Beyond 4H to Make the Best Better

I have blogged a lot over the last nine months about the activities that we do with 4H.  Today I want to share how 4H also encourages to participate in activities outside of 4H, especially when it comes to serving others.

One activity for our family is a Wednesday night spaghetti dinner.  We started this service opportunity last fall after attending the dinner for ourselves.  This activity began with the Knights of Columbus (a men's service group).  The real intent of the dinner is to get college students together and share a meal after church.  We saw a way we could help and never looked back.

That first night, I just volunteered to make a salad.  We also cleaned up after the dinner was over.  We eventually became more involved in the preparation and just loved being able to share with the college students.  They encourage the boys to do well in school as well.  It became a mutual relationship.

Sometimes we would make a cake for dessert.  For a little variety we might make Lasagna or Chicken Alfredo to go along with the spaghetti.  About two months ago, I learned how much they were spending each week to  serve the red sauce and volunteered to make our family recipe.  The boys and I now make the red sauce every week and bring it to the student center.

This last Wednesday was the last of the semester.  We get a break for the summer.  We hope to start again next fall.  I took a few pictures to show the fun we have cooking and eating with the group!

And to completely change the subject....a couple of weeks ago I mentioned our attempt to keep a Luna Moth cocoon.  I promised if we were successful, then we would post our Luna Moth launch.  Well, we were pleasantly surprised this afternoon to the sound of scratching in our paper sack!  We opened it to find a beautiful moth eagerly awaiting its chance to fly.

The moth had been active a little bit each night inside its cocoon.  I really thought it would come out at night...so imagine my surprise when...not only did I hear it this afternoon, but then opened the sack to see it staring at me!  LOL...it was as if it was saying...I have been waiting for you...what took you so long!  It was quite active and stayed with us for a long time.

It crawled out of the sack and on to Henry's arm.  It then proceeded up to his ear!  I carefully took the moth out to our porch and let it continue its efforts to dry out.  It eventually flew away!  We were so happy to finally have the opportunity to see this process to the end.  The most amazing part was seeing the small hole from the cocoon that the moth crawled from to escape.  Truly amazing!