Indianna

I actually have three children. Sometimes, I am shocked by that. I don't feel grown-up enough to have that many. I've just turned 32 and I'd finished my child-bearing by the age of 29 - one year earlier than I had planned to start!!!

My "middle child" is also my only daughter. Her name is Indianna Lucy. We called her Indy, Indy-Lu, Looby-Lu, Lula, Boola and Lovely Girl. She really is lovely. She is very pretty and delicate. She is fairly tall and very slim. She has blond hair - which is a little darker after she recently decided to cut her own hair, and cut out the very blond natural highlights!!! Indy has blue eyes and other than that small difference, she looks very much like her daddy.

Indy was my second surprise baby. Dave and I had been married for only 6 weeks when we discovered that Indy was on her way. As Christians, Dave and I decided not to sleep together until after we had got married. We felt that this was what God wanted us to do. So, after having been very careful, we were very shocked to find ourselves expecting a baby so soon into our marriage. After the initial shock, we got used to the idea and began to enjoy the preparation.

At both the 12 week and 20 week scan, we were told that the baby was fine, but that it's tummy was bigger than average and it's head was smaller than average. This was not a problem or anything to worry about. In fact, we found it really quite funny. Was I pregnant with a Weeble? Or a snowman?

We weren't sure, but I was convinced that we were having another boy. The baby was very active, just as Roo had been. However, one night, whilst sleeping, my mum woke up. She felt that God had woken her up, as He wanted to tell her something. She listened as God reminded her of how, as a child, she loved to dance. In fact, she danced all the time and rarely stayed still!! She loved to float about and dance in her pretty tutu and ballet shoes. "This baby of Sally's will be a dancer,too" God said. And so, the next day, my mum told me of this and said she really thought that I was carrying a girl. She was right.

Indy is very girlie. She loves pink. In fact, she asked Father Christmas for "pink fings" one year. She loves make-up and heels. She has more handbags than me!! She loves having her hair done and we often paint each other's toenails. She loves dancing and is always showing us her new moves. We try to have girlie time together every fortnight. We usually go out for a cappucino. Indy has been a coffee drinker since she, at the age of 2, she wandered into the kitchen, put one hand on her hip and the other against the wall and said, "Can I 'ave a coffee please, Mum?"

I really enjoy being a girl. I love the way that we relate to one another. I watch Indy, as she forms friendships with the girls around her. Since they met, her and Elizabeth have been very good friends. Indy says that Elizabeth is her "bestest friend in the whole world". Sometime they "fall out", but they always seem to make up. Indy has other girls with whom she is friendly and will also mention Harriet, Erin and Charlotte when asked who her favourite friends are. But it is always Elizabeth who comes first. She cries when they argue and is beside herself if Elizabeth is ever absent. She REALLY loves her. I suspect that they will be very close for a very long time.

Indy is also wildy and passionately in love with our cats, Blackberry and Daisy. She kisses them, cuddles them and has been known to wrap them up and put them into her doll's pram. They love her too, purring as she sweeps them up into her arms. They are her babies and she is hopelessly devoted to them, as any mummy would be.

Whenever I pray for Indy, I ask God to make her a "strong and mighty woman of God." I pray that she will always know that she is beautiful and will never struggle with bad self-image or low self-esteem. And I pray that she will be pure, all the days of her life. I see signs of that purity in her. She is happy to say sorry when she is at fault. She tries to speak kindly of others. She loves Jesus and enjoys singing to Him and making up songs of worship for Him. I have always known that she is good and is precious to God.

But there is one conversation that has changed the way I see my daughter. After hearing a similar story in an assembly at school, Indy told me that she did not want many presents for her 6th Birthday. Instead, she wanted to raise money for charity. She had decided to ask people to give her money to pass on to "people who don't have a home". I was so moved by this. You see, I realised that God wants to use my daughter. He doesn't just want her for a "sunbeam"; He wants her to be a vessel for change, compassion and blessing. He has great plans to love others through her. He sees the potential in her and He speaks to her. She is not just a little pretty girl, she is already a Culture Changer.

And I am so proud of her.