Tough Cookies--A Letter to the CEO of GSUSA

Dear Kathy Cloninger, CEO, Girl Scouts of the United States of America:

In your book, Tough Cookies: Leadership Lessons from 100 Years of the Girl Scouts, you wrote, "If we in the United States want our girls to be confident in themselves and make the most of their inborn potential, we need to wake up to roadblocks we're putting in their way as they try to grow up into their real selves." What if some of those roadblocks are being put in place by GSUSA? What if the voices of girls raised in the Girl Scout Way are being ignored by the very organization that's supposed to be their proponent? What if, in requests to the council CEO and board, the response to our requests is, "Tough Cookies?"

For more than a year, my sister-in-law, Packer, a leader in Girl Scouting, a lifetime Girl Scout, and lifetime member of GSUSA, has been pleading with the Diamond Council in Arkansas to hear her concerns for the girl scouts, the leaders and the properties that formerly made up the Conifer Council. The needs of these young women and their leaders are not being met by the newly formed Diamond Council with regard to programming at the council level. Nor has the usual training for their leaders been as thorough as it was with the Conifer Council (only three training sessions offered in Texarkana from September to December 2011). Now, as if to add injury to insult, it has been decided by a "Board," without inquiry to their constituents, that the Camp High Point Property in Mena, Arkansas, will not be offering summer resident programming for the first time since it opened in 1946. To me, this is unacceptable at any juncture but especially on the 100th anniversary of the GSUSA. 

Denise Stewart, CEO of Girl Scouts--Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas stated in an e-mail to Packer, "There was not a lot of discussion about this issue [not offering resident programming at Camp High Point]." Packer and I both admit that we have not been privy to the "facts and figures" that lead the board to make their decisions (in fact, the Annual Report that is supposed to be on the council's web site, is missing). Nevertheless, when such monumental decisions are made, shouldn't the voice of our girls and their leaders be taken seriously? Shouldn't we honor their opinions and give them an opportunity to find solutions? Shouldn't discussion be more than "not a lot?"

Packer has weathered the last three years during the merger and reorganization of GSUSA and continued to lead our troop of girls the way Juliette Lowe would have dreamed. I foresee her always being a girl scout because it is part of who she is. However, I am speaking up for her and our girls because no one should devote as much time to something they love as Packer loves Girl Scouting and feel like it breaks her heart and tears at her soul in return for her devotion. I have no suggestions for how to help Packer and the Girl Scouts of the New Boston, Hooks, and Texarkana area. I just wanted you to know that there are girls and women invested in Girl Scouting who are not having their needs met or their voices heard.

Sincerely,
Jaimee
Girl Scout and Mother and Sister to Girl Scouts

Try Something New Tuesdays: Skype and Face Time

Since I first watched Back to the Future II, I have anxiously anticipated having my first flying car and automatic dog walker and shoe lace tightener. Just think! The movie was set in the year 2015...we're only three years away!! Rock On!!

Do you know what tells me we are on our way to soda bottles with built-in straws, hover boards, and bar code license plates? We are about to be living the flying car life because I have already experienced my first Skype and Face Time visits with Sosie, J-Man and myMama and myDaddy!



Sosie, J-Man and I can have coffee and chit chat like
we are all in the same room now!

Now granted, my little IPad2 screen is not a projection screen on the wall the size of the wall, but if I ever get fired via video phone, I wouldn't want it plastered in 10-foot font anyway. Also, from what my communicators have told me, I am no master at making sure I look at the camera instead of their faces.

I realize this is no big whoop for many of the tech savvy world out there, especially those who have been video visiting for years now. However, I feel like I just stepped out of my DeLorean and am ready to hover over to my next great adventure.

Tough Cookies...

Amazon.com

As her birthday present this year, I purchased this book for my SisterWhoChoseMyBrother, the consummate Girl Scout...in fact, I will use her GS Camp name for her from now on--Packer. Packer told me at Thanksgiving that she read it in a week and wanted me to read it too. Packer said, "It helped me understand why we did what we did." I finally started it last night, and only one chapter in, I am moved.

