Ashlyn's Homecoming

During my break from blogging, Ashlyn was elected as a homecoming candidate. She is only a freshman this year, and the candidates are chosen by the whole high school student body. I was so surprised that she made it! So what else is there to do but shop for dresses. My mom, Aunt Susan, Hannah, and Sarah went with us on one of the worst weather days so far this winter. It was snowing and sleeting horribly. But there was shopping to be done! It was so fun to try on all the beautifull dresses. But it was also so hard to pick just one! She found one that was perfect for her. The color matched her coloring just beautifully. It was also very modest, which was important to her (thank you Jesus!). We had these cute little satin flip flops dyed to match the dress. And then there was the jewelry. We tried on so many necklaces and finally found just the one. Last night was the coronation. It is held at one of our home basketball games. All the candidates are escorted by a basketball player. Ashlyn marched with DeAndre. He is one of the boys in my youth group and I absolutely love this boy!!!! He has such a good heart for God and is so kind to everyone! He is developing an absolutly awesome testimony! Anyway, after her basketball practice, we went to a classroom and started primping!! I fixed her hair and our cousin April (DeAndre's mom) did her makeup. It was so fun. As she has gotten older, Ashlyn does her own hair, of course. So it was so great for me to be able to play with her hair again. Now I know that she is mine and I may be a bit biased, but that girl looked absolutely gorgeous. She just took my breath away. And then when she put her dress on, it was all I could do not to start bawling all over the place (she would have killed me). Anyway, she marched out and met De and smiled so sweetly for the cameras. I choked back tears. She made it up to the stage and I breathed a wonderful sigh of releif. It was over and she hadn't fell or walked on her dress or anything! I was so relieved that we had made it through it all. The other candidates marched out after her (because she is a Freshman), including Kristan, who is in my small group and I absolutely love! And then they announced who the student body had selected as 2008 Homecoming Queen.........Ashlyn!!!!!! I just about fell out of my seat. Seriously, on the video, all you see is shaking and then the gym floor. She won! It never entered my mind that she would win because she is a FRESHMAN! Holy cow. She was crowned and then sat down and De leaned down and gave her the traditional kiss on the cheek. Again, I choked back buckets of tears. It was an awesome night that the pictures cannot give justice to. The best part of if was afterwards, when I talked to her teachers and friends. Every single one of them said the same thing: "She won because she is a good person" or "She won because she has such a good heart" or "She won because she treats everyone so kindly". I was so proud of her that I could have just.....well, cried.