Queen of the Eye

      This past Saturday was a very special day in my little town of Sleepy Eye, as it was the coronation of Miss. Sleepy Eye and the two princesses. For what seems like forever ago, I had the honor of representing my community as Miss. Sleepy Eye 2011. During my year I attended a number of local events, traveled to area communities to take part in their festivals and parades, and represented Sleepy Eye in the 2012 Queen of the Lakes Scholarship Program. The Minneapolis Aquatennial Ambassador Organization is a dynamic development organization that inspires young Minnesota women to achieve extraordinary futures. The scholarship program is a week long candidate experience for young women that is held in Minneapolis and is in conjunction with the Minneapolis Aquatennial each year in July.  Every year, the Queen of the Lakes and two Aquatennial Princesses are chosen to represent the festival and city of Minneapolis all over the state, nation, and world. 

        I am forever grateful to the Miss. Sleepy Eye Organization and the Sleepy Eye Chamber of Commerce as they gave me life opportunities that have changed my life forever. Being a candidate in the Queen of the Lakes Scholarship Program was something I will never forget. The fact that I got to represent Sleepy Eye was so special to me because I have such a strong pride for my community.  I will forever call Sleepy Eye my home, will always my cherish memories of growing up there, and be proud to have been a Miss. Sleepy Eye. 

        I was given the great honor of being named one of the Aquatennial Princesses for 2013. In this year, I made approximately 150 appearances in order to grow and maintain relationships with communities. Not only did I represent Minneapolis in this year but Sleepy Eye as well. When meeting new people I was always proud to say where I was originally from. 

         It is difficult to put into words how the Aquatennial has affected my life because of the overwhelming number of ways it has done so. To put it short, I believe I am a stronger, more determined, and confident individual because of my experience. I also have a greater appreciation for my community of Sleepy Eye and the Miss. Sleepy Eye Program because without them, I wouldn't have had this life changing experience. Most importantly, I will forever cherish the friendships that were formed and will continue to grow in both the Aquatennial and Miss. Sleepy Eye organizations.

  

Judging the corn eating contest at
Sleepy Eye's Buttered Corn Days 2011. 

2012 Candidate Experience 

2013 Aquatennial Family 

Miss. Sleepy Eye 2011, 2012, 2013, & 2014.
Congratulations Bethany!
It is now Miss. Sleepy Eye 2013, Maddy Helget's turn to go to the Aquatennial.
We are all very excited for her! 

The Power of Friendship

      Something that I am grateful for this week is the gift of friendship. I have always been thankful for my friends but sadly, it took a tragedy to realize how truly grateful I am for them. It also made me realize how much I love them. I can't even count how many times I said "I love you" these past few days. I realized now more than ever how important it is to say those words to the ones you love because you never know when they will be gone. 

        Earlier this week I told my friend Joe that I have never been more eager to see him, and this is true of all of my friends in Sleepy Eye. I just wanted to hold onto them forever and to wake up from the nightmare. 

         During holiday and summer breaks at college we usually get our crew together and go to half off apps at Applebee’s, have bonfires, walk the streets of Sleepy Eye, and find any other fun we can make for ourselves. Except this break was different: all of us were home to mourn the loss of our friends Tyler, John, and Payton. Knowing that we needed to be together, seven of us decided to load up my family van and head to Applebee’s for half-off apps. I can’t really explain it but in those few hours we spent together I felt comfortable, at peace, and incredibly grateful to have each of them in my life. Even though we may not see each other often, we are always able to pick up right where we left off, which I think this is a true testament to how strong our bond is.  Realizing this got me to thinking about when my class was told that our friendships from high school wouldn’t last.  This could not be more false. Some of my greatest and closest friendships are with my high school friends that I spent this past week with.

         Going to Applebee’s reminded me of one of my memories with Tyler. In high school, a group of us would wear crazy hats and go to Applebee’s and enjoy the attention and looks we got from people. How this all started was when Tyler, Joe, Mitch, and Aaron picked me up on a warm summer night. They all were wearing hats and I just remember one of them saying “Get in, we are going to Burger King”. Not the least bit shocked by this typical goofy behavior, I got in and we went. From the looks of it, we made the night for the Burger King employees. I mean how couldn’t we? Five people wearing ridiculous hats acting completely normal? That doesn’t happen everyday. That would be considered a typical night for those guys. They were always up to something. 

         

I will always remember Tyler in this fun and humorous way. He will be missed dearly. He was a friend to everyone, always listened to what others had to say, and was accepting of those he met. 

 I will forever be reminded of Tyler when I see the serenity prayer. He had it tattooed over his heart after his sister passed away just nine months before he did. He lived his life by these words, and I think there is something we can all learn from it. What I have learned is that we can't change what happened but what we can change is how we decide to live our lives. 

God, grant me the SERENITY

 to accept the things I cannot change,

 COURAGE to change the things I can, 

WISDOM to know the difference.  

          

The Love of a Brother

Typical David and Payton behavior.

