Spring is Buzzing with Activity

This month has been insane to put it nicely.

It started with a trip to Orlando, Fl for the Operation Christmas Child Global Connect [Volunteer] Conference with 4 members of the Charlotte area team. It was incredible to meet volunteers from around the country and the globe. One highlight was Louie Giglio, who spoke on Thursday night about how God can do immeasurably more than we can imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

The next weekend, I went to IMPACT in Kentucky with my Amway business partners. What a great experience! We learned about the importance of our American freedom, servant leadership and the importance of building a dream.

Following that, I went to Pittsburgh for my cousin’s bridal shower. Her wedding is in June and I am so excited. My aunt asked me to be the photographer, which I gladly did. I definitely enjoyed taking photos, but trying to find the balance of “being in the moment” while playing photographer for a family event was a little difficult.

Then this past weekend I ran in the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in Washington D.C. with my friends Linda, Riley and Maggie.  I had been training for about 3 months, but this month was difficult to stay consistent with my traveling. I went into the weekend a little nervous about the actual run, but confident that I had the miles in me. We had a great time at the expo taking photos, making posters and and getting excited. Actual race day was perfect weather – sunny, breezy and slightly warm. This race was Linda and Maggie’s first half-marathon and I’m so happy I could experience it with them.

I finished the race a little slower than I hoped, but I made sure that I enjoyed the race. With the entertainment and 14,000 women surrounding me, it was awesome. I thought of how many stories of overcoming were in my midst. I wish I could have found out more about the ladies with me – like one had a sign on her back that she was a cancer survivor, but also running in memory/honor of dozens of names. This race had 2,300 Team in Training members – including Linda and Maggie, who raised $6 million for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

With this race under my belt…I’m looking for my next challenge. Until then….

Make Your Dreams Bigger than Your Memories

I recently finished the book Make Your Dreams Bigger Than Your Memories by Terri Savelle Foy and it was incredible. 

I’ve heard before about the importance of visualizing your future, but this book gave me some practical tips on how to go about finding your calling and visualizing it. 

One of my favorite challenges Terri gave was having your write your own obituary. Take 10 minutes just to do it, and I think it will be a real eye opener. I wrote things that I want others to say about me, things about my family and my accomplishments that I did not think were that important to me, but they really are.

What dreams do you hold in your heart? Have you written them down? Do you visualize yourself accomplishing those dreams?

For more challenges…you’ll just have to read the book!

 

Operation Christmas Child Case Study on Pinterest

I wrote a guest blog post about how Operation Christmas Child is using Pinterest. 

Check it out at http://jakprpro.com/2013/02/07/case-study-operation-christmas-child-on-pinterest/ 

Obviously, I am biased since I used to work for and still volunteer for OCC, but I do believe the use of Pinterest is pretty awesome. 

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Operation Christmas Child is an international nonprofit that collects shoe boxes filled with school supplies, hygiene items and toys and distributes the boxes to children all around the world. Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, headed by Franklin Graham.

Operation Christmas Child has been great at utilizing social media to carry its cause to millions of followers across the United States and the world. One example we will look at today is Pinterest. As the third most popular social media site, Pinterest is gaining momentum and nonprofits are learning the value of engaging with visual content.

Operation Christmas Child has a variety of Pinterest boards, including home made craft ideas to use as gifts in the shoeboxes, volunteer events, and photos of children receiving shoe box gifts from around the world. Pinterest techniques utilized by Operation Christmas

Child include:

Repin: In addition to pinning original content, Operation Christmas Child created boards of inspirational scripture verses that relate to its target audience. By “repinning” user’s pins of scripture and inspirational quotes, Operation Christmas Child can reach users beyond its followers.

Historical Photos: Another great board that Operation Christmas Child uses displays photos from the past that show progress toward the 100 millionth shoebox. This is a great visual timeline and provides an interactive history display highlighting specific years and accomplishments.

Link to Partners: Since Pinterest is a traffic-driver, Operation Christmas Child also has boards dedicated to its partner organizations and media coverage. Building brand awareness and driving users to blogs, newspaper articles and videos about Operation Christmas Child’s events and special interest stories helps share the mission and vision and provides credibility through garnered media coverage. Pins about and from partner organizations help strengthen the relationship and provides an outlet to explain the partnerships to its audience.

Hashtag: Similar to twitter, the search function on Pinterest includes using hashtags.

During National Collection Week, Operation Christmas Child pinned photos of users packing shoe box gifts and encouraged users to share their photos using#NCW2012.

Photo Walk in Charlotte

For my birthday I received a Canon Rebel t3 and I was super excited to get a new DSLR, because I have had anything other than a point and shoot since high school.

