Young Womanhood Recognition Award

Miss Abigail achieved a milestone this month. Some of you may remember this post, where Abigail describes her first ten-hour project for the Personal Progress program sponsored for the young women of our church. She was just twelve years old at that time and just beginning the program. Abigail set a goal last year to finish all the requirements to complete the program and get the award. She finished up in December and I am really very proud of her. It isn't an easy thing, especially if you do it right. Many young women don't complete the award because it just takes too much effort in an already busy teen-age life and the time just runs out. Young girls really can't do it without some mentoring and that just isn't always available to all girls. So, I certainly don't judge or criticize, and I am glad that Abigail has had the right opportunities and good help available.

There are six categories in which the young women set personal goals. They need to complete several learning activities and projects within each category and then finish up with a ten-hour project of their choice that represents what they have learned about that value. The minimum requirement is ten hours, but most of Abigail's projects took many more hours than ten. The values center around the character traits of Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity and Virtue. Abigail's projects resulted in knowledge and skill in photography, sewing, hospitality, cooking, service, and so much more. You have actually seen many of the results posted here on the blog. I asked Abigail to write her thoughts for this post:

"I've just completed Personal Progress, a program designed for young women ages 12-18. The program helps us come to know who we are and what we can accomplish now and in the future. It helps us draw closer to God. Now that I am finished, I've thought a little bit about what was the most meaningful part of Personal Progress for me.

I think looking back and seeing how much I've grown as a result is very meaningful. Through Personal Progress, I have learned to appreciate my worth and the worth of others. I appreciate the value of a knowledgeable and wise mind and the importance of a kind, honest and virtuous character and ultimately, who I am. I am a daughter of God, who knows and cares for me. I am worth more than any amount of money, and so are all of Heavenly Father's daughters. I look back on the time when I was twelve years old, and now, at sixteen I see how much I've grown. A little maturity helps, but a lot of that growth I can attribute to Personal Progress. It has given me a running start in the race of life. I can now go on and become the woman God would want me to be, and help the other young women in my ward (congregation) in their Personal Progress as I go." --Miss Abigail

My First Value Project - Faith

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When I turned twelve years old, I became part of the Young Women in my church. Young women are encouraged to participate in a program called “Personal Progress.” This program focuses on eight values which teach me who I am as a daughter of God. The values are: faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity and virtue. Learning and acting on these values will help me be a faithful young woman. I want to help build the kingdom of God.

Each value has a list of several activities to complete. Once I have completed those activities, I choose a project to do that is related to the value. The project must take at least ten hours of work. I started with the value of faith. One of the practices of my church is to pray. I was having trouble remembering to say my morning prayer. So, my mom suggested that I make a pillow with the words “don’t forget to pray” on it. Every morning when I made my bed, I would see the pillow and remember to pray. I thought it was a good idea.

The first thing I did was to make the design. I love cats, so I used a picture of a sleeping cat and some flowers from an embroidery transfer design. I traced everything onto a paper the size of the pillow top. We don’t have a light box, so I taped everything to the window to trace. I found a cute font on the computer and printed the words. Then I taped the words to the design also.

Once I had the design on paper, I took a transfer pen and traced the design onto the pillow top.

Then I chose the colors I wanted to use, and began embroidering the design.

After I finished the embroidery, I made a little patchwork border from fabric scraps and sewed them around the edge. Then I sewed a backing for the pillow top and it was finished.

The project actually took about 16 hours and I love how it turned out. The pillow does help me remember to say my prayers, as long as it isn’t buried under a pile of clothes on my bed. That is another project waiting somewhere down the road, lurking in the bushes. Maybe I’ll report on solving that problem later.

Respectfully submitted by Miss Abigail.