Shane's Eagle Pics, Finally

Okay, I know I didn't post the pictures when I swore I would last time, but thinking I was getting better only lasted a few hours when I developed a really bad ear infection. And, I needed help getting pictures off the cameras, which took longer than the MINIMAL TIME I spent on the computer over the last several days! Minimal, I tell you. . .only long enough to surf Facebook for a FEW MINUTES, Debbie! LOL :)

Shane's Court of Honor was on March 1. It was a lot of work to get ready, but it really went well. We found ourselves in the unique position of having it announced in three different wards, since our old ward was dissolved and redistributed. It was a very strange feeling, like he was a scout without a troop or something. We were very thankful for the great support we had--we had a really good crowd and even had to pull out extra seats, between former ward members, extended family and friends. We even had support from our new ward, who barely knows us.

Brittany was a lifesaver! She took the initiative in helping set things up, took pictures before it started, ran the camcorder during and led the music. Her friend Elisabeth took over the camera after it started. I was very grateful for Brittany's support; I was so tired by then!

Shane did a little freak-out on us and disappeared 45 minutes before it started, while we were setting up. He texted Kelly and said he just had to get away, and we were like, "You kind of need to be here!" He was freaking out about so much attention being directed at him, and thought we were going overboard with everything, which we really weren't. He just had never seen all the work that goes on behind the scenes to put one of these on. I think we did a nice job, but as far as displays go I've seen people go a lot more elaborate than we did; that aspect was pretty low-key. We had a table for his Eagle Project, which was constructing storage shelves for a nonprofit organization here in Orem called Kids On the Move, which provides early intervention for infants/children with developmental delays. We had some framed pictures (one of which has Shane rolling his eyes as he gave me the obligatory Mom hug after getting one of his awards; I couldn't resist!), a laptop playing one of his movie trailers, and a table with things representing his different interests.

Something that we did that I haven't seen a lot in other courts of honor is that we had opening and closing songs. Shane's best friend Nathan had that at his Court of Honor, and I thought it added a really nice touch so we followed suit. Four of Shane's cousins did the Color Guard, ranging in age from Cub Scouts through Scouts, and one of his friends from the troop conducted it. The speakers were all from our old ward--a brother who is a Silver Beaver, Shane's Young Men leader and our former bishop. Shane presented mentor pins to three men from our former ward who have been strong positive influences for him in scouting. One of them is currently in Thailand for work, but sent an email to be read. That meant a lot to Shane, because this brother was literally the only person who kept him hanging in there at one point. At Shane's request, Kelly administered the Eagle Oath and that was really cool. My brother Fred read the story of The Eagle and The Chickens and then invited all eagles to the Eagle's Nest, which ended up being huge! It was really cool to see Shane join them and sit next to my husband in the nest.

We had a little miracle happen in connection with this. Kelly's dad told Shane several years ago that he had something special to give him when he earned his Eagle. He died about 18 months ago and we never knew what it was he wanted to give him. Of course that was something that Shane wanted presented at the Court of Honor, so Kelly decided to give him a combat knife that his dad had given him several years ago. He had a feeling that was the right thing to give him (Kelly's dad was a retired Army colonel and served several tours of duty, including the German occupation after WWII, the Korean War and two tours of Viet Nam). Then about a week before the court of honor, Kelly was talking to his mother and she said that she had gone out to where his dad's tools were in the garage and found a knife in a sheath with "Trooper" burned into the sheath. "Trooper" was his nickname for Shane. She sent it in time for the court of honor and it turned out to be almost identical to the knife Kelly was going to give him, and we feel that that was what his dad had intended. We definitely felt his presence and influence in the weeks preparing, and that he was very aware of this milestone in Shane's life. One thing that Kelly reminded Shane of when he presented it to him was that Dad always had his own Eagle Award displayed in his medal case with all of his military awards, and his Eagle had the place of honor. He was highly decorated, and he always made a point to tell the boys he worked with in scouts that out of all of his medals, his Eagle was the most important to him.

Kelly put together a slide show to the song "Faith" from the TV series Enterprise. The lyrics to the song really apply to Shane and his experience, about not letting anything break him down. He has come through a lot and really hung in there through some tough peer and ward experiences. I'm grateful that he chose to finish and achieve this award, and I think that as time goes on he will be increasingly glad that he did, also.