If you're like me, you've been following the Olympics since the closing ceremony of 2008. You may have also noticed a change in tone as some media coverage goes. For instance, this article written by Jere Longman of The New York Times about U.S. Olympic runner, Lolo Jones.
In a nutshell, Longman reminds us of the disappointment endured after Jones' performance in 2008, then proceeds to tell the world that her looks get her more attention than her "meager" skills (Okay, the girl got 4th place out of 24 people total including the semifinals. Really??). He attacks her stance to stay a virgin until she's married, and claims that she is too much of an open book. Ouch.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have this wild idea that we are supposed to be supporting our athletes representing our country in the arena. Is it not a big enough deal to simply have made it to the Olympics in the first place? Yes, gold is nice and I like to look at the medal count on my "Results" app and see that the U.S. is ahead of China, however, let's not lose sight of the bigger picture: becoming an Olympian is a big deal in itself. Obviously, by now you're better than someone. Also, the Olympics are supposed to be fun. This is the only time the entire world comes together with a sort of unity. We're still competing with each other, but we all form a temporary alliance where the only discord between us is left on the field.
Not to mention, how many cover-stories have we gotten to dive deeper into an Olympian's life and see the struggles they went through leading up to their stop in London? Some of these stories get pretty deep. I don't see this as a bad thing, quite the contrary, it gives us hope that our circumstances need not to define us.
There have been a few counter articles questioning the tone of Longman's attack on Jones, who has responded to the articles herself saying that the media has "ripped her to shreds."
Being a journalist may offer some opportunity for input of opinion, but being a journalist is also opportunistic for professionalism and perspective...unless you're the paparazzi. What are your thoughts?
This is a beautiful video. The violinist is Lindsey Stirling, you may have seen her on America's Got Talent. She was invited to Kenya with a company called VenTribe to make this video, and it's pretty incredible!
Other Credits:
Some of the local musicians who helped put together some of the African sound:
I live! It's extremely difficult to be updating without a computer, and I'm lucky if I get a moment to snag some time on my husband's...so finally, here is an update!
Last night was incredible. The women's ministry at my church is honestly, in my opinion, one of the greatest ministries you will ever come in contact with. It is through the JRW (James River Women) where God set a fire in my heart to find what true femininity and what a woman of God looks like (that, and of course writings from Leslie Ludy).
When I was in college, I was considering doing an internship working with troubled girls in St. Louis at a place called Mercy Ministries. As stated on their website, Mercy Ministries is an organization started by Nancy Alcorn that is a free-of-charge, voluntary, faith-based residential program serves young women from all socio-economic backgrounds, ages 13-28, who face a combination of life-controlling issues such as eating disorders, self-harm, drug and alcohol addictions, depression and unplanned pregnancy. Mercy also serves young women who have been physically and sexually abused, including victims of sex trafficking. Using proven methods, a holistic approach and professional counselors in a structured residential environment, Mercy has helped thousands of young women be restored to wholeness.
Please take a moment to watch their promo video here:
I was so excited to find out that my church was teaming up with Mercy Ministries and integrating them through our rallies and women's conferences. Last night, we had our women's rally themed "Run Like A Girl" where Nancy was asked to speak.
The truly incredible thing about it, is how much God has blessed this ministry to expand and transform lives, not just in the US...but now around the world! It is living proof that if you are doing God's will, He will provide everything needed. The fact that they can offer these programs free of charge and still be provided with the resources to open more locations WITHOUT government assistance proves that. I'm also excited to hear that they are beginning to build a location in Florida!
So now that you're acquainted with MM, what I really want to discuss is WHY this organization must exist. WHY is there such a large number of girls hurting and broken and trapped in darkness? Why are people abusive and hateful? How did we come so far from what God intended our lives to be?
It takes me to a conversation my husband and I had to have a few days ago. Although I never resulted to self-harm or drugs or erratic behavior, there are things that happened to me in my past that wounded me deeply. Things I had never told a single soul until I brought them to surface with my husband a few days ago, just to help him understand me better. Then I see the wounds in these girls and I'm left asking...
Why?
What is it in human nature that makes people treat others so terribly? To devalue and defile them without a single concern as to how that person may be affected for the rest of their life? It affects their choices, the way they see themselves, and it affects their relationships with other people. It's a snowball effect.
We've completely missed the point.
Mercy is a good term. We lack mercy. But even more, we lack love. We get so concerned about ourselves and our own needs. Or perhaps the abuse of others is how a person is trying to cope with their own wounds. But that doesn't make it right.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye
and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’
when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?
You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye,
and then you will see clearly to remove the
speck from your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:3-5
You know, it isn't impossible to enjoy life. To have lives full of love and mercy and understanding. It is achievable, but it isn't achievable through man alone. We need God's help. We can't truly experience life as it was meant to be without it...we really can't...because God IS love. God heals. God shows mercy.
