Yesterday was the most exciting day I've had in a long time! I've had a lot of happy days, but not a whole lot of "exciting" ones that I can think of. Last week I was in Pennsylvania visiting Marilyn Stoner. I told her, "I feel like I'm just waiting for the next phase of my life to begin. I Sense it's going to be great, but I just can't imagine what it is going to be like." I think I got a glimpse yesterday when I had a meeting with "Aware Central Texas," that's the child abuse prevention center here in town. The feeling's I got yesterday reminded me of Santiago the shepherd boy, from the book The Giver. Santiago said something very profound: "We all need to be aware of our personal calling. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend." I experienced enthusiasm yesterday, just like I felt the day I met Brett, every time I knew it was time to have another baby, and when each of them were born. I also felt that same feeling the moment I knew Mariela was meant to come to our family. I witnessed that feeling of enthusiasm countless times the last two years when I've realized over and over again that Marilyn and I were friends before this world even began. What a choice opportunity to have such a sweet friendship in my life. Another time I can remember is; the moment I was praying and heard the impressions come to my mind about Natalie Nicole, and of course one I never want to forget are the feelings I felt at Mariela's bed side. I was so happy and felt heaven so near as I was taking care of her and my six other wonderful children. All these experiences are exactly alike. They fill me up and make me feel complete for that very moment in my life. It's as if destiny has finally caught up with me and I am completely and totally in tune with the thoughts of my Father in Heaven. It's that perfect happiness that brings heaven and earth to the same plain. Absolutely nothing else can compares to those feelings because they come directly from the Holy Ghost.
Initially, I was way too busy to meet with Aware. I tried to reschedule, but Harriet said, "No way! I want to meet with you! With your busy schedule I know there's absolutely no time that will ever be better. Please meet with me today." I reluctantly agreed even though I was right in the middle of planning a huge service project for our ward, trying to keep up on the house, laundry, and groceries, home schooling Rachel and Eathyn. I was also taking care of an abused woman in our ward and now this new hair brained idea of mine, I wanted to CHANGE THE WORLD a little at a time. I had scheduled a meeting at Temple High School with the "INTERACT" service club, that Rebekah's a member of. Harriet and I needed to meet to put together our agenda. My dream is for these teens to start bringing awareness to Central Texas about child abuse. This is the agenda we came up with:
Agenda for our meeting on November 8, 2012
Aware's vision:
*We want Temple High School to be a pilot program. We want to train the youth at Temple High School to teach anger management classes to their peers one day a week. These classes will teach:
*Not to accept violence at home, risks of dating violence, and how to avoid bullying, and lastly; anger management techniques.
* We'd like to see these teens teach these classes at the junior high and elementary levels as well. What an incredible leadership opportunity! The younger kids would eat up the information coming from older children.
* Get there help raising money
*Have them travel to other schools; first in the county and then across the state, to take this program to all the schools.
Schedule for the meeting:
Have Rebekah tell Mariela's story to her group? ( This will give her priceless leadership opportunities if she shares Mariela's story state wide and it will bring even greater purpose to her sister's mission on this earth. Mariela's abuse is one of the worst cases of child abuse. We need to share her story to bring purpose for her going through that horrible time in her life. We can be her voice. She would be honored for us to help other children. I know that's exactly what she'd want us to do if she was here to express her self now. It was only days after her death that Aware found us and asked us to share her story. I know there is no coincidence to that, it's all in God's plan.)
Sue Ellen then-
*talks about statistics
*Ask what problems they see and hear about among their peers at Temple High.
*Ask, "how can this group help educate the children in this school, junior highs and elementary?
*Ask them to have find raisers as well.
Our goal is to ask the right questions and hope to lead them to their own conclusion's that just happen to be our goals for the group. We want them to take ownership for these ideas that we feel would be a powerful opportunity in bringing awareness to our state. It could start a movement that this world needs desperately at this point of time on the earth. Plus, just think of the great leadership opportunities for the leaders of these groups all over the state and the scholarship opportunities.
By the time our meeting was over I was so filled with enthusiasm I could hardly contain the excitement! I knew I was finally on to the next phase of my life and I was looking forward to every minute of it!
As the day progressed my mind was filled with so many more ideas for this new program. Harriet said, "you are being inspired, these are great ideas!!"
