Call me biased, but I think my sister Kaley is one of the coolest kids on the planet. We have nine years in age difference, but it doesn’t seem to matter. We are like two peas in a pod. She is into the same stuff I was as a kid: showing cattle and giving speeches. Yesterday, my mom and my sisters, Kaley and Courtney, went to Sioux Falls, S.D. to attend the 70th Annual Sioux Empire Fair to watch Kaley compete in the 4-H CHARACTER COUNTS! speech contest.

Like any good, older sister, I taped her speech and critiqued her when she was finished. When she didn’t make it to finals, I encouraged her to find areas of improvement and give it a shot next year. For the remainder of the day, we watched the other speeches, attended the free pork luncheon for Ag Appreciation Day and then ditched the fair to head to the mall shopping (it was an all-girl trip, what did you expect?) Anyway, it got me thinking. We get so involved in our day-to-day tasks, chores and errands, do we often slow down to make sure our character is in check? Do you have your respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, trustworthiness and citizenship with you at all times? CHARACTER COUNTS! is a great program to ask ourselves those questions to make sure that we are the best we can be.

For more information on this program, link here. And, Kaley…Happy Early Birthday! You’re almost a teenager! The big 13! I’m proud of you, little sister!