INVESTITURE AND REDEDICATION CEREMONY

Tonight we had an Investiture (for our two new girls) and a rededication (for the girls who have been Girls Scouts for awhile now) ceremony.

We started out by using a candle that was once lit by candles that can be traced down back 99 years to the first candle lit by Juliette Low (the founder of Girl Scouts) at her first Girl Scout meeting.

The girls learned that it was Juliette's plan to show the golden flame on the candle and explain that the Girl Scout Law and Promise are like that flame that burns always inside of them.

As the candles were lit, we discussed how the flame symbolizes a Girl Scout's honor that must never be dimmed. When a Girl Scout makes a promise, she is placing her honor, the brightest thing in her life, before her fellow Girl Scouts, her leaders, her parents and her friends. Girls should always remember that giving the Girl Scout Promise on one's honor is a serious thing.

We stood and said the Girl Scout promise "On my honor, I will try, to serve God and my country...

The girls went on to say "On my honor I will try to help people at all time."

They finished up with saying "On my honor I will try, to live by the Girl Scout Law".

The new girls said they wanted to be in Girl Scouts and will do their best to follow the Promise and the Law at all times.

>The girls already in Girl Scouts, recommitted themselves to Girl Scouts and also said they would continue to do their best to follow the Promise and Law.

Brittnee was now an office Junior Girl Scout! We welcomed her to the Troop, gave her a patch and a certificate to remember today by.

We are all very happy to have her as one of our Girl Scout sisters now.

Elizabeth was excited about becoming an "official" Girl Scout now. We also welcomed her and she too got a patch and certificate.

We are looking forward to having a lot of fun times with Elizabeth in our Troop.

Nikki was happy that she got a rededication patch and certificate. She said she loves Girl Scouts and is happy she is in our Troop.

Her favorite thing we have done so far was going to the Angel Game and walking down in the field with our Troop banner.

Jesse was also happy about rededicating herself to Girl Scouts and getting her patch and certificate.

Her favorite thing about being in Girl Scouts was making and delivering Happy Socks to the cats at the cat rescue.

Trinity was excited about rededicating herself and said she was going to stay in Girl Scouts until she is finished with High School.

Her favorite thing we did was going to Camp Scherman and getting to go on a kayak.

When all the promises were made, patches and certificates handed out, it was time to end the ceremony. Candles were blown out and things got cleaned up.

We took time for a quick Troop photo.

Then we moved on to celebrate Girl Scouts 99th birthday.

We had cupcakes and punch.

We even sang Happy Birthday to Girl Scouts. It was fun to know we were part of a group that has been around for 99 years!

While eating, we talked about working on Bronze Award and what all we still have left to do.

We started to work on earning the Sign of the Sun. We must earn this badge as part of earning the Bronze Award.

It was soon time to leave so we all gathered did the Girl Scout Circle as a way to send each other off with well wishes.

Everyone crosses their arms, right over left, and holds hands. Each person thinks of a nice wish for the girl to her left. Once she has thought of the wish, she squeezes the girls hand to let her know she sent up a wish for her.

That girl then does the same thing, until everyone has had a wish sent their way.

We then say "Girl Scouts Rule", break apart and go home.

It was a different kind of meeting, yet a nice one. It was good being able to hear what the girls have enjoyed about Girl Scouts so far, talk about what they wanted to do in the future and to know, these girls are really a super group of girls!