Arrrghhh!!! Avast, Mateys, it's the end of the year for the Bradford 4-H program ...

Well, it's the end of the year for the 4-H program here in our county. It's been a great year. Kali was president of the County Council. We were without an agent for a good portion of the year and Kali ran the program for the entire county during that time. She did an incredible, awesome job. She has grown so much this past year in her leadership skills. Our church sent her to Student Leadership University last summer where she underwent executive level training for a week. We both learned so much - it was the kind of training I received at the age of 37 in my previous employment.

Anyway, I digress. Last night was the long-awaited awards dinner where the members received awards for all their hard work during the year.

As you can assume from Kali's picture, the theme of the night was Pirates. We spent the afternoon decorating the Women's Club to look like a pirates' port. Many of the 4-H members dressed up in pirate attire.

A few of the brave adults dressed up as well. Here I am at our house before leaving. I added more to my costume when we arrived at the banquet. My favorite part was the hook :) I may have to change this to be my "about me" photo.

Kali worked very hard this year. She was able to complete 222.5 hours of community service, for which she received a certificate. Kali also earned her Emerald Award, the highest level of performance award that a member can achieve. She completed many additional duties to win this award - such as speaking in the community about 4-H, conducting community service projects at a club level, completing a number of project books, representing our county at a district level, attending district activities, various competitions, and many more things. I am just going off the top of my head here trying to remember. It took her literally all year to accomplish these things. I am sooooo proud of her!!! Kali was also given a beautiful plaque thanking her for all her hard work as County Council President this past year.

Here is my wonderful scrapbook club - Cloverscraps - or most of them anyway. This year I learned about an award a club could earn as a group. I completed the paperwork and we were able to complete 19 of the 20 requirements to earn our club the EMERALD AWARD. This is a huge accomplishment for a club. We had to be involved in various projects all year, and there were specific, detailed requirements we had to meet. Great job, Cloverscraps!!!! I love you!!!

Our banquet was held at the local Women's Club. The decorations were awesome! Here is the head table where all this past year's officers were seated. The meal was catered by a local steakhouse. What I got to eat was really good. They started the awards just as our table received our steak dinners, so I didn't get to enjoy it as much as I would have liked to, but the bits I got were tasty and good.

As outgoing President, Kali emceed the program. All the officer had roles in reading narrative and handing out awards, Kali kept the program flowing and did the welcome and closing. In this photo, she was doing the closing, thanking everyone for coming, congratulating the members on awards earned and won, and giving announcements of upcoming events. Someone had given her a hand-written note at the last minute - she tried to read the handwriting and did her best, but here you can see her looking up for help and saying, "I can't read it" with a smile on her face. It was great!

Congratulations to all the 4-H members and leaders and volunteers for a great year. Everyone worked hard and worked together as a team. It was an incredible year.

Things are going to be changing here at our home as we step down from most of our 4-H activities to concentrate on home school and high school. Kali is not happy with this decision, but she is understanding and willing to comply. For 8 years now, our life has been scheduled around church and 4-H, fitting our schooling in where we could. I decided something had to give and it wasn't going to be church or family. We have been so dedicated to 4-H, with Kali at times being in 4 clubs, plus on the County Council, and being a junior leader in another club, plus being an officer in every club and on the council. Our commitment to 4-H has been phenomenal. While our level of commitment is changing, our support will still remain. 4-H is an awesome program and it has taught Kali so much. Thanks for 8 great years!