You all voted, and the results have been tabulated…

(CUE THEME MUSIC) Here she comes…

Representing the State of Serenity…the winner of our first annual (Truth and) Beauty Contest is…Jennifer!

And we had a 3-way tie for runner-up, so will the following three contestants please join Jennifer on stage:

Representing the States of Pondering, Balancing and Serendipity…Kathy Roberts, Beth Kaufmann and Amy Sue!

(You can see their wonderful entries in their entirety just below.)

All four women will receive the following:

       * A special Mission Amy KR pocket-sized mirror that serves as reminder that their beauty is also within.

       * A signed/personalized book.

        * A 15-minute coffee date over skype.

Jennifer, Kathy, Beth, Amy Sue…I think it’s time for a speech from each of you! :)  Feel free to share your remarks with us all in the comment section now.

Thanks again to everyone who participated.  As you can see from that original post, there were so many original and touching entries.  

As we head off into the winter wonderland sunset, may your holidays and next couple of months be filled with merriment, love, peace, truth and beauty.

yours,

amy

WINNER:  STATE OF SERENITY…JENNIFER

SUIT: what suits me best is my yellow dress. It’s like wearing sunshine :)

SPECIAL TALENT:  I’m pretty good at making things out of pipe cleaners, like people and animals.

SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL: is finding connections with people you never thought you’d have anything in common with. May I tell you a story? Right after college, I got a job working at a men’s homeless shelter. One day, when I had only been there for a couple months, I was given the responsibility of accompanying three of the shelter guests to a homeless awareness event at a local high school where they were going to be speaking. It was a bit awkward at first because I hardly knew the three of them and they hardly knew me. Plus, I was a 20-something year old white girl from the Midwest and they were 45-60 year old black men who had spent the majority of their lives battling drug addictions and living on the streets. What could we possible have in common? As we sat in a room in uncomfortable silence waiting for the event to begin, one of the men said something about me being their “chaperone” to make sure they kept out of trouble. We all looked at each other and then burst out laughing. That ridiculous image of a timid little midwestern girl ‘chaperoning’ this group of independent men, all over twice my age completely broke the tension. Soon the four of us were chatting and swapping jokes like old friends. It taught me that we are all much more similar than we are different and that if you make an honest effort, you can connect with pretty much anyone. It’s the most beautiful lesson I’ve ever learned.

RUNNER-UP: STATE OF PONDERING…KATHY ROBERTS

SUIT: coat of many colors - i.e. the many roles I play in my life right now.

SPECIAL TALENT: as a chameleon - I am told that I slip right into a person’s skin ( voice, inflection, body movements) without knowing it when I am telling a story about them or a conversation that we have had. People will stop me mid-sentence and say, “you totally become him/her.

SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL: my developmentally challenged daughter’s take on life and people. She has so much trust and hope in us. Whenever someone does something mean to her or someone else , she says “you know mom, they just haven’t learned yet how to do it differently. They will. ” Ah, the lessons she could share with the world!

RUNNER-UP: STATE OF BALANCING…BETH KAUFMANN. It is the start of the new month so I am reconciling everyone’s accounts 

SUIT: Hearts, it is red (my favorite color), represents games (favorite hobby), and it means love (who doesn’t love love) 

SPECIAL TALENT: I can enter numbers really quickly using my keyboard which came in handy when my son had to enter lots of numbers for his bio lab (yeah, I helped him, couldn’t resist saving him the time). Also, I have been told I make a mean PBJ. 

SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL: When my boys come home on a Saturday night and want to end the evening with all of us on the couch watching one of our shows together. Nothing is more beautiful to me then all of us coming back together after our nights out.

RUNNER-UP STATE OF SERENDIPITY…AMY SUE

SUIT: I tend to be a trickster so I guess I’m gonna be a Joker and avoid the other suits.

SPECIAL TALENT: I never have to measure anything but it always fits. My brain apparently can see things (like a sofa) and know without measuring it or the space it is going into that it will fit. This talent annoys my scientist husband who feels that it defies known reality..and it makes him crazy that I am always right!  

SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL: My son’s scar is beautiful..it is at the base of his spine and represents how lucky he is and we are that we have such wonderful doctors, surgeons and other healthcare professionals to get us through such a scary time. That scar represents his courage and strength and what I hope is a future of health and joy.