I fell in love with photography in 5th grade. I remember it clearly because my family went to Disney World and my mom bought me a disposable camera thinking that would last me the whole 4 day trip. Well, I used 5 disposable cameras in that time, so mom then decided it was worth it to buy me a simple point and shoot.

Once I got to high school, I stepped it up and got a Canon Rebel SLR (film) and joined photography club. Then I realized how awesome digital was, and regretted getting a plain film camera. During college I only used point and shoot cameras because that’s what my budget allowed for, however, I always wanted a nice DSLR.

So yesterday, I finally had the chance to break out a nice DSLR! I walked around uptown (downtown) Charlotte with a couple friends and just took in the sights. Here are some of my favorites:

As soon as I got my new camera, I went to pinterest for inspiration and tips. One pin I came across, was about shooting upward to make buildings look awesome. I loved the idea and when I saw this church across from the Mint Museum, I loved how it was right beside the modern architecture.

The lighting was perfect for this photo of the Bank of America building reflected on another building uptown. This is my favorite shot of the day!

The staple Charlotte skyline shot! I have always loved the Charlotte skyline and didn’t know where to get this great shot, until I googled it! I took this from Central Ave.

Greater

 

I’ve just finished Greater by Steven Furtick, a local pastor, and it was absolutely wonderful. In it, Furtick discusses the importance of dreaming bigger and starting smaller by using Elisha as an example.

 

 

“Igniting God’s vision starts with becoming more acutely aware of God’s presence in your life.” This is something that I have thought about for sometime, and yet haven’t seemed to grasped. I have also done well with prayer requests, and not listening for God’s answer to my prayers. I need to be more aware and take notice because God is speaking even in my daily life.

 

 

“Before you can go forward into the life God has for you, you have to offer Him every part of the life you have.” It seems daunting to surrender all you know, but God has a greater plan for your life than you and you cannot start that journey until you lay it all down.

 

“Stop waiting for what you want, and start working what you have. If you’ll do your part, God will begin to do what only He can do.” You have to take action. You can’t just sit around and pray for something, you must act in faith. God can bless what you do and multiply your efforts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love with Abandon

This week I started working at Operation Christmas Child in the processing center. For the next three weeks I will be working to prepare shoe box gifts to go out to the hands of children all around the world.

My job is not the most labor intensive- but it’s the most hard labor I’ve had to do for a while – standing in a concrete warehouse, lifting heavy boxes, etc. However, every time a staff member speaks about the importance of each shoe box gift I get teary eyed. Each shoe box gift already has a name and a face to go with it in God’s eye. God has a plan for each of the MILLIONS of shoe boxes that the Charlotte processing center will go through.

In addition to this daily reminder that God is sovereign, I just finished the book Kisses from Katie. It is truly an amazing story for young lady my age that moves to Uganda and adopts 14 little girls. Here are some excerpts that challenged me:

“Mediocrity and abundance, comfort and ease, do seem to be safe choices for many people…In stark contrast, leaving our possesssions, following Jesus when we don’t have a weel-defined plan and entertaining strangers-well that does sound a little scary. But what if, just beyond that risk, just beyond the fear is a life better than anything we have ever imagined: life to the fullest.”

“Every day we hav ea choice. We can stay nestled in our safe comfortable palces. We can let fear of something that really is small compared ot the greatness of God cripple us. Or we can take a risk, do something to help someone else, make a person smile, change someone’s world. Life to the fullest exists. It’s available. All we have ot do is decide to get up and embrace it.”

“We aren’t really called to save the world, not even to save one person, Jesus does taht We are just called to love with abandon.”

“Courage is not about knowing the path. It is about taking the first step. It is about Peter getting out of the boat, stepping out onto the water with complete faith that Jesus will not let him drown.”

These excerpts remind me how much I can choose to make a difference daily. I don’t need to be a missionary or live in Africa or go anywhere to make an impact. I can make an impact through my daily choices.

“choose to love…rather than hate
choose to laugh….rather than cry
choose to create….rather than destroy
choose to persevere…rather than quit
choose to praise…rather than gossip
choose to heal…rather than wound
choose to give…rather than steal
choose to act…rather than procrastinate
choose to grow…rather than rot
choose to pray…rather than curse
choose to live…rather than die.”
-The Greatest Miracle in the World by Og Mandino

Be Generous

The last couple of weeks have been wonderful. I continue to learn and grow through Amway and just by living life.

At my church, we just completed a series on generosity and the importance of giving.  Although I believe it is important to give financially, I think it is just as important to give of yourself. Through Amway, I have seen the example of servant leadership. My mentor has not only gotten to know me and to understand what my love language is, but she has demonstrated it to me. It amazing how great it feels to know that someone cares enough about you to truly listen and take to hear what you share so that they can take action to show you.

