The Dress …

This girl.

Why has she changed so much in the past six months? Everyone we know comments about it. She looks different. She looks older. Even my dad has noticed it. She’s turning into a young woman. She really is beautiful inside and out.

For the past six months she and I have been on the hunt for a pretty, youthful, modest dress that she could wear to the Eighth Grade Dance. It was not an easy task. Do you want to know what our qualifications were? It needed to be knee length. Most dresses now are about mid-thigh length or SHORTER. It needed to have sleeves. Most dresses now are either strapless, one shouldered, or spaghetti straps. It needed to be age appropriate. She is fourteen, not Beyoncé at the Grammys. And it needed to cover her midriff. Does it seem strange to you that I even had to type that sentence? There are dresses out there now that have all sorts of cutouts, making the dresses look more like bikini style tops. Ew.

Now I am going to say something that sounds mean and judgmental, but it’s how I feel – I don’t want my fourteen year old daughter to look like a cheap hooker or stripper at the Eighth Grade Dance! I cannot believe some of the dresses I have seen on girls Hannie B’s age. There, I said it!

So with those four qualifications, we set out looking. Most dresses that met our four rules were just not cute. At all. Please, somebody out there who’s a designer . . . make beautiful dresses for girls like mine who want to look cute, fashionable and modest at formal and semi formal dances!

We finally found a dress at ModCloth.com after looking at thousands of dresses. I wanted to poke my eyes out near the end. This dress was not inexpensive. It ran us a little over $100. When I shared the cost with The Hubby, he and I agreed that we cannot put a price on the importance of modesty for our daughter, so I bought it. When it came I was thrilled with the quality. Even better, it fit the girl child like a glove. She felt like a princess. A beautifully modest princess!

Now for the sad part of our story. A week before Hannie B and I were to head to New York City for Mother’s Day we found out that the dance was going to be held while we were gone. Bad advertising on the part of the school. They had never released the date of the dance until a week before! I gave Hannie B the option to stay home and go to the dance, but she chose to go with me to NYC instead of going to the dance. So she didn’t get to wear her dress after all. She told me we could send the dress back, but instead I told her she should wear it every chance she gets. These pictures are of her before church yesterday! I’m so proud of the choices she’s making. I’m so glad she didn’t settle for just any old dress, but kept looking until she found one that met our expectations and looked stunning on her. This girl of mine. She is a princess. And she knows who her King is.