New

Well, I've been Miss Mid-State for a week now, and it's still a little hard to believe. After competing for three years and knowing that I loved pageants, I thought I'd be more prepared for the adjustment. All of a sudden there was a TON of paperwork, a new workout regime, constant news updates, appearance scheduling, etc. It didn't help that the day after I won I had to drive nine hours back to Ohio to finish up the last three weeks of the semester. But even with everything I have to do it all seems so worth it. My dreams are finally starting to come true. You know that point where you just want to give up but something keeps you hanging on? That's where I've been all semester. It's almost like God was telling me that I had to make sure I was finding my validation in Him before He would add anything else into my life that might distract me. But I'm so thankful for the experiences I've had to grow recently and for all of the people who believed in me and helped to see me through.

Next week I'm supposed to be speaking at an inner city school in Dayton on the importance of education. I hope that I can have a positive impact on the lives of these children. That's always been one of the greatest reasons for me to do pageants. The crown is like a microphone; I just pray that God will give me the right words to speak when I get there.