Young Womens Program...What a wonderful program!

I have two beautiful daughters in Young Women and sometimes it is hard to believe. Part of me doesn't like that they are growing up and then part of me is excited that I can talk and share with them these exciting years of their lives. I remember fondly my Young Women years and it has been so neat to share ideas and watch them work on their projects.

Our ward encourages the Young Women to work on the personal progress and complete the program before their sixteenth birthday. There are seven values and each project requires a minimum of ten hours.

Kierstie has taken this challenge to heart. She has two projects left and actually has challenged herself to finish well before her sixteenth birthday. Her goal is to finish before 12/31/08.

One of her two remaining projects is a nursery toy revamp. Kierstie and I decided what a fun way to do a toy revamp then to have a "toy shower" (like a baby shower, but for the nursery). We made invitations for all the sisters in the ward. The shower is scheduled for tonight December 3 6:30pm at our ward building. Last week, Kierstie organized an activity with the other girls to come out to the ward building to clean and dispose of broken nursery toys, books, etc. We made great progress in accessing the needs of the nursery and have been conveying that need with announcements among the different auxillaries. Lastnight Kierstie baked chocolate chip cookies to be shared as refreshments. Tonight we will host the shower with games, refreshments, etc. Probably tomorrow evening Kierstie and I will go through the nursery again and replace the older toys, books, etc with the gently used or new toys that are donated tonight.

Kierstie's last project, which she has already been working on, is making intregity quote books for each young woman within our ward. She made the book for herself and then decided it would be nice to share with the other girls, as well as help her with more hours in the integrity hours requirement.

I am very proud of Kierstie. She will have completed her goal to receive her YW Recognition before her fifteenth birthday which is December 19, 2008. She is sooo cute. She made the comment "what will I do once I have completed my personal progress"? I as well as her wonderful leaders have told her that she can then spend her time working with the other girls and then when sixteen sneaks up and keeps her busy, she will not have to stress about her goals in her life at that time. This will also give her the opportunity and time to help me work with Cozette on her personal projects.