JT Earns His Arrow of Light in Cub Scouts

This was a big weekend for JT! Not only did he get his black belt, but he also earned his Arrow of Light in Cub Scouts.

The Arrow Of Light is the highest rank in Cub Scouting, and is the only badge of Cub Scouting rank that may be worn on the Boy Scout uniform.

To earn the Arrow of Light badge, a Cub Scout must earn the Webelos badge plus five additional Activity Badges from selected groups. The Webelos Scout must additionally satisfy five other requirements designed to prepare the boy for Boy Scouting. Webelos Scouts who aspire to this achievement have worked very hard to get here.

So, once again, we are very proud of JT!

God & Country

JT recently earned his God & Family Religious Emblem. This is the 2nd of 5 religious emblems he can earn while in the Scouts program. In order to earn each of the emblems, he has to complete a multiple week course of study which includes a workbook that he completes. His counselor checks it and then our Pastor reviews it and signs it.

While a Cub Scout he earned the God & Me emblem. Now, as a Webelo, he earned the God & Family emblem. He will have the opportunity to earn the God & Church, God & Life and God & Service emblems as he progresses further into his Scouting experience.

These medals are to be worn for dress only and are medals that can carry through with him as he progresses into adulthood. This is one recognition Tim never had the opportunity to achieve as a Scout.

We are proud of JT's accomplishments so far and hope he continues on the Scouting path he's on and becomes an Eagle Scout like his father. We also hope that the God & Country curriculum also helps build his faith and his walk with God as he matures into a young adult.

JT & Dad Build a Karate Belt Display

JT and his dad have been working for the past couple of weeks on a belt rack for JT to keep his karate belts on as he earns his new belts. Tim came up with a design and he and JT went to Lowe's and bought all the materials they would need to get busy. Other than just a couple of cuts on some thin pegboard, Tim supervised and JT did all of the work himself. They had a great time working on it together and were excited to show it to me at each stage of progress.

My only contribution was printing out some ATA logos for JT to put on and then helping to search for the right letters to use for his name.

JT should be very proud of himself. He did the cutting, the sanding, the glueing, the nailing, the screwing, the painting, the staining... he did it all! I think this was also a great memory making time for JT since he'll have the belt rack hanging for years to come.

He has been so antsy to show his karate instructors and fellow students so he'll get to do that tomorrow when he goes to class. This morning, he couldn't wait to show Aunt KD, Uncle Bobby & Nana, so he carried it with us to church and then ended up taking it out and showing it to them while we were in the Famous Amos parking lot. (See photo below)

He saw one of the students from Karate America in the restaurant so he took it in to show it to him. He got lots of attention on his way in and his way out and stopped by a couple of people asking him about it. He was all smiles!

I'll have to take a couple of good photos of it once we get it hung on the wall and post them here. They made sure they put a shelf at the top so it can hold the trophy(s) he's sure to win one day!

JT's Cub Scout Advancement & My Birthday

Today JT advanced from a Webelo I to a Webelo II in Cub Scouts. It's hard to believe he only has one more year to go and he'll move up to Boy Scouts! My little boy is growing up!

They had their advancement ceremony in the outdoor Chapel in the woods behind the church because the fellowship hall was being used. The weather cooperated and it was fairly nice while we were out there. We celebrated with Pizza after the advancement ceremonies and a couple came out and brought a bunch of snakes, iguanas, a skunk and some other critters to show them. JT seemed to enjoy holding the tail end of this big snake.

Today was also my birthday and I had a really nice day. I had breakfast with my friend Traci, lunch with my friend Geri, several gifts from other friends, and I was sang to at least 15 times today. It made for a very special day for me!

Geri had me over for lunch and surprised me with this little cake complete with a cleverly crafted fake candle (since she didn't have any)! This other photo was from when KD and I celebrated our birthday's together at Sakuras Japanese Steak House with our husbands and Mom on Sunday night.

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Thanks to everyone who made my birthday special!!

Women of Faith, Zoo & SeaWorld

This has been a busy weekend so far for the Tungett family! Friday night and Saturday I went with 65 other women from my church to the Women of Faith Conference. I have traveled out of town to go to one of these before, but this was the first time it was held here in Jacksonville, Florida in their history of 12 years! The singing, preaching, teaching and worshiping was awesome! Imagine thousands of women in one room... laughing, crying, singing and just having a great time with their friends... that's what it was!

While I was enjoying my "girlfriend" time, my husband and son went on a Cub Scout trip out of town. Friday night they went to the Central Florida Zoo, a couple of hours away from home, and spent the night with other cub scouts in the pack and their families. They got to sleep in the Zoo and get a behind the scenes tour this morning. Then they went to SeaWorld in Orlando for a day of fun there. I would have normally gone with them and was sorry I missed it, but I wasn't going to miss the Women of Faith ... especially since I had been the coordinator who got our group together. So I spent the evening alone.... well, there were 3 men in my bed.... Balto, Kobe and Onyx. (2 dogs, 1 cat .. basically a total of about 130 lbs of hair covered companions sharing the bed with me!)

From all accounts, the guys had a great time at both places I got to hear some of the stories tonight and look forward to hearing more about it tomorrow when he gets out of bed and thinks of all the things he forgot to tell me tonight. :)

Cub Scout Camping at Oleno

The Cub Scouts went camping at Oleno State Park this weekend. Tim is the Cubmaster, so he put alot of time in getting things ready for the weekend.

The first night ended up being a VERY wet night for everyone. Many people got flooded right out of their tents and ended up sleeping in their cars. The second night was much drier and those that stuck around the 2nd night stayed nice and dry.

The boys had several activities they did separately with their den leaders and they also did things altogether as a pack. The park was really nice and we enjoyed a little tour about the CCC and the work they did and the buildings they built. We also had a nice hike through the trails.

You can see more of the photos here...