March Madness for Donations!

Yesterday I spent another Wednesday at the Dorothy Day Food Pantry in Moorhead, MN! It was a great evening and like always I met some wonderful volunteers and great people of this community! It was, however, the first Wednesday of March! March is the biggest month for food shelves in Minnesota because every pound donated is matched by the state! So all month long help me and the 600,000 hungry Minnesotans by donating food items to your local food shelves!! Remember everything starts local! God Bless and happy March!

My Valentine, Isaiah!

As we continue to find my prognosis I have been quite busy in the Sanford hospital for reasons other than my own health concerns. The Cares For Kids Radiothon was a booming success and I met a very courageous family! 

Isaiah Lawson, 4 years old

Izzy Lawson, whom dreams to be a princess. Little does she know, she already is! 

Myself and Alfonz the hospital mouse! 

Alfonz is being worn be none other than Alex Ames, a future Cobber!!

The eldest son in the Lawson family, Isaiah, is hoping to find out on March 31st that he is cancer free!! After meeting the mother, Catherine, and the three Lawson children along with the Aunt at the Radiothon I immediately made a connection with the family due to my own ailments. My mother has done childcare for many years and I have an undying love for children. I made a bond with these kids and knew I had to see them again.

So I found out that the Lawsons would be in Fargo for a whole week treating Isaiah, and on Valentine's Day I surprised him and asked him to be my Valentine. He accepted and was very pleased to see the snickers candy bars I had brought for him. I told him he had to share with his siblings Izzy and Ben, and he agreed!

My brave little Valentine, Isaiah! 

Happy Valentine's Day from Miss Moorhead and the Lawson Family! 

(Myself, Izzy, Isaiah, Ben and Catherine Lawson)

I got to see how loving and strong the whole Lawson family is as I observed Isaiah and his father, Dan, praying together and how independent little Ben was while he walked around eating his very own slice of cheese pizza! I am blessed to know this family and pray for wonderful news on the March 31!

Princess Izzy enjoying her favorite pizza while Isaiah and his father, Dan, say a little prayer! 

Brought tears to my eyes to see something so beautiful!

All smiles as he starts his last IV!!

Sanford Sweethearts

The beginning of February brought lots of laughs as I celebrated my brother's 17th birthday!

All smiles as we celebrate!!

My brother, Brekden, on his 17th birthday! 

It took everyone's mind off of my ongoing medical problems. I have been in and out of the Sanford hospitals in Fargo, ND for close to six weeks now. There is no diagnosis yet, but we are working hard to figure out what is causing my ailments. I am taking the advice of my academic advisors to take a leave of absence for the rest of the semester. I am sad to leave Concordia, however this was explained to me to be the best course of action to take. I will now have even more time to devote to my platform and to my prep for state. This experience has afforded me the opportunity to really get to know a lot of the staff at my local Sanford. I have met so many gifted and wonderful doctors, nurses, and other patients.

Photo taken during one of my stays in Sanford Women's Unit

The Sunshine Foundation: Addie's Wish

Pizza Ranch held a fundraiser in the honor of Addison a young girl living in Moorhead. Not only did they host the fundraiser, they hosted on of the most touching moments for Addie's family of 5. The Sunshine Foundation aided in this touching moment as well, because without them this moment wouldn't be possible.
The sunshine Foundation was founded in 1976 by Bill Sample a Philadelphia policeman. Its sole purpose is to answer the dreams of children who have been abused, who are ill or who have a physical disability. They are the original wish granting organization and have answered the dreams of over 36,000 children.
I had the pristine privilege to present on the behalf of The Sunshine Foundation a wish to little Addie. Addie has Spina Bifida and has wanted to go to Disney World for a long time. She adores princesses and The Sunshine Foundation wanted to grant her wish. She is going to Disney World to meet all of her favorite princesses.
A huge thanks goes out to the community of Moorhead, the Moorhead Pizza Ranch and Manager Kat, and to The Sunshine Foundation. You are all incredible! I was truly honored to help make Addie's dream come true!!

 Myself, Addie and my princess Lexie

 Addie's Cake

 Telling Addie that "Yes, you really get to go to Disney World!!"

Congratulatory cake donated by Walmart

Holiday Parades

This winter has been full of many parades celebrating the holidays! I have had the opportunity to grace four communities this fall/winter: Redneck Holidazzle Parade of Vergas, FArgo-Moorhead Parade of Lights, Perham Parade of Lights and the Detroit Lakes Holiday Parade! Here are some of the pictures! 

FM Parade of Lights

Decorating for the Vergas Redneck Holidazzle

God Bless you all this Holiday Season!!!

Concordia Homecoming 2012!!

 Homecoming Parade 2012!! 

 Myself along with the Cobber Nation!! Go Cobbers!

Riding through the parade in the beautiful truck provided by Muscatell

Concordia College Homecoming 2012 was a booming success!! I had a blast participating in festivities like the bonfire, parade, football game and the Johnny Holms Band dance/concert! The whole week was filled with Cobber gold and maroon! I really was honored to have the opportunity to ride through the Homecoming parade as Miss Moorhead 2012. Muscatell in Moorhead was so gracious to let me ride through on one of their trucks and they even let me use a maroon one! They sure do have some Cobber spirit! And a big thanks to my dad for driving me through and then coming to the football game with me! It sure was a beautiful fall day!

Out Of The Darkness Walk 2012

I had the honor to walk for a cause along with my Teen Queen, Hailey Jutz! We were joined by Miss Perham 2012, Leah Wuebben and the rest of the Jutz family. Our team walked 3 miles for the Out Of the Darkness suicide awareness walk. We were Team Chad Jutz, in honor of Hailey's father. Our t-shirts were purple and had our team name on the back and on the front of them it stated Hailey's platform: Operation Save A Life. It was an emotional day as we joined others on the walk and then shared in listening to stories of others and their loved ones. The day was a complete success! A lot of awareness was raised about this cause and the Jutz family was honored by Frazee police chief. 

Mis Perham 2012 Leah Wuebben, MRRVOT 2012 Hailey Jutz, Miss Moorhead 2012 Makenzi Kovar