Transformations - Part One

2009 CHS 20 Year Reunion (pre-wedding)

So, if you know me..... I have struggled with my weight as long as I can remember.  In high school I recall being 150 lbs when all of my friends were less than 100 lbs soaking wet.  Please know that I am not complaining.  I have been graced with a sturdy frame thanks to my German heritage on my fathers side and an love for food thanks to my mothers Italian heritage.

2012 OES School Field Trip with Jon (5 yrs old)

I currently stand around 5'7 1/2 " which is on the taller side for most women.  I did Atkins, Weight Watches and most any other commercialized diet out there.  Don't get me wrong, I am/was not totally unhappy being obese.   I love food and cooking for friends and family. Outside of  the fact that I had to replace my jeans more often since my rubbing thighs left holes in them (FACT) and trying to keep up with a troop of Girl Scouts at camp was literally leaving me breathless I might have stayed on the fat wagon for a lot longer.

2015 New Years Eve w/ Alisha (Friend &Girl Scout Co-leader)

 I want to be an interactive mother.  Coming home from work exhausted and unable to play with my kids was a hard thing for me to accept so I talked with my doctor and he suggested the program at Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, Virgina.

ODA Kids Fun Run 2016 with Emily (10 yrs)

I have to say that the hardest part of this journey so far was negotiating the insurance.  I am a Federal Employees (with really good insurance) however I have an HMO with some regional restrictions.  No reason to bore you  with the details but left me just say that the  SMJH team helped with that as well.

Just so you know how many years it took to create this nightmare......

• 2005 - 190' pregnant with Emily
• 2006 - 210' pregnant with Jonathan
• 2009 - 240 ' going through divorced
• 2010 - 236'  married Danny (Yeah!)
• 2012- 250' happy...
• 2015 - 270' a little less happy
• 2016 - 286' started six month supervised weight loss program an SMJH
• 2017 - 265' surgery date (August 7, 2017)
• 2017 - 254' on week post surgery

 So for now I will stop here.  I am one week post surgery on a liquid diet.  I have to say that I feel good and have had little pain so far.  I credit that mostly to the  team at SMJH for educating me so I knew what to expect and to follow the rules.  Keep watching for updated pictures on my transformation.

Verification of Facts- Reader or Author Responsiblity?

Today when I was reviewing Facebook, someone sent me the following blog:  SilenceDoGood2010 's Post on OCHS BBH Presentation. I was very put back buy the lack of verification of the facts posted.  I consider myself a casual blogger. I do not routinely post, but post when I feel strongly about something.  I always review several sources when posting information other than my personal opinion.  I am entitled to my opinion as my God given First Amendment Rights afford to me by the Constitution of the United States. 

I think that all authors should verify their facts, update their stories and/or retract their posts when the facts come to light.

Given that right I posted by comment to his blog which read:

"I believe that the verification of facts should be requirement to all people reading and writing online blogs. While I do sanction the freedom of speech, I find in-sighting outrage though that freedom to be reckless, especially when all of the facts are not reported or updated when they come to light.
This program was developed and designed by OCHS students. Granted that OCPS did have what I consider to be a FAIL by not adequately having a process to review these types of programs, they did not develop the programming.
OCPS did respond which you did not attached to your blog, accepting responsibility for this event. 
(http://ocps-internet.ocss-va.org/news/News/Black%20History%20Month%20Program.pdf)
 
While I did not attend the presentation, I do have a child that attends the school. I believe that the school board is implementing a process to review thing more carefully moving forward.
You have many incorrect facts in your blog. Ms. Scott is an elementary school teacher that was asked to support this with a group singing songs. She did not organize or have the ability to approve it.
Unfortunately, when people are confronted with hard realities, they sometimes get offended. The reality is that living in America as a Black person has significant struggles. I think the real tragedy here is that the children that organized this program failed to provide any recent “Black History” that shed a positive light. There is little room in the Media for Positive News because that is not what increases viewer. To that end, our children’s’ education on these types of issues of are overwhelming negative."

Additional information was released from the Orange County Sherriff and Town police offices in a joint statement. 
 

Education Prevents Baldness, Not!

I know that I have been pretty quite here for a while preparing for the next school year, Girl Scouts, life and family.  This morning I got to sleep in and take a break. Most people that know me are aware that about forty percent of my free time is given to community.  Usually it is split between Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Church  and a few other (Habitat for Humanity, Feed America, etc) important causes when the opportunity arises.