Background: When the Girl Scouts reorganized a few years ago, there were a lot of hurt feelings and deep concerns about what it meant for girl scouting in the US. Packer and I were among those who worried over our girls (at that time a troop of 23 Brownies). With life changes, I unfortunately left Packer to muster on without me, and it's one of the only regrets I have in life and wish were different. Nevertheless, Packer always makes the best lemonade out of lemons...always has, always will. She is an inspiration to everyone who knows her. I'll get back to my point...

I am moved to encourage everyone to read Tough Cookies. It is written by the CEO of Girl Scouts of the US, and the point that she hit home with me was this: our nation is split evenly between men and women, 50/50. Why then is the female CEO position only sitting at 3%? Why is our federal legislature only 17% female. This is not a manifesto of how the women should rule the world. Simply put, and anyone who is blessed to be in an equal partnership at home knows, men and women should work together equally to change our nation.

For a country that was founded in the throws of equal representation, I am a little concerned that it's taken this long to figure out that times may be different from the 1950's, but we are still not equally represented. I don't think that quotas are called for. I really don't know what we should be doing. It's like I woke up from a really inspirational dream this morning and am set to find a way to make a difference. First step! Encourage everyone to read this book, make your own plan and change the world.

It's Sosie Week in Texas!

Just in case my petition to make this week a world holiday doesn't go through, I want the world to be aware...THIS IS WORLD SOSIE WEEK! I know it won't be approved by the world so I am going to at least hope for the state. All kidding aside, this is the week that Sosie becomes Mrs. Flan-the-Man, and I couldn't be more thrilled, scared and a little worried all at the same time.

Flan-the-Man...oh wow! You couldn't find a more polar opposite from our fireball Sosie. However, they are perfect for each other. He is the consummate realist and perfect anchor for our girl. Craig makes sure we all keep our heads in the calmest most friendly way. In kind, Sarah is Craig's perfect mixture of fun and effervescence. She lights up all of our worlds with her kind heart and beautiful soul. Plus...they are going to make beautiful ginger babies!

Where does my fear and angst come in, you ask? It has nothing to do with the happy couple or their beautiful future...that part is all about me! I'll know after tonight if my bridesmaid dress actually fits. It was just a hair shy in the Ta-Da area so I took it to the tailor to have an inch more space given to my breathing ability. Add to that I am not a heal wearer, but I have the cutest pair of pumps for the big day and have been practicing walking all around our house in them so as to not stumble and fall on Sosie's big day (that might cause the first problem to become a moot point...I actually had a nightmare that I fell and the dress split open like a pinata, spilling me and my party favors out all over the chapel...not cool!).

New Year, Same Me

Happy 2012! I only am making two resolutions. Three if you add on that I resolve to stick to my resolutions. One: re-read the happiness project and do everything it suggests. Two: no more drive through. What are your resolutions for 2012?

Happy New Year...

Darling Daughter, Aunt J-ME, and Hubby Dearest, November 2011
Photo by: Christina Calderon @ Christina Kay Photography

From my little gang to yours, Happy New Year. Thank you for your support this year in this endeavor to write through my grief. This blog and you have helped ease the pain in my heart a little bit each day. My little online journaling has given my family an entry into my mind and feelings that I could not have provided in any other way. Stay tuned for me to get back into my regular programming like, Try Something New Tuesdays, My Happiness Project, Family Night and Write on Wednesdays! Be safe, be loved, and be yourself beautifully. As I used to tell my students before each break, "Don't do anything that would make me cry and don't get dead. I expect to see you all back here when break is over. Chocolate Milk!"

A Poem Inspired By a Song

In 2011, I...

Lost my sister soul mate on the side of a highway,
Got stuck inside my head with the grief,
Thought I might lose my way,
Needed a group of friends and family to pull me through.

