4-H--- It Runs in the Family

A comment the Joi made last week on one of my posts has really got me to thinking.......

We are a 4-H family. I know that you all have probably noticed that by the number of times that I have mentioned various 4-H activities that I am always having to haul at least one of these kids off to....

I was a 4-Her for over nine years. My mother and grandmother were 4-Hers. Three of my four children are or have been 4-Hers. Salena has "aged out" and Seth will in about a week when he turns 19. Charlie was never very interested. Adam will soon be my only 4-Her left......

I do not think that I have enough words or space to accurately say all the good that this organization has done for our family. If it had not been for 4-H, I am afraid that I probably would have been one of those kids who "got lost" along the way. I am not going to air all of my family's dirty laundry on the Internet but frankly...... on a GOOD day, we were dysfunctional. My folks did the best that they could..... I wasn't an easy child, finances were tight, tempers were short and life just HAPPENED.

My county agent's name was Patricia Barkaloo. She was the toughest, strongest, finest woman that I have ever known. She had very high standards and somehow managed to convey to us how deeply committed she was and how much she cared for us. In my life, she filled in the gaps. She managed to do miraculous things.... with only one arm. She was born with this deformity but somehow, we all forgot that she even had it.  We called her "Mama B".

Through 4-H, I was able to take any interest that I had and explore it fully. I figured out that, quite frankly, if there was anything that you wanted to do...... chances were pretty darn good that you could do it if you applied yourself. It was the making of me at the time......

Neil and I have worked hard to provide our children with a much more stable family life but I am still very grateful to 4-H and our county agent ( love you, Cheri!!) for the many opportunities that they have given us....

This past weekend, we hauled up to Topeka to participate in the State Shooting Match. Both boys were in recurve archery and Seth shot one last time in black powder muzzle loading.

It was cold that morning! Poor Adam had a bad case of nerves....

They don't realize it now but these pictures will be very sweet reminders of good days when they are older.

After the competition finally got started, Adam settled down and began to enjoy himself. This is the FITA target. I have no idea what that means but they shoot arrows at it at 20 and 30 meters for juniors like Adam.
Seth is a senior so he had to shoot at 30 and 40 meters.

The second part of the competition was called "silhouettes". They were actually 3-D models of different critters. As you can see, Adam was feeling much more like his old self by the time he got to this station.

I always like to watch Seth shoot. He is very serious about the whole business. I am always amazed that this composed, competent young man is actually MY SON.......

He only has so much patience with is mother....

When he got to his last shot, he stopped for just a minute. He has a certain routine that he does before each shot. Deep breath, bend at the knees and straighten, take another deep breath and raise the rifle to shooting position, take aim and fire. This time, he just stood for a long moment looking down the line at the chicken target. This was his last shot as a 4-Her. End of the line....... all done..... finished. He wanted to make it count--- and he did. Hit the target square on and sent it flying. Bravo, my boy, bravo! You don't always win but you ALWAYS finish strong. My heart can't hold in much more pride.......

Budgets are tight. Funding is hard to come by. The Extension Service regularly comes under scrutiny and often is criticised as being old fashioned and out of date. Some states have almost completely eliminated their 4-H programs........ It would truly be a sad day if we as a county were to lose this valuable investment in our young people.