter or looking at you with a big contagious grin. Even her eyes smile when she's talking to you.

Shelby is talented. She has a beautiful singing voice. For the last two years she's gone on a choir trip to Dallas to sing. She's also a gymnast, a good dancer and a cheerleader.

Shelby is the one in the front row, on the left.

The thing that I have been most proud of Shelby for though, during all these years, is her compassion.

There are many examples of her compassion, but I will give you just one. In second grade there was a girl who all the other girls in her class avoided. Her teacher, Mrs. Hogan, told me that Shelby was extremely popular with the other children in her class and when times came to pick a partner for something, Shelby usually had her choice of partners who wanted to work with her. But Shelby would always look to the lonely girl, and make sure she had a partner or be her partner herself. She watched out for this girl on the playground and would not let other's be mean to her in her presence. We were invited to this child's birthday party, as all the children in class were. Only Shelby and one other child attended. The girl's mother was obviously worried about her daughter's feelings. I talked with her during the party in her kitchen and she discussed how she worried about how her daughter wasn't fitting in with the other children. She told me, however, that she was so glad that we had come. Her daughter had told her all through the year about Shelby's many kindness' and as long as Shelby came, she thought her daughter was going to have a good birthday. And they did. Even though there were only three girls at this birthday, it was a great party with lots of giggling.

Of all the things that make Shelby wonderful and beautiful, smart and talented, it is her compassion that makes me so proud that sometimes I feel I could just burst.

So on this Grati-Tuesday, as every day, I am thankful for all my children and their wonderful qualities. They each have unique gifts and they all make me proud. But today I would like to recognize Shelby and her wonderful compassion.

To see what other's are recognizing this Grati-Tuesday, please visit Heavenly Homemakers