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Sunday, September 20, 2009

It's 4-H Time!

According to the Weather Channel....Fall has arrived. I think that Yuma missed that forecast as our temperatures are still projected to be hovering around 108 degrees for the next week. That aside, everything else is starting to feel like Fall. School has been in session almost a month, and it's time to sign up for 4-H!!

For those of you who don't understand the 4-H organization, here's a brief overview. 4-H is a youth organization open to children from 9 to 19 years of age. It encompasses many projects with the ultimate goal of teaching youth leadership, responsibility, and citizenship.

4-H has been a part of my life since I was nine years old. I started in a Foods project and added more projects over the years. I attended the National 4-H Congress, Citizenship Washington Focus and learned that the world is so much bigger than Yuma. Through 4-H, I learned so many lessons that apply to my life today. No wonder my daughter is a member of 4-H too!

I have watched her learn how awesome it feels to win a competition, and how to be a good sport when she doesn't. With animal projects, you definitely learn responsibility and the inevitable facts of life and death. She has learned about politics and how sometimes it's not important what you know but who you know. All of these life skills she will use for the rest of her life.

She has also learned how to actually practice being a Christian through 4-H. She has learned to turn the other cheek when people say hurtful things and how to stand up for others when they have no voice. She always tithes her income from her animal projects and God has blessed her with awesome bunnies to boot. It is amazing the lessons she has learned in such a few years.

I'm not actually ready to start the chaos that is the 4-H year, but I am excited to see old friends again. I often am feel like I benefit more from Kelsie's hobbies than she does because of the awesome friends that I have made.

So here's to another 4-H year......craziness and all!