Reese at YW Girls Camp 2018

I cried after I dropped off this sweet girl at the bentonville stake center for camp. She’s having the best time, I am sure!  I miss her very much. I have been concerned about the heat and Reese getting dehydrated.  I’m so thankful for texts with pictures from mom friends who are up at camp as leaders. The theme is Peace in Christ and the sugar creek ward are the “peas” in Christ. They made a skit about group thera”pea” and they have a snap pea and a split pea a sweet pea and a black eyed pea and a chick pea. The twins, Hannah and Megan, are two peas in a pod. Pretty clever stuff. 

Last year, I was privileged to drive the girls to camp, but this year, I just dropped my girl off and gave them each a hug and a charge to be good to each other. I love love love those sugar creek young women.  They’re so lucky they get to spend the week with Reese! She has such a good influence on everyone she shares company with.  It’s only been a day and a half and we miss her steady and calming spirit terribly around here.  She’s full of light. I’m so happy for her that she will return from camp Terra Rose shining even brighter. 

Quincy and New Beginnings

Quincy and Reese attended Sugar Creek Ward New Beginnings, last night! The Young Women worked together to welcome the 2018 incoming Beehives and help them feel honored and special.  


The theme was Personal Progress is Sweet as Pie. The young women made really cute decorations of pies in each of the YW value colors and served pie for dessert. The class presidents spoke, along with Sister Allred (YW pres) and Bishop Conover, and Sister Blake (beehive leader). Cadence C, Quincy, and Kayla H were introduced to the young women and taught about how the program can lead them closer to Jesus Christ. 

Quincy’s December birthday means she won’t get to attend Girls Camp this summer with Cadence and Kayla and the other Beehives, but she looks forward to going next summer! She will be a lone girl in the 11 year old primary class for the Primary Program in the fall as well.  She’s very excited to advance from primary to Young Women and I have a feeling the last couple months will feel like a very loooooong wait.  Quincy is finishing up her Faith in God booklet and will hit the ground running on personal progress when she turns 12!  

Quincy, you are lovely. Welcome to Young Women! (almost) 

New Beginnings for Reese

Reese was introduced to the Sugar Creek Ward Young Women at New Beginnings last week with the other incoming 2016 Beehives. 

I still remember my own first New Beginnings and how excited I was about  Personal Progress, the YW values, theme, and program when I came home at the end of that night. I remember the scrapbooks we made, the two songs we sang, the friends who welcomed me, the journal I received from my YW president (still have it!), and how special it felt to be a part of such a formal gathering just for us. I'm still friends with the laurel who introduced me at New Beginnings and mentored me as a Beehive.  I loved being in Young Women, and was very excited to share it with my own daughter at New Beginnings.

 

The evening was different than any of my previous New Beginnings experiences I've ever had (they don't recite the Young Women theme or introduce the youth theme for the new year here), and a lot of the content went over the young girls' heads, so Reese was a little lost on understanding during the activity. I feel really bad for not preparing her better for the evening. Looking back, I should have oriented Reese about the young women's program, personal progress, how the structure of classes and ages work, and introduced her to the Young Women Leaders ahead of time. I kind of failed and sent her in blind and she came out asking me what a Mia Maid is, what the color thing was all about, if they have a presidency, what is a value project, what does "integrity" mean (hello, mom fail for missing that vocabulary word?) etc.  It's a lot. But it's a lot of wonderful. In fact, it's so wonderful that I'm really sorry I didn't teach her more about it ahead of time so she could better understand the testimonies and what the older girls were talking about when they stood up and presented value projects they'd completed.  Reese had many questions, but didn't seem to mind that she has learning to do. She was just happy to be at an activity for the "big girls". I love her eager attitude. 

She still just looked so little up on the stage with her peers, and even though she's actually older than 3 of them, they still tower over her in height. My mama heart pounded with refusal to accept change as I watched her giggle through a game (the theme of the event was NBC game shows) she didn't know any of the answers to, but the pounding settled when she nervously shrugged to me and signal that she didn't really care that she didn't know the answers. I breathed real relief that she's still just my baby dolly later in the evening, when she asked me, "what is a pick up line?" as some of the older girls shared their favorite "hey girl" meme jokes. I am totally ok with all that going right over her head :). 

If I'm being honest, by the end of the night I had decided I'm not sure I'm ready for her to grow up. 

"She's just happy to be here" is the truth I reminded myself all night. Timing for this program is perfect. Right at the potentially awkward age when girls start to crave acceptance and belonging, here, they are delivered a radiant group to be accepted right into, and the program grows with them. Brilliant.

When we got home I showed Reese some YouTube videos of family feud and jeopardy and a clip from Wizard of Oz where Dorothy enters Oz and the tv goes from black and white to "technicolor". The theme and all the cute get to know you games the girls played that night suddenly made more sense to her. She came home with a fun little jar of skittles, and I taught her a little more about the YW theme and values with their associated colors.  I vividly remember the months between January New Beginnings and when I actually turned 12 and joined the program feeling SO LONG. During that time I made a poster for my room with the YW emblem on it, and memorized the YW theme. When my birthday came, I was so ready to advance from Primary!  I think Reese will have a similarly welcome transition. 

Whether I approve it happening or not, this little girl gets to grow up. I have hung up a frame with the Young Women's Theme in her bedroom. They are empowering words to live by and carry with her through adolescence, and really, her whole life.  I'm glad she has a little Primary time left in her before December, and I'm also glad she has the rest of her life for these beautiful words and the values program to take on representation and meaning in her life. 

"WE ARE DAUGHTERS of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. WE WILL “STAND as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9) as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:

Faith • Divine Nature • Individual Worth • Knowledge • Choice and Accountability • Good Works • Integrity • and Virtue

WE BELIEVE as we come to accept and act upon these values, WE WILL BE PREPARED to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation."

2016 incoming Beehives L-R MaKenzie S, Megan T, Hannah T, Emily H, Finley S, and Reese at New Beginnings. The girls promised Reese they'll recreate this photo in a few years when she's had some time to catch up past their shoulders ;)

Congratulations, Reese! There are many new and exciting things ahead for you!