Update

Dear family and friends,
The weeks since the Mrs. Oklahoma pageant have flown by!

We have lots of new developments with Blended Love that have been keeping Monica and me very busy and focused (These developments will be announced more formally very soon!). I finished up a semester of teaching trigonometry at TCC. I have continued my work with the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative. While I'm still busy (and I love it), I have enjoyed a much needed break! I also took a part-time job for a few hours per week at the Emerald Emporium, which is a deli located in the Park Centre building downtown; judged the Oklahoma Fabulous Faces pageant (the little ones were sooo precious!); spoke for a few minutes at the Tulsa Forever. For Real. one day event for engaged couples (thanks, Amanda, for giving me a few minutes to share my passion, mission, vision, and resources), and I'm getting ready for a few more events and speaking engagements in the coming months...as Mrs. Tulsa, the executive director of Blended Love, ambassador for OMI, and as a friend and family member. I'll be signing autographs next weekend at a golf tournament benefit for the Ronald McDonald house! Please visit the link to register!

Bobby and I are doing well! Bobby is working very hard as always, and we're both working towards our goals and dreams at a slow-but-steady pace. I've probably had one too many mint oreos since the Mrs. Oklahoma pageant, but I have kept up my pageant workouts, so I'm confident that my commitment to health and wellness is here to stay. I returned to Toastmasters two weeks ago and won the Best Speaker award last Monday for a speech titled, Nurturing Commitment.

My sister Jade was in town for the pageant. We had a great time! It had been years since we had seen each other, although we typically talk on the phone a few times per week. I miss her so much. I am so proud of her for the woman she has become and the mother she is to my nephew Michael and my niece Ella.

I also visited my dad last Friday and we had a very nice visit.

Saturday, Bobby made an Elmo cake for our nephew Tysen's 2nd birthday party! We had so much fun. Carla and Tom did a lovely job planning the party for their son. Tysen is just such a good boy. He blew on the cake when the candle was lit. He said, "Elmo, hot!" Then Ty was so concerned when we cut the cake into pieces. I had been reading about child development for my work on the training manuals for Blended Love. I remembered reading that children in Tysen's age group can't tell the difference between a shoe and a picture of a shoe. He really thought we were cutting up Elmo! Then we brought him his stuffed animal and he felt a little better, although he did look back and forth from the cake to the Elmo doll a few times. It's so neat to watch him learning. His young mind is a sponge. And he's such a compassionate little boy, so good-natured. I can't wait until Bobby and I feel ready to have a baby of our own. Until then, I'll just have to nurture our doggies! It will all happen in God's time.

Yesterday, I attended Asbury United Methodist Church, and heard a beautiful sermon on motherhood. Then, when Bobby finished up at work, we took our mother-in-law Ada out to Olive Garden. We had a really nice time, great conversation. I called my mom and sent texts to all of my mommy-friends. :) I got a few texts myself, because of the doggies, which I thought was sweet. Overall, we had a very nice day, even though I missed my mom.

I'm continuing to serve as Mrs. Tulsa until the end of the summer. I'm not 100% sure about competing again in 2011, but I do hope to compete. I have to discuss it with Bobby and pray about it, but I do hope to compete again because the Mrs. America title would be the perfect platform to share the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative model with state legislatures around the country. I believe that marriage and relationship education should be easily accessible and widely available. I also believe that every child should have access to guidance and support after family change, and parents and teachers are seeking information to help their children. They are seeking information that just isn't there right now. The Oklahoma Marriage Initiative and Blended Love are working to change that. We believe in education. We believe that knowledge is power, and that individuals, armed with compassionate hearts and good information, will make choices and small changes to improve their lives, shaping their families and relationships.

As Americans, we say that family matters, that family comes first, and the majority of us believe it. I think we ought to show it. We ought to invest in this institution of family. This is something that transcends political and religious affiliations, and the other cultures and subcultures that make our country diverse, rich, and interesting. This is something we all have in common. We all know that family matters. I want to strengthen families... and I want to enlist the help of everyone who agrees with me. Our differences are our strengths. :) We cannot do it alone, but together, and with God's help and blessing, we can change our little corner of the world, one couple and one family at a time.

I'll post pictures soon!
God bless you and your family!
Sasha