Let Me Tell You About Akela's Council

This past week I had the opportunity to attend Akela's Council 27 at Camp Tifie in Mount Pleasant, Utah. Akela's Council is a training for Cub Scout leaders, and words cannot describe the experience I had at camp this week. I feel like I am prepared to take on the challenging task of working with the Cub Scouts in my pack and helping to mold them into amazing young men. I woke up early on Saturday morning (courtesy of some very loud 11 year old Scouts), and found myself sitting at my den site alone, surrounded by nature and full of the experiences that I had had over the past 4 days. It would take me hours to tell you about everything I experienced and felt while I was at camp, but on the morning of our last day at camp I found myself jotting down some of the lessons I learned at camp, and I'm going to share those with you now.

1-Being a Cub Scout leader is much like being in theater. Sometimes you have to step outside of yourself to better understand yourself.

2-Too much blood in the caffeine system can be a good thing, but it usually just makes you cranky.

3-Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, but if you look closely at a Cub Scout leader, you'll usually find one there.

4-Having 5 million neckerchief slides is NOT a bad thing.

5-There are people out there that care about you, not because you're beautiful or rich or talented, but simply because you are.

6-Sometimes, no matter how hard you work or what you say, someone will not be happy with what you've done. Ask yourself if you're happy. That is all that matters.

7-Loving freely with no expectations, allows your love to be returned to you freely, with no expectations.

8-Scouts earning their bugling badge are not the best way to wake up in the morning.

9-No matter how hard or how far uphill it seems we have to go, the work we do changes lives for the better. It is worth every second of the hard work, and even a few tears.

10-I LOVE my den with all my heart! They are now a part of my heart, and always will be. I was meant to be here, with these people to learn and grow. They are the perfect people to teach me what I need to know in this moment, and I will be forever grateful for the lessons I have learned here, and the lessons that are yet to come.

Akela's Council was life-changing for me. I will never be the same person that walked onto course that first day, and I wouldn't have it any other way. If you ever have the opportunity to be a Cub Scout leader, do it! If you find yourself as a Cub Scout leader, go to Akela's Council. It was one of the most amazing, incredible, hard, exhausting, indescribable, awe-inspiring experiences I have ever had. It was the best investment I have ever made in a calling, and as I realized on that beautiful last morning, in myself.

I am one proud mama!

So a couple of weeks ago, I received an invitation in the mail for Ilizibith to go to an open call for the National American Miss pageant. Ilizibith has asking me for a while now about entering a pageant, so I thought we would go and check it out. She had an interview with someone from the program, and we learned about it as well. One of the things that they talked about was that they would see about 3500 girls in the state, Ilizibith's age group was the largest, and that they would only take about 50 girls in her age group. Well, today I got a phone call that she was accepted as a Utah state finalist! I know how amazing my daughter is, but it's always nice to have confirmation from other people. Now we get to start the process of finding sponsors to support her and help with the fees. If anyone would like to sponsor, or know someone who would potentially like to be, please let me know. It's tax deductible, and your name will be listed as a sponsor next to hers on the program. And you will help make an amazing young lady very, very happy!

Rachel

P.S. If you want more information on the program and how it works and will benefit Ilizibith, the website is www.namiss.com.

And a Big Fat Case of Bullying

So most of you who read this blog know my amazing daughter, Ilizibith. She is a unique soul, marches to the beat of her own drummer, and is just all-around one of the best kids I have ever known. Because of her uniqueness, Ilizibith tends to get picked on at school. Usually she can just ignore it and move on, but even when she does I know it still hurts. Whoever said "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me " was very obviously never a teenage girl! For most of this school year, there have been two boys in particular in her class that have made life very challenging for her. They constantly call her names and make fun of pretty much anything that she does. Her teacher has gotten on them about it, but in his words he "pretty much let it slide all year." So yesterday the last eight months cam to a head, and after one too many name-callings, Ilizibith slammed her chair into one of the boys' desks. Of course this set both of the boys off, and they started yelling at her and calling her names right in the middle of class. One of them started to call Ilizibith a faggot, and she told him if she finished saying it she was going to deck him. Then she promptly burst into tears and pretty much had the worst day of her life. The boys were sent to the principal's office, and Ilizibith came and stayed with me in the class I was subbing for. I just happened to be at her school working yesterday, or maybe not "just happened," but I'm glad I was there. The boys got in trouble from the principal, but were allowed to go back to class, and Ilizibith was told that if she threatened either one of them again she would get a ticket. As a teacher, I can understand where that is coming from, since students shouldn't threaten other students. As a mom, though, I was pretty livid that after 8 months of constant harassment from these boys, Ilizibith finally stood up for herself (since whatever the school was doing obviously wasn't working), and now if she does it again she's going to get in trouble. Now, if she had actually decked the kid, this would be an entirely different story! After talking to the principal this morning, I understand a little bit more of what's been done in the past to deal with it, but it's obviously not enough. I know the school is at it's wits end with these boys, but for a district that has zero tolerance policy for bullies, I would think there would be something else that could be done. A "truce" has been called by the boys for the last three weeks of school, and Ilizibith will be going to a different school then they will next year, but I still can't help but feel something drastic needs to be done with these boys, or they're going to continue to harass and bully people. I have been there and I know how devastating it can be. Ilizibith is a strong young woman surrounded by people who love her, and I hope that this experience will help her to become even stronger. Having said that, I wish with all of my heart that she didn't have to go through it at all. And I sincerely hope that something can be done about these boys so that someone else doesn't have to go through what Ilizibith did.