Something that makes this tragedy even more painful is watching my younger brother, David cope with the loss of his best friend, Payton. These two were best buds growing up and I have so many fond memories of these two goof balls being mischievous and finding ways to annoy my sister, Amy and I. We were reminiscing on some memories we had of Payton, and each one truly brought a smile to my face. Some of our favorite memories were when him and David went into Amy's closet and played dress up with her clothes. Amy was so mad, but we couldn't help but laugh at how cute they both looked in their skirts and flowers in their hair. Another memory was one day when my Mom was trying to pick out a jacket from a catalog and Payton tried to help her by saying "Oh, I think you would look really nice in this one Judy!" Or the time when my Mom took a video of the boys eating at Hardees after spending all day working on a snow fort. For about a minute Payton continuously changed his facial expressions into the most twisted, goofy, yet really cute ways. Another time I spent 6 hours helping the boys and their partner, Laura with a video project for their English class. This consisted of the three dressing up in whatever we could find in the closet and attempting to sound like they were talking in Khoisan, the African language that sounds like clicking. Payton decided that he would wear a shirt as a pair of shorts. He really pulled off this look nicely. 

Teammates since the beginning. 

Payton truly was like a second little brother when I was growing up. We will all miss his smile, laugh, athleticism, friendship, and most of all his wonderful sense of humor that brought joy and laughter to so many. 

"Let brotherly 
love continue."    Hebrews 13:1

God has 4 New Angels

Rest in Peace, Payton. You will
be missed by my entire family 
especially David. 
We love you. 

God never leads us where He cannot keep us. His grace is always sufficient for us in any and every circumstance of life. God will not allow a trial to come into your life unless He has a purpose. He doesn't send the storms, but He uses them.

"I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die."-John 11:26

I can't get myself to write much at this point, but if you are reading this please pray for the four young men who were killed in a car accident last night, and pray for the driver of the car who is in the hospital with severe injuries and whose brother was one of the boys killed in the accident. Also pray for their families and friends. It is times like these when all you can do is pray and know that these funny, caring, and talented young men are in a better place. 

Our very first hat night to Burger King. It was such a fun night.
I am sure you and your sister Kaylie are having a party today. 

Stay strong and pull through Kansas.
I know you will. ♥

"Love you Anners!! Have a great time
in college :) Your so great and I'm thankful
to have you in my life. Your the greatest."

Payton's note to me in my graduation book.
Out of every page he could have signed,
he found the page with the basketball hoop.
He was such a talented athlete.

Pray for John and his family. He played baseball with my brother and our mom's are very good friends. I know that he was a very funny and charismatic young man with a big heart who loved his family more than anything. The other young man who passed is from Springfield. His name is Caleb, I didn't know him but please pray for him and his family as well.                                                                                                        

John 14:1-2
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Romans 14:8
If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 

1Thessalonians 4:13-14
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

Am I Going Mad or is it Just March?

       For the most part, I think I am really good at managing stress and the craziness of my everyday life.  When I think about what my average day is like, it is jam packed with events that you would think would be completely overwhelming yet I rarely am.  The craziness of my schedule has become so familiar that I don’t even think about it.

                        A typical week for me looks like this: two hour Enactus presentation practices everyday, work at 6am on Thursday, work afternoon/evenings on Tuesdays and Thursdays, project meetings with small groups, leadership responsibilities of a student organization, managing 17 credits, oh and don’t forget I need to squeeze in some sort of social life in there and on top of it all, this week was midterm.  This week I could tell that I could easily hit my breaking point. I realized this after last week when:

•       I wore sweatpants to class everyday. Those of you, who know me, know that this is a big deal.
•       I found that the kitchen counter is a comfortable place to lay for awhile.
•        I unconsciously made peanut butter toast after I had already eaten lunch.  It wasn’t until my second bite where I realized I made toast and didn’t even want it or remember why I decided to make it in the first place.

            In order to avoid the average college student break down full of tears, the “I can’t do this”, “I am dropping out of college” sayings, and the feeling like my life is over. I came up with some humorous ways to cope with my stress.

            CAUTION: Some of the things you are about to read are strange and I know that it is.  Don’t judge. Either relate, or just laugh.

•  I find it amusing to tell my roommate Ashley that I can’t understand her accent until she speaks to me in a British accent.
•  I literally danced my way to my car this morning at 5:30am. (The Man by Aloe Blacc gets me pumped.)
• I enjoy ranting about the things I am learning or studying at the time. This week I was extremely upset with China's occupation in Tibet. I gave my roommate, Rachel an anger driven history lesson. 
• I have no shame in what I send on Snap Chat. What you see is what you get.   
• Today I tried 5 Hour Energy for the first time because I only got 2 hours of sleep last night. Wow, does that stuff work! I don't think I have ever been so hyperactive. Just ask anyone in my advertising management class. Whew, that was an interesting presentation I gave.

            This is just a glimpse into the crazy things I do to cope with my stress. I could list several other things, but you probably would be concerned about my mental wellbeing…or maybe you already are.

            Overall my secret to dealing with stress is to choose happiness, be positive, and to laugh at myself. I also remind myself of how fortunate I am to have the education and opportunities that I have and there is no reason I should complain about them.  So next time you want to complain or are overwhelmingly stressed, take time to do a dance, make a joke,  or remind yourself of how blessed you are to have the things you do.