Lions Club International Youth Exchange Camp

What an amazing evening! I was honored to speak to the wonderfully talented International Youth who have spent the last week together at the Iowa 4-H campgrounds. There were youth from Finland, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Turkey, India, Italy, Latvia, Israel & Poland, as well as a few from Iowa. I had the most fun just listening to them talk, with all the different accents! The Lions Club International have sponsored each of these youths in an exchange program that allows them to stay with a host family here in Iowa for a couple weeks. I could tell they all had become very close and really enjoyed their stay. I truly enjoyed the wonderful talent show they put on for us and was amazed at some of the talent within this small group! I have already talked with the Lions Club about being a camp volunteer next year! I could tell in the short amount of time that I spent with these youth that they were a lot of fun and very responsible & respectful! It was so refreshing to see and be a part of. I hope that, even though we did not get many chances to talk at great length, that these international youth will keep in touch and let me know how they are doing! I will be receiving a DVD of the entire evening we had together, as well as footage of their week at camp. You can just see from the pictures what a fun bunch they were and how welcoming they were of me into their group! I felt like I was 18 again! In fact, I took the challenge of learning a German jump style dance during the talent show! I was right up there with all the teenagers, jumping and kicking, and having a blast!! The culmination of the show was when the young man from Finland got up and told us (the audience) a little about each of the "campers". It was such a great way to learn a little about each of them, even though we didn't get to spend the week with them! He had such wonderful, positive things to say about everybody, and he really built every body up! We don't hear or see enough of this in our society today and it was very refreshing!!
I was very pleased with the response to my presentation on the Early Warning Signs of an Abusive Relationship. I hope that I made an impression on the youth, as well as the adults, in the audience. I did get a lot of positive feedback from the Lions Club governors & leaders. I hope that I will have many more opportunities for speaking engagements through this great organization. I may just end up becoming a Lion myself! I will include a copy of my speech here for you to read. I did adlib a bit, so this is not word for word what I said, but it is very close. I had a brief introduction before I began.

~Nine years ago, I started competing in pageants as a challenge for myself to overcome my shyness, once and for all! Through out the years I have had many opportunities to speak out on my platform & support many worthy causes, forcing me to step outside my comfort zone. It has become such a habit to be out of my comfort zone now, that I am uncomfortable with what used to be my comfort zone! I am grateful for the opportunities that pageants have given me and I hope that on September 2nd I will be able to capture the crown of Mrs. America and give Iowa the bragging rights of calling this the home & heart of Mrs. America! Sometimes I wonder how a scrawny, shy farm girl grew up to be one of the women I used to admire during the Miss America pageants on TV! As a wife and mother of 4, I never dreamed that I would get the chance, or find the time, to pursue my passion of helping others, all the while wearing a crown that represents all the married women in this country. It is with the help of God and my own perseverance that it is a reality!
By all rights, I should not be standing here this evening. And let me tell you why I say that. As a 16 year old I found myself in an abusive dating relationship. As is the nature of such situations, it had escalated to a frightening scenario when I tried to leave the relationship. In my naivety I thought I could just walk away & that would be the end of it. But that was not the case. I found myself staring down the muzzle of a gun. By the grace of God, someone pulled up to my, then boyfriend’s house & he quickly put the gun away, giving me the chance to escape. Lucky for me he never pursued me & I never saw him again.
As many as 1 in 3 teens experience abuse of some kind in a romantic relationship, whether it is physical, emotional or verbal. It starts out innocent enough and in some cases, it seems to be very flattering when someone wants to spend every minute with you. Over time, this can turn into a control issue and you find yourself cut off from your friends and family. And you realize that you no longer do any of the things you used to enjoy because you spend every waking moment with this person. Then, one day they make a comment in front of your friends that embarrasses or hurts you. From that point, things can very quickly escalate to physical abuse. This is just one example of some of the early warning signs of a potentially abusive relationship and should not be ignored. Domestic violence does not discriminate. It affects all races, religions, cultures, genders & ages. My goal is to educate our youth on the early warning signs of an abusive relationship & give them the resources they need, if they should find themselves in this situation. As Mrs. Iowa America I hope that I can prevent at least one person from experiencing what I did and that is why I promote & support the Liz Claiborne’s “Love Is Not Abuse” campaign and their partner youth organization, “Break the Cycle”. I strongly believe that both organizations can make a difference & I hope that my voice will be a little stronger and a little louder than most, to bring awareness to these worthy organizations! As a community we need to Engage, Educate, & Empower our youth, teachers and community leaders. As they say, Knowledge is Power!
Thank you so much for this opportunity to speak with you this evening and I will finish by saying, “Enjoy the show!”~

If you know of any club, group, organization, etc., or even you personally, that would be interested in having me come speak at their meetings, please feel free to contact me at MrsIowaAmerica@yahoo.com! I am always looking for opportunities to get the word out and to meeting people all around Iowa!

