Thursday, September 9, 2010

Young Women Values of LDS church


I am a proud member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a young woman I was given the opportunity to earn the Young Womanhood Recognition Award. This award takes 6 years to earn. There were 7 values with corresponding colors. You made goals (at least 2 per year for each value) that helped you develop these values. Your last 2 years you did 2 projects each year that took a minimum of 20 hours each. I was so proud to earn this award! I wore it proudly for years. But after having children I was replacing the chain all the time. My children loved to pull on my jewelry and broke the necklace so many times that I quit wearing it.

A couple months ago I was on a social networking site and ladies were talking about why they don't wear their awards. I decided I would design a necklace that a small child couldn't easily break that would display the award and have meaning to those who had worked so hard to earn it. This is what I came up with.
The medallion sits at the bottom and is flanked on either side by 8mm crystals that correspond to the 7 values.
Faith- White
Divine Nature-Blue
Individual Worth- Red
Knowledge- Green
Choice and Accountibility- Orange
Good Works- Yellow
Integrity- Purple

The program has recently added an 8th value, virtue. I chose not to include it on my necklace since that was not part of the program when I earned my award. I am very happy with how it turned out and am now contemplating a charm bracelet that will incorporate the medallions that I earned leading up to this award and wire beads in the value colors. So stay tuned to see my first foray into making my own beads!