Keeping Secrets

Abigail started middle school this year with high expectations from her teachers because of the legacy left behind by her older sisters.  I think she's handled it fairly well and has done her part to uphold the good name the Moran family has at Landstuhl Middle School.  National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) is a big deal at the middle school and it was a big part of the middle school experience for both Madison and Emily.  One of Abigail's main goals for her sixth grade year was to be inducted into NJHS like her older sisters were.  The applications went out earlier this spring to all middle school students with a grade point average over 3.60 and Abby was excited just to receive an application.  She and Jared worked together to fill it out and answer the questions about her experiences in the areas of scholarship, service, leadership, and character.  Every time our girls have had to fill out something like this for school I am reminded how amazing the church is and what a blessing it is in our lives.  Being a member of the church has given our kids opportunities to serve and lead that their peers haven't always had so early in life.

Once the application was complete and turned all that was left to do was wait.  Jared and I got the exciting email saying Abigail was in a full month before the actual induction, but we couldn't tell Abby because we were asked to keep it a secret.  The NJHS chapter has a tradition of pulling the new announcing the new inductees during an assembly in school and it's supposed to be a big surprise.  So we had to keep the secret for a while and, let me tell you, it wasn't easy.  Abigail would ask at least once a week at first and then a few times a week as it got closer to the induction if we'd heard anything about her application.  Making things even more difficult was the fact that Emily is the president of NJHS at the school so it wasn't just Jared and I who needed to keep the secret.  In the end we led Abby to believe that she hadn't made it so she would stop asking!

I was grateful when induction day finally rolled around so we could stop lying to poor, sweet Abigail.  I hurried to the school and snuck into the back of the gym so I could be there for the assembly and see the look on Abigail's face when her name was announced.  We had done such a good job convincing her that she wasn't chosen that her face was almost blank when her bio was read and her name was called.  She stood in line with the other inductees at the front of the gym looking somewhat confused and very surprised.  At the official induction later that evening she looked much happier.

Emily was able to introduce Abigail at the induction and read her bio so everyone could hear about the awesome things she has done.  I guess it's one of the perks of being in charge!






After the induction was over we quickly gathered all all the kids from our ward and their NJHS advisor, who is also in our ward, for a group shot.

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