empowerment.

A little while ago Danielle of the merriweather council asked about empowerment. I seriously thought about this for a while. I didn’t really think that I had done anything in my life empowering for myself, but I guess I have. I think a lot of times I feel the things I’ve done in my life are small and unimportant, in reality they are pretty big.

First thing I did that really was a big deal was graduated from high school. Even though the odds were against me I managed to pull out a head and prove that I was more than what everyone said I was. After high school I attended community college and had a great opportunity to be a part of the Theater department and be involved in some really great shows. I even had my first official lead roll there. I’ll never forget performing in “See How They Run” as Penelope; it will always be a great high light of my life.

During my college years I also got to do some traveling. I visited Israel with a woman’s group and I’ll never forget how breath taking and beautiful that country is. At the same time it can be a sad and scary place for the people that live there. I was able to walk in places that have been inhabited for thousands of years and see things not a lot of people get to see.

Yes, that would be me akwardly riding a camel. It's not easy! He tried to bite me a couple of times too.
An amazing moment where I got to float in the Dead Sea. Float is the key word, you really can't swim in the Dead Sea.

The next big trip I took was with my church’s youth group. It was my first official trip as an “adult” helping out and it was amazing. We not only visited Germany but we got to experience time in Poland as well. It was a rocky road but serving on that trip was amazing. I think the thing that stands out in my mind is when we visited our second prison in Poland. There were only a few men that attended our service, but they were very thankful and receptive of us being there. I’ll never forget the looks on their faces and how shocked they were that a group of kids from American wanted to come visit them and share something important. It was a really beautiful moment to watch.

I think this is pretty much the entire group that was there. We were able to visit an old German concentration camp while we were there... wow... amazing.
This is our little acting group. We had a lot of fun preforming for the kids at the Vacation Bible school. The teens that were with us were so amazing. They're all grown up now, I can't believe how time flies.

For several years I floundered around not knowing left from right or what I was doing. Somehow, by the grace of God I believe, I found my way. Marc and I had Aurora, got married and shared in the biggest decision of our lives, I think. Deciding to move from Pennsylvania to Arizona was as easy as breathing but as hard as you can imagine. I feel like we are both growing and blooming into new people on our adventure and the best part is we have each other. I know I’ve talked about this a lot but it is very important to me. I have to say I’m proud of us and what we are doing. Being on your own is defiantly empowering.

Think about your life and what you’ve done. Things you wouldn’t have thought were that important probably were. If they were only important to you than who cares, they were important to you. Sometimes just getting down and really cleaning the house makes me feel empowered. Not killing our house plants thus far also makes me feel pretty empowered!

Now is the hard part, the next step. Moving forward I want to make sure I’m taking the steps to continue on my journey of empowerment. I admire so many people for what they have done and what they do now it’s my turn!

What are you doing to do?