A girl who inspires me...

My daughters love American Girl dolls (http://www.americangirl.com/) and to enter a drawing for one(Felicity--they're discontinuing her!) found at http://www.mommafindings.com/2010/09/toy-news-american-girl-announces-plans.html, I have to blog about a girl I know who inspires me. It was difficult to pick just one, because I have known so many girls and women who inspire me to be more thankful, more graceful, more generous, more joyous, and more caring.
I finally chose to write about my daughter, Kydee. She is a very tenacious thing. When she sets her mind to do something, you can bet that she'll do it. When she was only 3 years old, she was asked to recite a scripture (John 3:16) for the entire church congregation. Other children were also asked to recite scriptures or short little statements about what they'd learned that year in their church classes. They were all told about three weeks ahead of time what their assignments were. Their teachers would be there to help them to tell them what to say. Kydee did not want anyone to help her. She said she wanted to read her part by herself. I reminded her that she couldn't read and that the only way to do it without any help would be to memorize the whole thing. She insisted that we practice every day, a few times a day. She memorized the scripture long before the three weeks were up and even had the right inflection and pace when she recited it! (Remember, this is a 3 year old!)
Later, when she was 8 years old and a Brownie Girl Scout, she wanted to go to Girl Scout camp. It cost several hundred dollars (which I didn't have), so I told her if she could earn half of the money, I'd pay for the other half. She got right to work. She sold over 300 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, she sold several of her toys at a yard sale, and she had a pop stand in our front yard. She earned enough to go to camp, plus she had $20 left over.
Not only is Kydee good at accomplishing her goals, she's also very generous. We pay our children allowance. They get 10 cents/week/age, so Kydee, who's 9 gets 90 cents per week, Dalan gets 70, Elora 50, and Elias 20. It's not much, but it's enough to be able to buy a toy or two a year. We think it gives them good practice for saving, budgeting, etc. Anyway, Kydee is always donating her money to charitable causes. She gives to our church, to her siblings, to homeless people, and to humanitarian aid projects. She often gives 15-20 percent of what she earns and sometimes even gives more, which is extremely generous, especially when you compare her to adult's typical donations. She is always willing to share her candy, books, cake, stickers, etc with her siblings and friends.
One other thing that Kydee is gifted at is being willing to help others. I know I can count on her to help me around the house. She is always helping her brothers and sister, sometimes when they don't want her help! She notices when neighbors are weeding or raking leaves and always gets her work gloves on and goes and helps. I'm so thankful for Kydee and her example of what a great 'American Girl' can be.

That was really fun to write about one of my children. I think I'll do all of them, but not today. I'm tired!