This is where the Savior meets a need
This is where the best of the best survive
This is what I really didn't know
This is where the truth comes alive

I found out who my friends are
They're the ones who dropped everything.
They ran to my side and to my family.
They did not dawdle or waiver.
They never put their needs in front.
They are friends of the present and what I thought was the past.

Always with a kind word and love to fill my heart from theirs.
They are still with me every day.
I found out who my friends are.

Held my friend when her sister followed mine,

Ran to her side to be her rock,

Did all I had seen done for me and mine,
Needed to be the family my friend needed.

This is where the Savior meets a need
This is where the best of the best survive
This is what I really didn't know
This is where the truth comes alive

I found out who my friends are
They're the ones who dropped everything.
They ran to my side and to my family.
They did not dawdle or waiver.
They never put their needs in front.
They are friends of the present and what I thought was the past.
Always with a kind word and love to fill my heart from theirs.
They are still with me every day.
I found out who my friends are.
Everybody wants to be your friend,
Wants to hold your hand,
When life is an easy going float along,
But let your boat sink,
And break through the surface of that water you're drowning in,
See who's got their hand held out.

This is where the Savior meets a need
This is where the best of the best survive
This is what I really didn't know
This is where the truth comes alive

I found out who my friends are
They're the ones who dropped everything.
They ran to my side and to my family.
They did not dawdle or waiver.
They never put their needs in front.
They are friends of the present and what I thought was the past.
Always with a kind word and love to fill my heart from theirs.
They are still with me every day.
In 2011, I found out who my friends are.

I am praying 2012 has more high points than low. Be blessed, Friends. Happy New Year!

Thursdays are Happiness Reports: Focus on Family and Friends Month End

Wrapping up 2011 with my updated happiness project report and getting ready to tackle 2012. For the month of December, I spent time focusing on family and friends. I made a point to have heart-felt conversations with everyone I hold dear. I tried to make everyone at least one home-made gift so as to give each person a part of my heart. I made a point to be present at every event we had planned this month and tried with my whole heart to be fully involved.

Because I have been feeling like this endeavor to follow a plan to make happiness is lagging, I also started re-reading Gretchen Ruben's Happiness Project. Below you will find an updated plan for my project. I am essentially going to start over and use the book's plan for the year. Since most of ours match up, I am just rearranging when I focus on one item.

Thank you for continuing to support this little bit of crazy each day! Visit my blog each Thursday to see how My Happiness Project is going! Here's the plan by month so far:

• January--BOOST ENERGY
• February--REMEMBER LOVE MARRIAGE
• March--AIM HIGHER WORK
• April--LIGHTEN UP PARENTHOOD
• May--BE SERIOUS ABOUT PLAY
• June--MAKE TIME FOR FRIENDS
• July--BUY SOME HAPPINESS
• August--CONTEMPLATE THE HEAVENS
• September--PURSUE A PASSION
• October--PAY ATTENTION
• November--KEEP A CONTENTED HEART
• December--BOOT CAMP PERFECT HAPPINESS

Wrapping Paper...huge waste

So last week, I posed a question if anyone else felt the time, effort and money spent on wrapping paper is a waste. I weigh in with a resounding HELL YES!

First of all, my OCD-ish tendencies make me have to have a theme every year, complete with matching bows, tags and even ink color for writing names. I'm not very good at it secondly but try really hard and always feel less than adequate. This year found me sitting in our office floor after hours of working at wrapping boo-hoo-ing and darling daughter coming to my rescue. I would say it is all worth it except that it is not.

We actually teach our kiddos to rip into the paper and make a huge mess. Bags might be the solution but I have no fondness for such trappings. I am considering spending my time next year hiding presents like a scavenger or Easter egg hunt. Make it an adventure!

What is your opinion?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, friends and family! Today, I share the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible. Matthew Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 through verse 12

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”(which means “God with us”).
²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

The Magi Visit the Messiah

¹ After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.