June 29th was the day we held Douglas' Eagle Scout Court of Honor. His official Eagle date is April 22nd when he had his board of review. Douglas has always loved scouting and the adventures involved and even when it came time to buckle down and finish up, he worked hard and had a great attitude about it. This was truly his award... with a little nudging from his parents:).
Selecting his project was a little difficult. He searched lists of ideas online but just couldn't come up with the perfect one. He knew he wanted to do something with sports but wasn't keen on painting bleachers or cleaning up ball fields. So, after a lot of effort we found a place called Sportsgift. They are located in California and accept equipment of all kinds to give kids the opportunity to play sports that may not be able to afford it on their own. Some of the equipment stays in the US but a lot of it is shipped worldwide. Douglas feel in love with this concept immediately and the rest is history. He distributed fliers in our neighborhood specifying a date that equipment could be left on the porch for pick up. He also put a bin in the practice facility for many super league baseball teams. He raised donations to pay for the shipping costs. The support was overwhelming. In all, he shipped 5 LARGE moving boxes of equipment, jerseys, cleats, deflated balls, etc. to Sportsgift. It was something that made Douglas feel like he had made a contribution to the world.
We shared our Court of Honor with the Bishop's family as Ryan Hutchison received his Eagle the same night.
Kelton Kleinman was Douglas' Scoutmaster and is now his Varsity leader. I know Douglas has a lot of respect and love for him.
My Mom's pin represents the reminding, and the reminding and the reminding that Douglas needed to stay on top of things. Sunday was a good day for us to plan and work on things.
Russell's Dad pin represents merit badges that they worked on together, advice, counsel and encouragement as well as a wonderful role model.
And, Douglas' Eagle represents a boy who went for it, worked hard, dug in, took charge and finished what he started. What a great tone to set for his future.
Douglas got a little emotional as he took a minute to thank all of those that helped him along the way.
I really believe the phrase "it takes a village to raise a child". Douglas has so many wonderful examples in his life. I love this pictures of him sitting between his Uncle Ben and Uncle Dallas in the Eagle's Nest. He has other uncles that aren't Eagle scouts that are great examples to him. His Grandpa didn't earn his Eagle either but helped a whole slew of boys earn theirs as he served many years as his ward Scoutmaster. He has been there every step of the way...taking Douglas camping, bribing him with pocket knives, rewarding him with $100 once he received his Eagle. Remember Grandpa, what you do for one you have to do for all! Grandma Orchard/Gardner is also very supportive and encouraging and we know our late Grandpa Doug must be very pleased of his namesake.
I am so pleased that Douglas worked so hard to earn this award. I have seen him mature, become more responsible, learn how to communicate better, discover new interests, and learn how to lead. He continues to be a great example to his younger brothers and cousins. In fact, Stockton is following right along in his footsteps. The night after Douglas was honored, Stockton received his Bear award and advanced into the Webelos den.
As he got dressed for pack meeting he told me he wanted to honor his uniform and look nice like Douglas had the night before. Douglas even helped him get his scout shirt ready with all of the proper awards and badges attatched.
These boys of mine are growing and becoming right before my eyes. I worry and hope and pray everyday that I am giving them what they need to make the right choices, to feel the spirit, to lead instead of follow. It is such an overwhelming task but they give me reasons everyday to be pleased.
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