Out of the chaos

So today has been a very enlightening and amazing day for me, and it's only 2:30. For most of my adult life, I have shied away from organized religion. Not just one specific religion, but all of them. I decided that my spirituality was my business, and how I showed that spirituality was as well, and I didn't like people dictating my relationship with God. Over the past couple of months, I have been blessed with some amazing experiences. As a single parent for my entire adult life, I have always felt like I had to be able to do everything alone. While I have reached out for help, it always came with a feeling of guilt and failure, with the feeling that I was not enough. Over the past several months, I have finally come to realize that I don't have to do it alone, and that I don't have to be feel guilty when I can't. At the beginning of the year, I started a new job and went back to school. I was finally ready to make that step and start to become "what I wanted to be when I grew up." As part of that journey, I started going back to church a few weeks ago, and have been having some very powerful encounters with Holy Ghost ever since that have confirmed to me that I have made the right decisions, and that are also pointing me towards new decisions as well. In one of my classes today, we were talking about scriptures that we turn to when life gets hard, and I immediately thought of Psalms 23, which I'll post at the end of this blog. I've always struggled with my testimony, and with the fact that I am a child of God and loved always, no matter what. Today, I finally took this to heart, and the peace and joy that I have felt since that moment have been overwhelming. I truly know that I am a precious, unique daughter of God, and that He loves me. I know that the LDS church is true, and that it is led by a prophet who is called by God. There may be things that I don't agree with, but I know that there is a reason for everything, even if I don't see. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior, and that he bled and died for me, and that because of Him I can live with my Father in Heaven again one day. I am very grateful for this testimony, and for the intense joy it has brought me. I know that I have friends who may read this who might not understand, and I don't expect you to. All I ask is that you accept that this who I am and what I have chosen for myself, and support me in that decision, as I try to support you in the choices that you make. I love all of you, and I hope that as you read this blog you've felt just a little bit of the spirit that I have been so overcome, and blessed, with in the past few weeks and especially today.

Rachel

Psalms 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

And So It Begins

Well, I finally decided to join the world of blogging, just as my life gets completely crazy. This is the first blog posting I have ever done, and I'm finding it a little daunting. For this post, I'm going to introduce you to the crazy that my life has become. Chances are, if you're reading this, you already know me and my background, so I'm going to start with today (well, really the past couple of weeks) and move forward from there. Starting with the kiddos.

Ilizibith is probably one of the smartest 12-year-old young women I have ever known. (And yes, I know I'm biased!) She has the equivalent of straight A's, loves to read, and is extremely creative. She spends a lot of her time either reading or sketching, and I am absolutely amazed at the raw talent she has when it comes to her art. She recently started taking guitar lessons, which has added to the crazy schedule we are trying to maintain, and she loves it! I know that there are a lot of great things to come from her, and a lot more craziness to ensue as she gets older and starts *gasp* junior high next year.

Christian is one of the sweetest and most caring 9-year-old boys I know, and I love it! He also has straight A's right now, and he loves anything that has to do with the military or flying. He also loves sports, and has recently decided that he wants to play baseball, soccer, and football. It looks like we'll starting with baseball this spring, and finding out what he really likes to play. The boy can run, so they all seem promising.

As for me, life really seems to be getting crazier the older I get. With the big 3-0 birthday behind me, I decided it was time to really get it together and start following my dreams. I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember, and I put that on hold to try and take care of my kids the best I could. I'm realizing now that if I had just gone to school and gotten my degree, our life would have been so much better. But I think that I definitely had some lessons to learn and some growing up to do, and now that I have I can take this big step in my life. In January I began working as a substitute teacher for the Nebo School District, and I absolutely love it. This lead to the decision to finally go back to school and get my teaching degree. So not only did I start a new job, I started school as well! I found a school that really fits the way I learn, and I can do everything except my student teaching online. The only time I will ever have to set foot on campus is to graduate! I have one more week of orientation, but I am feeling very confident in my ability to use the ecampus and to finally get my degree. I tell my kids all the time that they can be and do anything they want to if they work hard, and it's finally time to show them how true that is!

On a lighter note, my inner geek has finally been released, and I am loving every second of it! I started reading The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (that most of my guy friends have been geeking out over for years!) and I am proud to say that I am also geeking out over it. I love, love, love it and I can't believe I waited this long to read it. To all of my friends that I teased in high school about these books, consider this your formal apology. :D My friend Amy also introduced me to a game called Munchkin, which again I am in love with. We play as often as we can, and great fun is had by all as we "kill the monsters, steal the treasure, and stab our buddies." If you haven't ever played, you are missing out! I also started playing World of Warcraft (to all of my friends from high school, please reference the above apology) and as much as I hate to admit it, I'm a little bit obsessed with it. I play as often as I can, and once we have another computer will get to play a little bit more.

So to recap; My kids rock, I'm working and going to school full-time and I have released my inner geek. Also throw in 3 fuzzballs that allow us to live with them (that's another post!) and the world continues to revolve around the crazy that is this little section of the Summerhalder clan.