Last weekend, I was able to surprise my roommate at her first marathon in D.C. Not only was planning the surprise trip to D.C. exciting, but it was wonderful because I knew how much it would be to her to know that I traveled the 7 hours just for her. Now, I was able to see some other friends along the way, but still. The purpose was to show my support for Riley as she ran 26.2 miles.

Psalm 16:11 says, “ You make known to me the path of life;  you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Now, if that verse doesn’t make you happy – I can’t help you there. When giving, it has to be joyful and from the heart. For me, that joy comes from the Lord. Remembering that God loves me and He loves every single person on this Earth, so I should then show love to every person I encounter.

I found this on Pinterest and I absolutely love it. It is so simple, and yet you can make a positive impact in the world just by being kind.  Now, not all of these really apply to the topic of giving, but taking simple steps of being kind to people you meet throughout your day is a good first step.

Dream Big and Achieve

 

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend Summit – Amway’s leadership conference. It was an incredible experience to hear from the leaders of the Amway and LTD Corporation as well as motivational speakers and Christian authors. I learned the importance of having a dream, visualizing it and taking action to achieve it.

 

 

Terri Savelle Foy spoke about dreaming big.

 

Visualize it. You have to see something before you have something. The importance of visualizing has been stressed through all the audios and speakers I’ve listened to as part of Amway. I never really did this when I was a competitive gymnast and maybe that explains why competition was my least favorite part of the sport.

 

Make a vision book. Speak to your dreams. Increase success by 98% by writing down your dreams. Assign daily time to review them – before you go to bed and when you wake up.

 

Take action to achieve those dreams. Ask questions. Ask for whatever it is that you want.

 

Expect it. What you see inside becomes bigger than what you see outside. It’s just a matter of time until you have opportunities and relationships to make those dreams possible.

 

I made a vision book and turned it into a Pinterest project as well. I printed pictures from Pinterest and created a list of what I want to accomplish in 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now. I also have a list in the back of the book of specific activities or things that I want like be part of the $100 tip club – leaving $100 tips whenever I go out just because I can!

What is your dream? What are you doing to pursue it right now?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Live the Dream

 

Earlier this month I began a new business opportunity with Amway –  a company that sells health, beauty, wellness and cleaning products.  One reason I chose to get involved with Amway was because of the leadership development. I have immersed myself in audios and books to learn more about becoming a success.

 

The book I am currently loving is called Live the Dream: No More Excuses by Larry Winters.

 

Some insights I have gained:

You need a goal. Without one, you just wander through life. Write it down, speak it out loud, share it with others. By sharing it, you can be held accountable by your friends and family. Write it on your bathroom mirror, so you see it everyday.

 

 

 

Study successful people. The list of excuses you have could be made by the successful person, but it’s not.

 

Be careful what you feed your mind. The positive can overwhelm and push out the negative if you are digesting positive. What are you listening to and watching?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My DNC 2012

In case you have been under a rock or out of the country, the Democratic National Convention has been in Charlotte this week.

I had the opportunity to volunteer with the Host Committee in January in the finance department, working with donors and organizing the merchandise room. After a couple of weeks though, I knew I wanted to be more involved with the DNC.

Fast forward to August and I attended a Social Media Breakfast panel discussion on how social media has put Charlotte on the map in terms of the DNC. The panelists – Tracy Ross of the Host Committee, Desiree Kane of The PPL, and Amy Aussiecker of FABO, reminded me why I love social media.  The discussion demonstrated how local people are taking initiatives and garnering attention in the community.

Desiree spoke about The PPL creating co-working space for media and bloggers, Amy talked about her Stalking Stewart campaign to get Jon Stewart to visit FABO Cafe, and I knew I had to be involved in a social media setting. I signed up to volunteer with the PPL.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I worked with The PPL at Packard Place in uptown Charlotte and really enjoyed it. Even though I mainly participated in simple tasks like running the registration tables or securing a door, I was able to experience the DNC outside of just the politics.  I loved sharing my love of Charlotte with visitors and being able to help journalists get their job done.

 

In addition to volunteering, I took advantage of some free events like the NDI forum on poverty and human rights, and breakfast at POLITICO. It is amazing how much I relied on Twitter this week. To ask questions, answer questions, find out where free events were taking place and feel connected to other DNC participants.

It was a great participant experience – from the Google box providing free drinks and charging stations, to the live coverage from MSNBC at Epicenter, this convention was connected to social media and about connecting people.

 

touring the podium of the DNC