I have been so far behind, it's just overwhelming to figure out where to start. So, I'll start with our Young Women New Beginning program - it turned out AWESOME! I didn't get a chance to take pictures, but the girls did great! We have 3 new Beehives coming into the program this year, so that should help with our Beehive drought -except that we have a few Laurels leaving us this year as well.
We had a small presentation from the girls and the leaders, and they did GREAT! We talked about goals, values, purpose of the YW program, had a video presentation, and kept the program simple. I feel like sometimes we get so caught up on trying to make these recognition nights so perfect, we loose sight of the purpose -to highlight the YW. I'm SO proud of these young ladies whom I serve. They have such a spirit about them, each and every one. They make me want to do better everyday and I'm so grateful and humbled. We have about 10-12 girls that attend regularly, so we're a small but mighty group. I'm also grateful that even though they are each unique in their interests and qualities, for the most part, they're inclusive with one another and that helps keep the drama down.
Something that I've been very excited about is our new Progress Boards, or magnet boards for our new bottltecap magnet recognition. I thought it would be a fun way to add simple recognition and a visual of their time in YW's. They won't get a magnet for EVERYTHING, but for the bigger accomplishments - Girls Camp, Seminary, Value Experiences, reading scriptures, church basketball, EFY, the yearly YW theme, and maybe a few spontaneous ones for Sunday lessons. I had a friend from our ward cut out boards (he's a very good handy man!), made out of pressed board. Then I found a local place that will cut sheet metal for cheap, and had them cut 20 12x12 sheets of mid-range gauge metal. I painted the boards black and my 2nd counselor has a vinyl machine, so she did the girls names. I made bottle cap magnets - hundreds of them during Christmas break this last year. The initial investment took quite a bit of our budget from last year, but since we had so much left to use when I was called in October, it worked out great. They're excited about the idea of being recognized in such a simple way. We also included this year's YW CD, "Come Unto Christ", as well as a calendar from the dollar store with some goal setting.
For our dessert table, we enjoyed fruits and various items in the value colors to dip in Velata Chocolate (awesome fondue). Velata now offers big family size warmers that are perfect for large gatherings - we had 2 of them going and it was plenty. The girls and their parents really seemed to enjoy dipping. Clean up was super easy and we didn't have to wash out a fondue fountain. Some of our favorite items that we dipped in Velata: blueberries, strawberries, pineapple (the acid can make the chocolate clump up a bit though), marshmallows, blackberries, cherries, lemon cake, potato chips, and popcorn. We used the caramel chocolate - OH YUM! The table was decked out with balloons in various colors, along with little tissue paper puff balls.
Overall, the night was a HUGE success and the girl's are excited about what's to come for this year.
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