08 | April | 2013 | Nothin' 2 Prove

I know it’s not good to bury your head in the sand and pretend the world is a nice place. I must admit that I don’t read the news like I *should* because I just cannot stand to continually read about teens in trouble, stupid people who got busted for the 15th time for the same crime, little old ladies being beaten down, old people taken advantage of, babies being abused, teenagers being kidnapped and sold into slavery, and the worst part of the news is usually government, our jacked up healthcare, our human rights that our forefathers fought for being taken away. It just nauseates me.

I don’t care about celebrities, sorry, they are just people.

I have demanded that outside TV stay OUT of my house. It’s been a battle, because yes, I DO miss animal planet, TLC, Discovery, The History Channel.

I miss American Idol, and Duck Dynasty.

But I don’t miss the noise.

I don’t miss turning on the TV to arguing politicians, police cars at a crime scene, or ignorant people ranting and raving.

I remember my Father coming home at night, sitting in his easy-chair, turning on the lamp and reading the paper. As I got older, there was always an article he thought I “needed” to read. My Grandma used to cut out comics to share. She used to send me comics with her handwritten letters. My mom still sends me pictures, articles, and interesting tidbits from the newspaper.

I feel newspapers are soon to be a thing of the past. Kinda sad.

Sometimes I buy newspapers when I know there’s something special in there. One of those times is around fair time when the 4-H kids projects are in there.

On some occasions they feature the “good” kids instead of the ones going to jail for a drug bust.

Recently our 4-H Extension Agent went on a mission to get some more “good” stuff in the newspaper. It went like this:

I got a call from a newspaper reporter. We knew him because he has interviewed the kids before about their 4-H projects. He told me he “heard about” Morgan’s new colt project and he would like to interview her.

We interviewed with him, and then he came and took pictures of Morgan and her horses, and featured the article in the Sunday Alice 24-7. Barbie, our 4-H County Extension Agent, also had a part in the interview, and the article showed a side of our community, our hard-working 4-h families, our teenagers, that the world needs to see.

It featured Morgan’s love for horses, her work in all aspects of her 4-H horse project from judging to training to showing and then breeding. It mentions her researching and studying the genetic aspects of breeding, and then the breeding and foaling of her new baby. It mentions her work on imprinting, and her future goals to attend college and continue to learn and share what she has learned in the industry.

My girls love being a part of 4-H; they love their animals, their ranch life, and they will tell you in a heartbeat they can’t imagine NOT having the responsibilities they have. They are hard-working, hard playing, good ole farmkids. The world needs more farmkids, and more hard-working advocates for our kids like our extension agent Barbie.

The world needs to see more of these kids. I know they are out there!

Thank you Barbie for all that you do for our kids!

Enjoy Your Journey,

Chris

Saturday we loaded up our new 4-H truck 😉 to head to Edinburg for the District 12 4-H Fashion Show and Storyboard Competition.

If you didn’t catch my earlier post on the County Fashion Show, I’ll just do a brief recap. Smack dab in the middle of stock show season, horse judging and consumer decision making competition, the girls decided they really wanted to participate in the Fashion Show this year in the construction division. They had a fun (and stressful!) experience picking out patterns, designing, sewing and accessorizing formal gowns, even with the time crunch. The JWC fashion show in March was a lot of fun, and they had a little break before we went to District to compete.

As with all the other projects in 4-H, the Fashion Show is about way more than putting on a dress and modeling it in front of some judges.

They had to know the fiber content, style of their garment, and useability of the fabric, and tell about their sewing experiences. They also had to list community service, and leadership opportunities they had with their projects.

Taylor also chose to make a Storyboard, which is a really cool design project based around a central theme with sub-themes as well. This year’s theme was “Be True to Who You Are” and Dr. Seuss’ whimsical style of writing, quotations and design were a focus. We went to a workshop in February to learn about how to design and put it together, then off she went to design her masterpiece.
There are different categories for which the 4-Her can design a board with specific requirements to be met. Taylor made her original board in the “wearable” category and received a blue ribbon at county. She was able to make another board for District in a different category since another board made by an experienced Storyboard 4-Her was chosen to go to District in the wearable category. Taylor pulled off making a new board in the “accessory” category and really stepped it up a notch adding some things that she learned from other helpful, veteran Storyboarders. I was absolutely astounded by the finished product that she took to District! She did it completely on her own, and I didn’t even see it until it was finished and on the way out the door the morning of the competition!! She received a blue ribbon and top winner in her division! Way to go Taylor!

We had several other Jim Wells County 4-Her’s who made story boards that received top honors. I am always impressed by the hard work these kiddos do! All of the boards looked amazing!

Our JWC Fashion Show participants looked outstanding (as usual :))

These kids just never cease to amaze me at the things they accomplish as individuals, but they fit together like a puzzle as “the kids from Jim Wells County”. These are phenominal kids!

We had several with top honors, and one of our seniors will be advancing to state in June! We’ll be there to cheer you on Kristopher!

Our JWC kids and their fearless leader Barbie:

And now a picture journey of the Gunn/Hessek trio.

Taylor and Morgan “lost” their shoes shortly after they were judged. 🙂

My beautiful Morgan waiting patiently in her seat:

Taylor looking gorgeous in her peacock attire:

and another shot of her skin jewels:

Kaitlyn on the runway, looking like she’s doing the splits because they were all walking so fast I had a hard time getting pictures!!

Taylor on the runway with her very tall rhinestone studded heels:

Morgan on the runway (sorry, these are pretty blurry, but you get the idea!)

The decoration committee did an amazing job decorating the whole place in a candy theme. They made some very creative decorations, and really cute “real candy” centerpieces that were completely edible. Fun, fun!!