That's why many of these girls have been to counselor after counselor and doctor after doctor trying to "heal" from their wounds, but the only place they've been able to find refuge is a place that greeted them openly without judgement and spoke into their lives the value and intention God had for them.
There's a lot to be said about speaking positivity and love into people's lives.
To love mercy.
----------------------------------------
I'd like to extend an invitation to all women out there. Every year, my church holds this huge amazing life-giving women's conference called Designed For Life. It is one of the most life-changing experiences you will ever encounter, and it's open to women everywhere. We have people from all over the world that come to this conference, people as far as Australia and Europe! Please check it out, and tell your moms, sisters, cousins, and best friends about it! It will truly be a shower of blessing for you!
Now that Derrick and I are pretty much settled in, I can officially post more.
So as you may or may not know, we just moved from Florida to Missouri. It's really more exciting than it sounds! Actually, in the two weeks we've been in Missouri we've done more than we ever did in Florida. 1) Because Florida is super-hot and I hated going outside. 2) It's dirt cheap to do things around here. 3) Things are much more accessible here. 4) The food is a million times better, and my chef-of-a-husband will agree!
It is with deep regret and sadness that I must tell you my Macbook, Alice, doesn't seem to have survived our trip. :( I tried to keep her safe with me the entire time, but the previous issues I've been having with her seem to have reinforced themselves, thus, she is deemed unusable. I believe the time has finally come to invest in a new laptop. We had a wonderful, prosperous life together.
Our trip was an adventure, I was a bit worried about us taking a 16 foot truck with our car attached to the back of it. Rusty (our cat) made the first leg of the trip rather gruesome to endure, but at least his howling and wailing and thrashing around kept us awake! After he realized we weren't going to keep him in that plastic box forever, the next day of travels he simply slept, only pausing to meow when Derrick started singing. :)
We traveled through Florida (obviously), and stopped for rest in Birmingham, AL. The next day we started to see the leaves and grass become greener and fuller as we traveled further north through Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and finally Missouri. Derrick pulled over at the Missouri/Arkansas state-line and decided to fulfill my "Be in two places at once" spot on my Bucket List. Then we continued through the Ozarks until we met our final destination in Springfield, MO!
Our apartment is a significant upgrade from what we came from. I'll post pics once we're finished with it. Derrick is in love with the fully equipped kitchen, Rusty enjoys snuggling into the cove above the fridge all day, and I find myself dancing and twirling on the wood floors.
We've spent the first two weeks unpacking and exploring the town. I've taken Derrick to all my favorite places to eat, and he hasn't been disappointed once. Our favorite is the Indian restaurant, Gem of India, where you can find authentic Indian food that is all made in-house. Derrick kept telling me he was full, then would proceed to fill another plate!
Of course I took him to Lambert's, because any foreigner has to experience getting a hot roll thrown at their face and fresh fried okra!
We toured some attractions in both Springfield and Branson including Bass Pro (HQ), the Titanic Museum, and the Branson Landing. We also strolled through Nathanael Greene Park, which has become quite magical since I last time I was there! They've expanded their strolling gardens, included a butterfly garden, have set up jungle-jims along the trails for kids, and have a whole new recreational building. However, I think the most magical part about it was seeing fireflies for the first time since I moved to Florida!
I've also had the opportunity to meet the team at the new salon I will be working at. I finally take my state boards this week, my theory test is Wednesday and then next Monday is my Practical in KC. Then, finally, I shall be a licensed cosmetologist! In the mean time...Derrick has already become rather good chums with my old friend, Josh...the two of them have been gaming together into the wee hours of the morning!
We are very excited to finally be able to get involved in ministry more. Derrick has found a liking to the churches here, namely the one we've been streaming videos from all the way down in Florida, James River. I'm incredibly excited to get back into the women's ministry, and he's looking to get plugged in as well. We'll be starting to go to a Couples Life Group next month in hopes of meeting other Christian Couples who also share a passion for living a solid, purposeful walk with Christ.
That's all I have to update for now. Once things are officially slowed down I plan to be updating much more. Now that we have an oven I'm going to indulge in my baking skills! I've also joined a new cause in which I get to read and review books before they're published, so I'll most likely be posting some of those reviews here.
I hope you all are well and God is blessing your lives immensely!
It may not seem such a huge deal to graduate from hair school, but for me, it's a miracle. Not because I'm a "slacker" or "a little slow" (quite the contrary, I tend to be a bit of an overachiever)...but because for a good few years, completing post-secondary education just wasn't in the cards for me.
