Awards for John

We had a pack meeting last night, and it was so great. Unfortunately, almost all the pictures turned out blurry (what's the deal with that???). But I'm posting this one anyway:

This shows the frame Brother Wood made to show where the boys are in their advancements. Along the top are wood cutouts with the symbols of the ranks, from Bobcat all the way to Arrow of Light. He made a little plaque with each of their names on it, and they got to hang their names under their current rank. As they advance (and some boys did later in the evening) they get to move their name over. Very cool.

You can also see I'm wearing a pin Sister Wood made for all the mothers. Whenever a boy advances, he gets a patch for his uniform and the mom gets a pin. My pins have been sitting in my jewelry box all this time. I've been thinking I needed to come up with some way to display them. This pin solves the problem:

The ribbons on the left are blue and yellow, the cub scout colors. The ribbons on the left are in boy scout colors. So this should last me all the way through John earning his Eagle. (Yes, I'm assuming he'll do that.)
I wish I had a good picture of John getting his awards this time. Since this was the first time they'd had an "awards pack meeting" all summer, all the boys had lots of awards to get from the last several months. Like most the boys, John earned several belt loops, pins and arrow points, but what I really wanted to make a record of was him earning two awards that are pretty special to him.
The first one is the Wildlife Conservation Award or, as John calls it, "the panda badge."


When John and I went through his book when he first started cub scouts, he saw this award highlighted in the back of his book as an optional award that can be earned. He decided right then that he wanted it and never forgot that was a goal. We've been doing various things to work on it for the past year, so he was very excited to have earned it at last. (To see what John had to do to earn this, click here.)
Most awards boys earn in cub scouts are belt loops and pins, with only the rank advancements and arrow points being honored with an actual patch for the uniform. The panda badge is a patch and John cannot wait to see it on his uniform. (Now where did I put that broken needle? Ahem.)

The other special award he earned was the Religious Square Knot patch, one of only two patches that can be moved to his boy scout uniform when he advances to boy scouts at age eleven.

The requirements for this one vary depending on what church you belong to. There were several things John had to do which encourages an appreciation for God, for His creations, for others, and for service to the church.
I'm proud of every award he earns, but I have to say I'm most proud of that panda badge for one simple reason. John didn't have to earn that award, he wanted to. It was a goal he set for himself and he worked toward it. I hope that feeling of satisfaction will linger with him, and help him as he grows, because the goals and challenges will grow right along with him.