  I was surfing Facebook drinking my tea and I came across an article in Forbes Online about Locks of Love.   I have always been a mental supporter of the charity.  I say this because my hair sucks!  I have always had flat lifeless unmanageable hair.  The best I can say is according the "Pony Tail Angle of Attach Vs Intelligence" is that I am above average.  Dying and perming are my salvation because they add a little body to my hair.  That eliminates me from the donation process.

As I read the article my heart is sadden by the facts presented.  I will not repeat them all here but encourage you to investigate on your own.  I will let you know that Forbes does provide some alternate charities that are more transparent with their financial and benefit information.

Wigs for Kids 
Children with Hair Loss
 Wigs 4 Kids

If you have really bad hair then I suggest that you to a full reboot and organize a fundraiser for St Baldrick's Foundation.  Bottom line, research the charity before you donate.  If there is no transparency then lower your ponytail and use your above average intelligence!

Savannah Bound.......

As most of you know I was wrangled into attending the mission trip to Savannah as a female chaperone. 

TUMC Youth in Savannah

Not that wrangling is a bad thing, but I certainly did not have my mind set on this trip.  It is funny how God pushes you in the direction that you need to go.  I rolled out of bed at 3:30 am with my cup of tea and headed off to Savannah with eight other missionaries for a week-long trip.  I will not hesitate to say that the drive was problematic.  By the Grace of God we made the twelve hour trip there and back.  Pastor Tom Barnard drove the entire trip down to allow Paul Sadler-Bower and me time to get more acquainted with the youth attending the trip.  I was amazed by the personalities; intellect and curiosity of the youth attend.   

Despite no air conditioning, spirits were cheerful.  This was the first mission trip for three of the youth attending.  Each one of them seemed ready to hit the ground running for Christ.

Missionaries from Several Churches

This mission trip touched me.  I learned more about Christ’s proclamation of servitude.  I will be the first to tell you that I am not the most Bible savvy person.  Yes, I have picked up my bible a multitude of times over the last year.  I am actually working through reading the entire book on my Kindle, but as most of you know I have a propensity to overextend myself with volunteer activities.  For those of you who have not had the pleasure of attending a mission trip, the days are extremely long, physically and mentally intensive.  Days run from 6:00 am until 11:30 pm.  We have our basic needs covered:  Shelter, food, showers (YEAH!), worship and fun activities!  Yeah God for Air Conditioned sleeping quarters!

On this mission trip I was moved by two things specifically which I would like to share with you.  Church time was held late every evening.  This was a time for our group to come together and reflect on the worship message and the events of the day.  Each night I was grateful for each of us sharing our feeling, emotions and gratitude for Jesus thought our thoughts and questions about his message for that day.  The youth have a way of making you see things that every adult should experience. The second thing that really touched me was the foot washing ceremony on the last day.  The message on the first day from John 13: 1-17 where Jesus washes his disciple’s feet:

¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Servant King, watercolor on canvas by E. Wierenga

The Youthwork’s staff prepared a foot washing.  The Youthwork’s Staff washed the Adult Church leaders and prayed with us.  We in turn washed the feet of each Youth and prayed with them.  It was a humbling and spiritual experience for me and I was truly blessed to do it!

Yours in Christ,

To Circus or not to Circus????

Circuses have a long standing tradition in the United States.  I remember going to the circus as a kid,   Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus circus to be exact.  I remember the clowns, elephants , tigers, acrobats and amazing stunts.

As an parent, I took my now 16 year old to the Circus when he was about 7 years old.    I felt that the Circus was over commercialized.  The classic acts that I remember as child were replaced by more dangerous and might I say a bit scary acts.  I remember watching the motorcycles on the metal globe thinking to myself what an accident would look like to the children watching.

As Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus  is now in town I am torn whether or not to take my kids.   I would like my kids to experience the circus but not when I have explain animal rights and graphic images that the protests show to the people entering the circus. I think that there is great history in the circus industry, but I do not want them to have to be confronted by angry protestors.

I want to have my kids understand thing like that from the past. http://www.circusesandsideshows.com/circuses.html).  Maybe I should just order a movie about the Circus History and watch it with them.

Growing up is Wicked Hard!

