HAPPY 2009

May the Peace of God be with you all and may amazing blessings be in store for you! In this new year of change I would like to share with you Isaiah 26:4 "Trust in the Lord ALWAYS, for the Lord God is the eternal ROCK!" May these words echo in your spirits daily and offer you hope, encouragement and love. Hold onto God, keep Him first family 2nd and trust that all else will fall into place!It has been a busy year thus far with University of Louisville athletics, family, mentoring and volunteering! We hosted numerous guest over the holiday seasons and spent New Years Eve with the Temptations and the Four Tops! Noa'Sosa is growing and learning so many things each day as he continues to explore the world around him. We have been active with our Bible Study group and we recently attended a Building Bridges course that equipped us to better share the relationship that we have with our Savior with others. So, in a nutshell God has been nothing short of amazing and He is truly blessing the Friedman crew in multiple ways!

Christmas is a busy time for everyone and as Mrs. Kentucky, it has even been busier for me this year, but I am loving every minute of it! On Tuesday, December 10, I was honored to attend a Mandisa (a former American Idol) Concert at Southeast Christian Church. What an awesome testimony! I than took the rest of the week to do my favorite thing…shop! Now, now, remember it is Christmas!

The weekend was a mad rush! I started on Saturday morning volunteering at my church’s “Toy Store.” This is an outreach program that assists local agencies in providing parents with gifts for their children. It was amazing to see men and women come in looking so discouraged, than leave with a feeling of hope and a renewed spirit. I greeted a majority of the day and had the opportunity to pray with several of the participants.

Saturday night was the Annual Queens Christmas Party. It was my first so I really looked forward to going. The Queens and their spouses joined together at Queen Mom's house, it was a fantastic time and everyone looked fabulous, especially QM whose purple and black gets rave reviews from me. We played games (thanks Queen Yates), chatted it up of course, took a million photos (we're Queen's...lol) and ate tons of wonderful food. I finally got to meet Tony, Julie Dorsey’s brother, and the resident singer at the pageant. Seems he was under the weather last year so I had never met him. What a great guy! We are all so excited that he will be returning this year. Jo Ann presented him with the Volunteer of the Year award that he was supposed to have received during the pageant.

Sunday, December 14th, I made an appearance for the Dream Factory. There were lots of crowns there, but for some reason I had mine and my gown but chose not to wear them. God had laid something on my heart and I was really just in the mood to serve, so that's what I did. I helped children and served meals and the funny thing is that even without my crown many still knew who I was. God reminded me that my platform is "Planting Seeds of Service," so I should go forth and do that task with excellence. So, on this day God used me in a different way, and that was to let Him shine through me by just operating in love.

I look forward to continuing my year with many appearances and letting God to work through me. Thank you for your words of encouragement, love, and friendships. I hope each of you have a very Merry Christmas and a joyful and Happy New Year! God Bless you and your families.

"Queens Club" Annual Christmas Party

Saturday Dec. 13, the Annual Queen's Club Christmas Party was held at Queen Mom's home. Husbands visited while the girls laughed and talked pageant. Once again the food was outstanding, with everyone bringing a dish (man, these Queens can COOK!).We surprised Jo Ann with a Memory Book...each "Queen" did two pages of memories of their year...she loved it! No one had seen Jo Ann's Director of the Year Award so we had to have a photo made with her, the Award and her girls! Oh, how we love to have photos made! As you can see, there are lots of beautiful ladies in this group....wonder who will be our next member??? Maybe YOU?

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving holiday! Remember you do not just have to celebrate this day once a year, you can partake in its true meaning everyday!

Our family had an awesome holiday spent at home. However, Gary and I did spend part of our day at Wayside Christian Mission men's facility, where we did administrative chores and served over 600 plus men Thanksgiving dinner. It was truly a blessing to be able to serve with a joyful spirit. As you can see, I am still trying to live my platform, “Planting seeds of service”Traveling to Nashville over the holiday weekend (to support my beloved U of L Cards basketball team), we had the opportunity to visit the Opryland Hotel. All decked out for Christmas made the hotel a winter wonderland; Noa'Sosa was in love with all the lights and colors, but he wanted no part of Santa! Oh, of course we made a pit stop to the mall ((((-:

Guess what, we stayed at the Lowe's Vanderbilt Hotel, the sister hotel of the Lowe's Ventana Canyon Resort Tucson, that I stayed at while competing at the Mrs. American, now how cool is that!I have a ton of holiday events, volunteer activities, and of course basketball games coming up. I love getting to “dress up,” so I cannot wait to participate in each festive celebration.

The most important events, and the ones that truly keep me humble, will be those where I am giving back and reaching out to help provide happiness for someone else. It may be just a smile, a friendly greeting, or even an encouraging word; my goal is to improve the quality of life in as many people as I can, year round, not just during this time of year.

Matthew 7:12 gives us the Golden Rule: Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. I try to keep those words tucked in my heart as a reminder not to be a respecter of people; you never know when you are entertaining angels.
By the way, I just read three terrific books:. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, plus How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie, and The Art of War., written by Sun Tzu… I highly recommend all of them!

I am looking so forward to the opportunities to continue sharing unconditional love and living life on, and with, purpose. This holiday season; please join us as we strive to live, laugh and love the life that God has given us! Happy Holidays!

Another Dale Carnegie Award

On Thursday Nov 6th I won another award in my Dale Carnegie Courses. I was given the outstanding performance award for a speech I made that had to show emotion and connect with the audience in a powerful, passionate way.

On Saturday Oct 11th I was given my first opportunity to judge a pageant. It was awesome. I meet so many wonderful, dedicated individuals and it was truly the experience I will not ever forget!

Me and my fans at the airport headed to AZ for the Mrs. America pageant!