While I was on the phone talking to Harriet she also said she had another special needs group that called and wanted me to come talk to them about discipline. I was shocked and excited all at the same time. I was thrilled with the idea, but I know I have a lot of work to do before I can speak to another group again. Dee Dee is our computer tech at Aware, and her and I are going to work on my power point presentation. What a sweet experience it will be to work with these parents and special needs children. The final thing that happened yesterday literally tipped me over the top with excitement I talked to Javonte's CPS case worker. They have dropped all sexual abuse charges against him which I believe will make him eligible for the school I learned about out in Hershey's Pennsylvania. It's a school for abandoned children that offers great opportunity after graduating from their school. They offer an $80,000 scholarship to the college of their choice, a lap top, clothes, and a hundred dollar bill in their pocket. I so desperately want Javonte to have this opportunity. I couldn't believe my ears they had dropped the charges!!! I was so excited!!!
Initially, I was way too busy to meet with Aware. I tried to reschedule, but Harriet said, "No way! I want to meet with you! With your busy schedule I know there's absolutely no time that will ever be better. Please meet with me today." I reluctantly agreed even though I was right in the middle of planning a huge service project for our ward, trying to keep up on the house, laundry, and groceries, home schooling Rachel and Eathyn. I was also taking care of an abused woman in our ward and now this new hair brained idea of mine, I wanted to CHANGE THE WORLD a little at a time. I had scheduled a meeting at Temple High School with the "INTERACT" service club, that Rebekah's a member of. Harriet and I needed to meet to put together our agenda. My dream is for these teens to start bringing awareness to Central Texas about child abuse. This is the agenda we came up with:
Agenda for our meeting on November 8, 2012
Aware's vision:
*We want Temple High School to be a pilot program. We want to train the youth at Temple High School to teach anger management classes to their peers one day a week. These classes will teach:
*Not to accept violence at home, risks of dating violence, and how to avoid bullying, and lastly; anger management techniques.
* We'd like to see these teens teach these classes at the junior high and elementary levels as well. What an incredible leadership opportunity! The younger kids would eat up the information coming from older children.
* Get there help raising money
*Have them travel to other schools; first in the county and then across the state, to take this program to all the schools.
Schedule for the meeting:
Have Rebekah tell Mariela's story to her group? ( This will give her priceless leadership opportunities if she shares Mariela's story state wide and it will bring even greater purpose to her sister's mission on this earth. Mariela's abuse is one of the worst cases of child abuse. We need to share her story to bring purpose for her going through that horrible time in her life. We can be her voice. She would be honored for us to help other children. I know that's exactly what she'd want us to do if she was here to express her self now. It was only days after her death that Aware found us and asked us to share her story. I know there is no coincidence to that, it's all in God's plan.)
Sue Ellen then-
*talks about statistics
*Ask what problems they see and hear about among their peers at Temple High.
*Ask, "how can this group help educate the children in this school, junior highs and elementary?
*Ask them to have find raisers as well.
Our goal is to ask the right questions and hope to lead them to their own conclusion's that just happen to be our goals for the group. We want them to take ownership for these ideas that we feel would be a powerful opportunity in bringing awareness to our state. It could start a movement that this world needs desperately at this point of time on the earth. Plus, just think of the great leadership opportunities for the leaders of these groups all over the state and the scholarship opportunities.
By the time our meeting was over I was so filled with enthusiasm I could hardly contain the excitement! I knew I was finally on to the next phase of my life and I was looking forward to every minute of it!
As the day progressed my mind was filled with so many more ideas for this new program. Harriet said, "you are being inspired, these are great ideas!!"
While I was on the phone talking to Harriet she also said she had another special needs group that called and wanted me to come talk to them about discipline. I was shocked and excited all at the same time. I was thrilled with the idea, but I know I have a lot of work to do before I can speak to another group again. Dee Dee is our computer tech at Aware, and her and I are going to work on my power point presentation. What a sweet experience it will be to work with these parents and special needs children. The final thing that happened yesterday literally tipped me over the top with excitement I talked to Javonte's CPS case worker. They have dropped all sexual abuse charges against him which I believe will make him eligible for the school I learned about out in Hershey's Pennsylvania. It's a school for abandoned children that offers great opportunity after graduating from their school. They offer an $80,000 scholarship to the college of their choice, a lap top, clothes, and a hundred dollar bill in their pocket. I so desperately want Javonte to have this opportunity. I couldn't believe my ears they had dropped the charges!!! I was so excited!!!