As my mother would say ~ "growing up is wicked hard". Yes, she is from the Boston area. No good Southern Girl would ever use wicked that way I know! I grew up in a world that was much different. My parents both worked full time. I was a latch-key kid. In the summer I would leave the house after breakfast and come home at dinner time. I rode bikes, played in the creek, got dirty and climbed trees.

In early high school my parents gave my sister and me a choice, well sort of. Get a job and buy a car of your or don't drive (because you cannot drive my car!). For a teenager that was not much of a choice. My sister and I both jumped feet first into the job market.

I jumped in at 14 to a job at York Steak House in Spotsylvania Mall (that is in Fredericksburg, Virginia for you out of town-ers that read my blog). Needless to say, I had my first car sitting in the driveway six months before I had my license. It was a really sporty car at that. A 1979 Honda Civic that I bought from my Biology teacher's husband.

Anyway, back to growing up is wicked hard... About at the age of 16, I believe the cranial rectal inversion occurred with me as it does with all teenagers. My parents were stupid PITAs (look in urban dictionary for the definition if you are not hip), school sucked (even though I rocked the good grades) and life was about boys, parties and hanging out. Keep in mine I was never a bad kid. I came home at curfew, pretended to be sober and chaste and pretty much did what my parents asked of me totally flying under the radar and letting my older sister catch most of the parental abuse (Since she was the typical rebellious teenager).

At 18, I moved away from home for my first "REAL" job.  From 18 until 25 I came home for the required family holiday meals when I did not have a work related excuse that I could use.  I just wanted to live my life independent of parental criticism and oversight.  I had enough of that  in my first 18 years (or that was my thought at the time).

I guess about at the age of 25 there must be some chemical explosion in the brain of most young people.  Most of the stupidity  and immaturity leaks out leaving room for sanity, critical thinking skills and logic.  Now don't get me wrong, there is still some stupid left in there at 25.  For some reason it takes a while for all of it to fade away.  I think by the time you hit your late 30's the stupidity levels had degraded enough to for me to make some solid life decisions.

I guess that the whole point of this blog is ~  What the hell do we do as parents of kids these days?   I guess looking back at my life, it seemed simpler than it is for children today.  We were shielded from life and the world for much longer than our children.  News travels at the speed for the internet and is often unfiltered for mass consumption.  All information must be verified, analyzed and categorized.  I wonder if that will effect the stupidity leakage for our children? I wonder if the separation induced by cranial rectal inversion is limited to personal visits, phone calls or emails.   I wonder if my daughter will blog about her childhood and look at my descriptions above and think how strange it must be to be able to go out as a child to play all day without your parent standing near by.  She does ride a bike and climb trees.  There are some things that I insist that my daughter experiences , and yes,  MUD is one of them!

~ Stephanie

Courage, Confidance & Character

As I finish up another year of Girl Scout Cookie Sales, I often wonder what it takes to be an awesome leader, parent and role model. As a mother of three wonderful kids, I try everyday to instill in them a good moral compass, compassion and thankfulness.

We love to play together, make silly faces, and just have fun! Trust me when I say I am not an easy parent. My kids know responsibility, work and rewards (Mostly from my awesome husband since I am the softy in the house). I like to think that I lead by example. I might not be in church every Sunday, but my heart is!

As a Girl Scout Leader I am blessed to see the good and sometimes bad in people. I have amazing co-leaders in my Girl Scout journey! We fit together like a well worn puzzle, each picking up on the edge of the last piece played. This still does not stop my frustration at times.

Sometimes there are parents that feel it is acceptable to take money from Girl Scout product sales. Collecting the money becomes a cat and mouse game. Parents enroll their daughters in Girl Scouts to make girls of Courage, Confidence and Character; to make the world a better place.

I guess that I struggle with people in general that portray a honest, christian, wholesome persona then turn around and steal, lie and try to evade the consequences. Please do not take my rant for a criticism of Girl Scouts, because that is not what this is. I am a Girl Scout down to my "Black Socks" (That is a camp some for you non-scouting folks).

This is a criticism of the general lack of integrity, morals and christian values that parents put on display for their children to learn from. I am not sure when or when I found my integrity. I grew up with unavailable parents, typical latch key kid of working parents. For the most part, my parents did more bossing than educating. Somehow, after years of wandering through this world I found mine. When will the rest of the people find theirs? Just asking!