Girl Scout Bronze Award

We knew moving would be hard on all of us, but mostly for Maddie. She was 10 years old, had been at the same school since kindergarten and has had the same group of friends for all of her school years. She was active in dance, Girl Scouts and enjoyed a full schedule of playdates. Would things ever be the same again in our new hometown?

After much prayer and thoughtful consideration we knew that we were supposed to relocate and we also knew that God would provide for all of our needs as we made this transition. Some days it was harder to hold onto this promise than others. Maddie and I spent many a night crying together over not having friends to play with. Recess and lunch were very uncomfortable those first days and she can only stay entertained at home with me, Owen and James for so long!

Slowly, as the months went by, God's faithfulness was revealed in tangible ways. We met a wonderful mother and daughter who took Maddie and I under their wings and made us feel welcomed. This led to meeting a second mom and daughter at school and soon Maddie had a couple of girls to play with at recess and lunch. She also began to have playdates once again and that made her REALLY happy!

Things are different here, but equally good. God never opened the door for a new dance class, but through one of Maddie's new friends we did find a top notch Jr. Girl Scout troop that Maddie joined.

This year they were working toward the Bronze Award. It's the highest award earned by Jr. Girl Scouts. The girls had to earn several badges and do a community service project. For their community service project they chose to throw a baby shower for a local pro-life community pregnancy center. The girls had a tour of the facility, discussed the needs with the staff and had several meetings planning the baby shower.

It was held at a local park and other Girl Scout troops as well as community members were invited. The girls did a fabulous job planning, setting up, manning all of the activity stations and cleaning up at the end. People donated a bundle of baby items for the pregnancy center and they will then go out to teenage moms and other moms in need in our local community. It was a great project and the girls learned the importance of giving back to their community.