In my second semester at college, my father had passed away. From that point, I felt like my life had snowballed and landed in a hole of impossibility, no matter how much I tried to make the impossible possible. Have you ever gone through a point in your life, where you felt like you were trying your absolute hardest with blood, sweat, and tears but no matter what, you still failed? That was me. Before I left college, I had ended up as a part time student working three jobs. I would work until 4am, then be to class later that morning by 8am. It was a vicious cycle I simply could not keep up with while trying to overcome the grieving of losing my father.
So I packed up and went home. I kept trying to get back into school....local art schools, even community college just to finish my associate's degree. Nothing would work out. The financial aid wasn't there, they lost my files and class had already started, etc. For one reason or another, it just wasn't working out. I couldn't even get a decent job to try and get back on my feet.
Then one day, I finally gave into the idea of going to cosmetology school. I've always wanted to go (after all those years of doing everyone's hair and makeup for Show Choir and Musical Theater), and people kept urging me to. I started looking around, and I ALMOST ended up at the Aveda in Lansing, MI...but I couldn't afford the housing at the time.
Around this time, my aunt who had just moved down to Florida a few months previous, had come up for my cousin's graduation. We started talking at the open house and at one point my aunt just turns to me and says, "hey....why don't you come back with me in a few days?" Well, that took me about 5 seconds to decide my life was going nowhere and I had nothing to lose, so within 3 days I packed up and headed down to Florida.
Thus, I got a job, started attending school, and I even caught myself a husband!
There were a lot of scares while I was in school, that my financial aid was going to fall through....then there were a lot of things my husband and I went through in the last year. But I held on and tried my best to give 110% regardless of what was going on in my life at the time. I had one goal, that was to graduate and graduate well.
And I did. So here I am, diploma in hand, I've been studying for the state boards for two months, and we're getting ready to head back to the "Show-Me" state. And not to mention my husband has completed one of his goals and is moving onto his next as well. I'm really proud of him, too.
Anyway! This has been a huge deal for me. I'm so glad I have this opportunity to do something I love, and that my life has taken a total 180. And thanks to all my friends and family (and models) who have supported me all the way!
Without further ado, my graduation from the Aveda Institute of St. Petersburg!
First of all, I would like to take this moment to thank Betsey Johnson for providing me with the perfect graduation dress...in petite size:
Out of 4 awards given, I won two...Highest GPA and Highest Retail Average (we couldn't seem to get a picture where someone wasn't laughing):
With my mother and step-dad:
The hubby helping me clean out my station for the final time! (Gosh, we look so young...I swear we're in our 20s!)
Packing up my portfolio I scrapbooked for my clients to look through:
One last snapshot of school:
And my coconut!
Wait...what? Okay, so here's the story:
When I was younger we came to Florida twice and also went to Hawaii for vacation. Every time I was DYING to bring back a coconut. Because that's just what you do in exotic places, you get coconuts! However, I was always told I couldn't because they don't allow you to take coconuts on airplanes. SO. Thanks to my mom for being innovative and remembering all those years ago, I finally got my Florida coconut!
--------------------------------------
Journeying through the last 6 years of my life, I'm reminded of how God is in control, no matter what the situation. He has carried me through some of the hardest times of my life, and now through one of the most promising times of my life. There will always be a bigger picture, and I cannot fail if I always choose to trust God, and obey. One verse that I have specifically encountered on multiple occasions is Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Isn't that promising? If I hadn't failed so many times, I never would have gotten to the point I'm at now. I would still be struggling and trying to figure out where I was going next. Perhaps I never would have met my future husband.
You know that old hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness? That one is my favorite. :)
So it's been a while, eh? Between my photo shoot, my graduation, my husband's graduation, moving in less than two weeks, registering and studying for State Boards, plus everything that has come in-between all that, we've been real busy! I'll share photos of all those events separately to avoid making an overly-lengthy post, but what I would like to touch on here today is a legend in the hair industry.
Vidal Sassoon was a hairstyling icon who worked on creating efficient, low-maintenance hairstyles through geometric cutting and shapes. He's most known for reinventing the classic "bob" and inspiring hairdressers all over the world to push limits and "change" the industry.
In celebration of Vidal Sassoon's life, BehindTheChair.com is making their entire edition of their Vidal Sassoon issue available for free. Especially to all my hairdresser friends, this is a great opportunity to get a taste of what this innovative hairstyling pioneer has accomplished.
Check it out (Click the image):
The segment on Vidal Sassoon beings on Page 109.
"He changed the way everyone looked at hair. Before Sassoon, it was all back-combing and lacquer; the whole thing was to make it high and artificial. Suddenly you could put your fingers through your hair! He didn't create [Sassoon's five-point cut] for me; he created it on me. It was an extraordinary cut; no one has bettered it since. And it liberated everyone. You could just sort of drip-dry it and shake it." - Sassoon's former model and creative director of American Vogue, Grace Coddington.
My intentions are to ensure that everyone is educated on facts, not fads. Not opinions. That is why I call this blog "Aletheia," because we need truth.
