BREATHE at the August Kick-off

It's a Girl Scout weekend, to be sure!  Sunday is the end of our Breathe Journey series, and I'm very sad that it may be the last time I see some of these girls!  We had a GREAT group of 11 who earned their AWARE, have almost completed ALERT, and who will have another month to complete AFFIRM on their own.  I'm hoping we can schedule a celebratory meeting in September or October, so that they can share their successes with us and each other. 

And Saturday is the August Kick-off!  I'll be co-teaching a class with Susan Monk about Award Recognitions and the Attitude of Gratitude that we are hoping will permeate our council.  It should be a really good session, especially since we have plenty of time for feedback from our class members.  If you are not able to attend, you can see our Matrix of Thanks and a summary of our class on line.  I think Shellie said it should be up on the Volunteer Network next week, along with the other class info.

I'm also going to host a BREATHE break-out session in the morning.  And to be sure, I'll be bringing my props to show how we tried to infuse the girl-led piece into the Journey.  We had some success, some failure, and everything inbetween!  These girls are all about the snack and crafts, but they have also gotten interested in the topics surrounding the air we breathe.  One Take Action Project involves the creation of a coloring book and story about why smoking is bad for you. And the other is a girl-written satire of the Wizard of Oz, talking about how polluting the planet is bad.  I wonder if it's titled the Wizard of Ooze?  I'll let you know....

One of the happy parts for me, in getting ready for the Kick-off, was that I reacquainted myself with the It's Your Journey - Customize It planning guide.  Lesley Finch gave it to me 2 years ago, and I have to confess, it was tough for me to wrap my brain around at first. Now, after 3 Journeys and teaching the GSLE trainings, I've come to see the guide as a useful tool!  Pages 26-35 make sooo much more sense to me now!  Not only for troop meetings, but for a series as well. If you have a chance to buy/borrow a guide, I bet you'll find it helpful as well.

See you at the Kick-off!