It's a Major Award!

Last night was awards night at our local AWANA program. The boys worked very hard this year on their books!

Colson finished his 2nd Cubbie book. (Cubbies are children 3-5, before kindergarten) The Cubbies say one verse per week, all year long. Colson longed to be a Cubbie and has loved the past two years. He's sad he'll no longer be a Cubbie, but he's excited to move on to Sparks next year with Brogan.

It was hard to get a photo of him because he was in the back row the entire time they sang their songs. But here he is bounding down the steps to get his goody bag and Book 2 ribbon.

Brogan worked terribly hard this year and exceeded everyone's expectations, even his own! Brogan earned his Book 2 award in Sparks. He said all the sections in that book, and then he went back and said them all again. After reciting the book a second time, he said 7 extra sections to complete the criteria for his book review patch. On his vest, the green patch is the review patch and the bejeweled crown is his book award.

Brogan said all year that he didn't think he could do it. But we just worked a few minutes a day, every day, and he surprised himself!

This picture is kind of funky. Brogan was standing in a crowd of Sparks, and I don't know who any of them are. I didn't want to put their photos on the blog unless I knew them, do I had to disguise them.

Here are Braden and his friend S. receiving their awards. Braden finished his 4th T&T book this year. (T&T is for grades 3-6) He earned his Timothy award for having completed all 4 books. This is significant to Braden and M. , because M. earned a Timothy award way back in the dark ages when he was in AWANA.

Braden and S. also completed their book reviews, called "Silvers" and "Golds." There are 32 Silver and Gold sections, which consist mostly of service projects, research projects, or extra memory work related to the theme of that year. The very last Gold section requires the child to review ALL of the material and verses from all 4 books! It took Braden 2 thirty-minute sessions to say it all! But he did it!

Braden has completed the Silvers and Golds for each book, and he says he's proud he did it. But he doesn't think he'll do them in the future. "They're too much work!" he says.

Look at them! Aren't they adorable? S. looks so happy and proud. (Rightly so!) Braden looks so serious. I think that's relief I see on his face.