What good is it if we take things at face value, such as the criticism of this organization that has done so many great things in Uganda...and bring them down over inaccuracies? What happens then? The people of Uganda get no help at all?
I think this idea is important for all things. How many times do we take things at face value and run with them? Especially people. We ruin lives, reputations, and causes because we see something, feel emotion, and then start spreading it like wild fire without asking questions or getting facts first.
And what do we do when we find out we were wrong? We put our tails between our legs and walk away with a little, "haha...oops...my bad," without even a splash of water on the inferno we just made. It all could've been prevented if you went to the original source first.
That is why it's important to keep checking on the Invisible Children Website to see if any of these issues have been addressed. And yes, indeed they have. Here's pieces of an interview by Good News Magazine tackling some of the controversies on the internet:
GOOD:Out of all the myriad problems facing Africa, why did you choose to focus on Kony?
JENKINS: Firstly, the story was personal to us. We went to Africa intending to document the tragedies in South Sudan, and on our way we stumbled into children running away from Joseph Kony. The outrage that nothing was being done to stop that, and much of the international community was ignorant to it, was a lot of the impetus. But as we got deeper, we found out that Kony was the first man that the International Criminal Court had ever indicted. They said that because of the perversity of his crimes, and because of the feasibility of his arrest, he should be a flagship example of international cooperation to stop a criminal who crosses borders. The ICC chose Kony, and we’ve kind of partnered with them in an unofficial way. We’ve decided to help them disseminate that ideology to a hungry, millennial, global-minded youth.
GOOD:One of the criticisms people have of Invisible Children is that you only donate 31 percent of your money to the people of Uganda. What’s your response to that?
JENKINS: One flaw of the internet is how quickly it can disseminate misinformation. The actual number is 37 percent. Thirty-seven percent of our budget goes directly to central African-related programs, and the remaining 63 percent goes to our awareness programs. Those include things like flying Ugandans to America to go on cross-country awareness tours we pay for. And our staff in America has to go to Uganda, too. We got criticized for spending $1 million on travel expenses, but getting 130 people around the country and around the world is expensive. But aside from that, the truth about Invisible Children is that we are not an aid organization, and we don’t intend to be. I think people think we’re over there delivering shoes or food. But we are an advocacy and awareness organization.
There’s a rabid hunger to criticize the spending of charities because of abuse in the past. But all of our finances are public record. You can go online and see how much we make. I pay $300 a month in rent and don’t even own a bed. I sleep on the floor. We’re in this because we love it, because this is the job of our dreams.
GOOD:What do you do with the funds sent to central Africa?
JENKINS: With that money, we’re focusing on revitalizing the region so they don’t have a reason to hate the government and start future conflicts once Kony is gone. Of the 37 percent of funds that go to central Africa, I’d say about 30 percent goes toward energizing Uganda. We have 12 partner schools we rebuilt from the ground up; we have 1,000 kids whose secondary school we pay for; we have several hundred kids in college and mentors for all of them; we have a program called Mend in which we teach former sex slaves to be seamstresses. There’s also our Village Savings and Loan Association, through which we teach villagers how to become their own bank, because there’s not a lot of trust for banks there. On top of that, we have literacy programs. Sure, we’re after Kony, but we’re also doing a lot of other things to help create sustainable peace. And if our website ever stops crashing, you can read about all of this there.
GOOD:Invisible Children supports the Ugandan army, the UPDF, in their pursuit of Kony. But it’s been shown that the UPDF has committed its own atrocities in the past, including rapes. Why are you supporting them?
JENKINS: That’s a great question. Yes, it’s true that the Ugandan military has committed crimes in the past. We do not deny those crimes. But in terms of the pursuit of the LRA in the last six years, they’ve made a marked change and are attempting to be spotless.
We were involved in five years of peace talks with Kony. We want peace. But the truth is that Kony abused the peace process, used it to regain strength, and then went to wreak havoc. At that point, if someone’s busting into your house with a gun and robbing you, you can only talk for so long before you start using force. Force is an absolute last resort, and our campaign is trying to get him to surrender. We don’t want a bloodbath. A peaceful end to this is the dream.
GOOD:What do you want to tell the film's critics directly?
JENKINS: Our films are made for high school children. We make films that speak the language of kids. We say, "You may live thousands of miles away from these problems in Uganda, but those kids are just like you, and you can do something to help them by getting your government and your self involved." Our films weren’t made to be scrutinized by theGuardian. They were made to get young people involved in some of the world’s worst crimes. We can’t solve every crime, and we don’t intend to. But we can help fight the worst crimes.
I understand the criticism, because I think a healthy dose of skepticism is important when investing time and money into something. But I’d invite anyone to come to our offices and talk to us. I think when people dismiss us as having "white savior complex," they’re missing the main point: We’re just trying to do a little part to help change the world.