And the Winner Is?......

The results are in! The new Boone County Fair Queen is Jessie Jenkins!! This young lady is so busy in her community and school, as well as the county fair and 4-H. She has a bubbly, exubrant personality as you can see from the pictures. I loved the red cowboy boots!! She was so expressive when telling her stories that you couldn't help but be drawn into them. I think she will do very well at the Iowa State Fair competition! All of the ladies did a fantastic job and they made our (the judges) job very tough! Congratulations, again, to Jessie for a job well done!

Left to right:

Allyson Ladd - BCF Queen 2007, Jessie Jenkins - BCF Queen 2008, Laura Heineman - Honorable Mention, Me - Mrs. Iowa, Courtney Tingwald - 2nd Runner-Up, Stephanie Haberer - 3rd Runner-Up, Autumn Weaver - Honorable Mention, Jamie Soderstrum - 1st Runner-Up.

Boone County Fair Queen Judging

Sunday I had the honor (& tough job!) of judging the Boone County Fair Queen Pageant. I had so much fun! The other 2 judges were a blast to "work" with! I use that word loosely, because we were having too much fun for it to be work! I loved the format the organizers used for the interview process. We first met with each girl individually for about 10 minutes to get to know them a bit and get a first impression. We then had a group discussion in groups of three. It was interesting to see some girls really shine in the group discussion compared to their individual interviews. I really enjoyed the time I had getting to know these ladies and until we added up the final scores, we (the judges) had no idea who was going to win! We were pleasantly surprised at the way it lined up in the end. I can not reveal the winner just yet, though! The coronation will be held on Thursday, July 17th at 6:30p to kick off the Boone County Fair. The winner will then proceed onto the Iowa State Fair to compete for the State Fair Queen! I hope to be in attendance for that! It should be a great time!
I have to say that the young ladies competing for Boone County are a great group of girls! All of them are so busy in their communities, schools & churches that I wondered how they fit it all in! I did have the privilege of being the first Fair Queen for my home county fair in Howard Lake, MN. I can't even remember what year it was, but I think it was around 1992 or 1993. I was the first Wright County "Fairest of the Fair" Queen! I had such a blast that year and I know the new Boone County Fair Queen will enjoy and cherish every minute of her reign! I will post pictures of the winner and her court in an additional blog at the end of the week, so make sure you check back!!

Photoshoot

Saturday I had a photoshoot in the hopes of getting the perfect headshot for the National program book. I chose to shoot with a photographer I have known for quite a few years! I would say it is close to 10 years now!! We have worked extensively together over the years so if any one could capture the "true" me, he could. And he did not disappoint! It was great fun to catch up on what each of us have been doing and compare baby/grandbaby pictures, as well as puppy pictures! :-) It was great to work with James again and he said the same about working with me. I believe we got some pretty darn good pictures to choose from. You will have to check out his website at www.jamesphotography.com (there is a link at the bottom of the page, also). If you are curious to see how the pictures turned out you can check them out at his website; click on client access and type in "laura" for the password. He does all types of photography, so definately keep him in mind for your next project! He is located in Lake Crystal, Mn which is just west of Mankato, Mn. It's an easy, beautiful drive from the Twin Cities. I hope to shoot with James again very soon!!

July 4th in Ames, IA

I had the pleasure of participating in the Ames Fourth of July parade this year. They have one of the longest parades in the area and there is always a great turn out! I know this year there were over 100 entries in the parade. I really have to say a special thank you to a couple people. First to Renee' , for lining up a car for me and pitching the idea to her boss, my dentist, to "sponsor" me during the parade. Thank you to George White Chevrolet of Ames for providing the spectacular convertible and Chad, for being my driver. I had a great time getting to know you! And thank you to Amie Rockow-Nelson, or "Doc Rock", for organizing the tooth fairies, providing the sign and handing out toothbrushes and gum along the parade route. Caisha and Wyatt had a great time participating as well! I think Wyatt attracted more attention than I did! He is pretty good at stealing the show! He was clapping and waving like all the attention was for him. We better be careful that we don't create a "spotlight monster"!! It's probably already too late! :) I hope everybody had a great 4th and don't forget the reason behind the celebration!!

Iowa Cubs Game

What a beautiful baseball park! The kids & I were honored guests at an Iowa Cubs baseball game yesterday (6/29), where I got to throw out the first pitch and sit in and chat with the radio announcer through-out the 2nd inning. What an amazing announcer Dean is! He never missed a beat calling out the play-by-plays and directing questions towards me! It was an unforgettable experience!! The weather was beautiful and the Cubs won, 7-5!! My kids really enjoyed the experience as well; so much so, that Zach is already asking when we can go back again! I wouldn't have too much of a problem making this a summer family event. Thanks to Andrea for arranging this and making it a memorable day!

