Sam Finally Gets an Eagle

Sam wanted an Eagle before he turned 16, but things just didn't go that way.  He finished his project in May of last year, but getting the paperwork done and scheduling a board of review took us over half a year. Finally on Jan 28th he was awarded the Eagle.  Then we just had to wait for it to all arrive from America.  It showed up the end of February, so we finally got to plan a court of honor for him.  My Mom and Dad were able to fly over and join us for it.  They also wanted to go see Prague- something they had never done while living 2 hours away from it for years!  Silly parents.  To be fair, it was closed to them for several of those years and as soon as it was open they did go shopping for china in the Czech Republic- just not all the way to Prague.  Well they didn't make it this time either:( Instead they did little day trips and helped me get ready for the night.  We made eagle cookies

 Decorating the cookies

 Those stupid black dot eyes ruined the cookies once you stacked them, so I made more frosting and covered the eyes over with white which I think actually turned out much nicer!

Here they are in their nest- Mom came up with that.  Pretty cute!

and mint stars

and fire cupcakes-

 my red ran out and it's not like you can just run to any craft store around here and find it (ha ha, craft store in Germany, right!- Ok they have some, but they're no Hobby Lobby or Michael's!)  So my fire, didn't look quite like fire, but I was pretty excited about the fact that I figured out how to do the three color in on tube thing!

Also, kindling and fire starters. 

 Someone told me they really liked the strawberry ones.  I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was just white chocolate with too little red food coloring in it.

The decorations were supposed to resemble a camping theme.

 S'mores for the take home Thank You gift

 I was trying to copy a sign I saw at a friends Eagle court of Honor, but our tiny craft shop didn't have good paper.  My mom found plenty of cute fabric, though, so I resigned myself to making it with fabric.  Mom didn't realize what she had done until I started making it.  Actually it went really fast!

 I told the boys they had to figure out what that sign said and there would be a prize for it.  One of them actually had a morse code cheat sheet in his wallet and figured it out!

 Our Eagle's nest with a thing of yummy popcorn for the Eagles to enjoy during the ceremony

We weren't allowed to light candles so I used this lantern that had removable lights that could be shielded with just the right colors!  And can you see the branch in the background?  I was looking for anything that would make it look more nature-y.  Rob and I went running one day and there was a trailer filled to the brim with cut branches with pretty little flowers all over it.  We went back later that day and took them all!  They worked great in the decorations.

The ceremony went well, even though I forgot to put in a few directional things- I will work on that for the next one. 

 Joseph's first honor guard responsibilities

 We found things for Grandma and Grandpa to do.  Just before it all started they were sitting down and looking at the program and they said, "Debbie, we didn't know we were supposed to do anything.  No one told us."  Oops!  Sorry!

 Eagle's in their nest

 Our Master of Ceremonies, Marc

 The YM Presidents wife and the YW president did a musical number for us.

 We tried to use as many of the scouts as possible.  Sam said, "no one is going to be there just to watch!"

 Alex was the latest Eagle scout so we had him give Sam the Eagle pledge.  

 Candace is the advancement chair and was super excited that we asked her to pin the Eagle on.  She was one of the first female cadets to graduate from the Air Force Academy, is Airborn qualified and made the cover of the New Era.  Now she has 3 kids and is out the Airforce, but that hasn't stopped her- she is a real go getter!

Ramberto who is the Scout Master is in the Navy and was good enough to get a letter from the garrison commander congratulating Sam.  The commander also awarded him- through Rambo- the Patriotic Civilian Service Award, because of the gardens he helped make on Kelley Barracks.  That is totally awesome and extremely rare to be awarded to a teenager!

Our senior missionary couple started a program where they gave pocket knives to all the New Eagles.  They continue the tradition even while on their mission.

 The video wasn't part of the ceremony and it was a little too small of a TV for people to see.  We couldn't find the projector.  So some hiccups, but in the end he got his award, 

everyone liked the treats. 

 He had a good time with his friends. 

We used all these guys in his ceremony.  Will, the one holding Sam, was the scout that began and ended the ceremony.

One of his non-member friends got to come and participate from a different troop.  He was part of the honor guard. 

 Rob had to pick him up from baseball practice, run over to another base and get Sam from track practice and then hurry them up to the church which was 20 minutes away when they aren't in the middle of rush hour traffic- which they were.  I was a little worried, but they made it with a couple minutes to spare. 

 At the very end of it all, Sam finally got to eat something!

Congratulations Samuel!