Mrs. Georgia America Pageant

This past weekend I had the privilege of attending the Mrs. Georgia Pageant in Roswell, GA (near Atlanta) along with Mrs. MN, Wendi Russo and Mrs. WI, Jennifer Schluga. It was a great weekend to really get to know "Team Schway". What is "Team Schway" you ask? It is what we call the four Queens that represent the four states in which Carl & Faith Schway head up the pageants. This past weekend we were looking for Wendi's roommate for Nationals! We helped out in many ways, including chatting with the Georgia contestants before they headed in for their interviews. I know it always helps me to relax to just carry on a casual conversation with someone, instead of completely focusing on the upcoming interview. I hope that I helped to calm any nerves and maybe relieve a little stress for these wonderful ladies.
The weekend started with a cocktail party where we got to meet the contestants in an informal setting. I can tell you that I had the winner picked from the moment I met her! The restaurant that we gathered at was an interesting mix of upscale urban and commercial warehouse. You would never guess what it was from the outside. It looked exactly like a warehouse in the warehouse district, with no special parking spaces or signs to really draw attention to it. Being that I am an Interior Designer I really enjoyed the contrast. I also gained a few "fans" who will be cheering me on during Nationals! After, wearily, crawling into bed around 2am, I promptly fell asleep! As usual, I awoke around 7am and decided that it was definitely too early for me!! I did finally roll out of bed around 9am and proceeded down to breakfast and then onto the gym for a quick workout ( I was hoping it would also help me wake up!). Of course, I have no make-up on, my hair pulled back into a ponytail wearing shorts and a tank top. It turns out the Georgia contestants are all gathered in the lobby area waiting to start their interviews, and not wanting to seem rude or unapproachable, I walk over and reintroduce myself to everybody and, of course, end up spending the next hour chatting with everybody! Keep in mind that all the Georgia ladies are dressed in their interview suits with their hair and make-up done. I was quite the "stand out" in that group!
After interviews, the Georgia contestants had rehearsal, so that gave us, "visiting royalty", some free time. And what do beauty queens like to do?!? You guessed it! We went shopping! Growing up in MN I thought we had the best shoppng around with the Mall of America.......but I have to say, in the south, they seem to have a much better selection! I had to rein myself in a couple times to keep from spending way too much! I did walk away with a new dress, a pair of awesome red pants, and a few accessories. I wanted to get more, but money is always tight right now, so I showed some restraint. I think Louis (my husband) will be relieved to hear that! *haha* After shopping we met up with some more people and went to a local restuarant for supper. Again, it was 2am before we got back to the hotel! This was not a pattern I was getting used to! I do have to say that I really enjoyed the company, though. I had the privilege of sitting next to the directors of the Mrs. North Carolina Pageant (& a former Mrs. North Carolina). They are such a great couple and really had some great advice for attending Nationals. I also found out that I will be rooming with the current Mrs. NC at Nationals! I am very excited to meet her!
Finally it is finals night! After sleeping in, again, Wendi and I had a quick work-out before getting ready for the evening. At the theatre we are assigned our "positions" to help out with taking tickets and selling t-shirts. There was quite the crowd! And they were loud! Towards the end of the evening, the three "visiting royalty" were called up on stage for a short interview. When Faith (the MC for the evening) asked us what we were looking forward to the most at Nationals, Jennifer mentioned that she was anticipating some "quiet time" away from her 6 children! Wendi mentioned how she was excited to meet all the ladies from around the United States...which was what I was going to say! So I had to come up with something new. I knew God was with me, because He put a thought in my head and I went with it. I mentioned how Mrs. Iowa 2007, Taryn, had saved Mrs. Tennesse's life after she had been bit by a rattlesnake. I said that would be difficult to top, but I was hoping I would have the opportunity to shine as brightly in my own way. My confidence level has definately gone up since I started this journey and I am so excited to get to Nationals!
Anyway, it comes down to the top 5, and I have my two favorites picked......and, low and behold, I had them right! Melanie Caceres, Mrs. Lawrenceville, is named 1st Runner-up and Shauna Rowland, Mrs. Norcross, is crowned the new Mrs. Georgia America! She did an absolutely stunning job on stage! She will be hard to beat in physical fitness......but I am sure going to try! I absolutely love Shauna and wish her all the best at Nationals! And thank you, Wendi, for being such a great roommate! Shauna is lucky to be getting you as a roommate and I am sure a friend of us both!
And, so here ends my story.........

(More to come......)