Role Models of America

Mentoring the Young for the Future

Young teens require the leadership of ladies to help them learn how to become true Christian girls.  Their questions can be answered by their mothers, yet their eyes watch other women and they learn by seeing women work together, respect each other, love God and walk through life supporting one another.  In this world there are many distractions, temptations and potholes - a wise Role Model puts her daughter in the midst of other Role Models so she can watch, practice learning values and receive  a training on how to become a woman of honor.  In todays world of lax morals, zero commitments, and false belief systems young women certainly need the guidance of women of character to help them not make mistakes in their own futures. 
The statement 'It takes a village to raise a child'  needs another step added..... 'It takes a Church to raise a village'.  With the active involvement of Role Models of America in the local church - the next generation can certainly receive wise leadership which the 'village' will benefit enormously.

At the Tea - Teen girls decorated their own tables.... more about that later.

And  little girls raised within the framework and values of Role Models of America - have such an advantage of growing up using their talents, expressing themselves creatively, and learning how to be a leader from an early age.  What an awesome start to life they get!

And there were tables decorated at the Tea just for them. More about them later too.....

 

And young moms receive guidance, inspiration and support from the older Role Models to help them know what to do in life.  All of their questions, actions and decisions can receive steady support and comfort in their fast paced days of babies, jobs. marriages and personal lives by being a part.

So RMA touches every life and every age... for the good of all.

Hat's Off To Women 2009 Tea

The Role Models of America 2009 Tea was wonderful and very well attended by young and old. 

And ladies kept pouring in the doors!

It was a fabulous time..... you should have been here Dahling!

Role Models of the United Kingdom

We now have a sister chapter in the United Kingdom, and their event was planned for the same day as our Tea.  I want to share it with you, as I am so proud of them and all that is getting started there!

Margaret Wilson, in the middle is the Director of Role Models there.  She is the wife of Bishop Malcolm Wilson.  She is going to be a great leader and I m so proud of these ladies and their desire to mentor women.

They all had a lovely time together - I wish I could have been there with them too! Here is their Agenda for the new R.M. of the U.K. luncheon.

‘WOMEN OF SUBSTANCE’

 

LADIES LUNCH at Edith and Peggy’s Home on Saturday, 2^nd May at 12.30

 

AGENDA

 

12.30 – 1 o’clock            Arrival of Ladies

                                          (Susie to tick ladies off list, make sure we have all names, addresses and phone numbers)                             

                                         

                                          WELCOME by Margaret and explanation of ROLE MODELS of America and the United Kingdom           

 

Ladies to draw picture of something in their handbags the rest to guess what it is - make it as unusual as possible! Object in room if no bag.

 

1.30                                  Lunch

 

2.30                                  Ask different ones to give us their background, customs and the type of food they like to eat: Tracy for Zimbabwe;  Grace\Teresa for The Phillipines; Edith\Peggy for India; Nimi for Malaysia (10 min.per country)

 

3.15                                  General knowledge Bible quiz

 

3.30.pm                            Grace to lead us in praise and worship

                                          Doreen, Susie, Edith, Peggy, Teresa (Holt) & Margaret to bring words, scriptures, pictures etc.

                                          Prayer time: 

                                          For England (as we are all living here (Edith to start, then others

                                          The countries represented (Grace to start, Peggy, Tracy, Nimi)

                                          Government – leaders (Peggy to start

                                          Schools – curriculum, teachers (Clare to start

                                          Each other  - Margaret and finish

 

4.30pm                             Leave with handout of Role Models and scriptures

 

(Photographs will be taken throughout for next Newsletter & Role Models of America)

Why I Started the Tea

I began the Role Models of America annual Tea years ago, because I felt it was important for women and girls to understand etiquette and perfect lady manners.  Being feminine is almost a lost art these days!  It's a wonderful way to help females grow into ladies.  Make no mistake all ladies are women, but not all women are ladies.
So I began the Tea to encourage genteel behavior and educate the next generation on the arts of womanhood.  To be cultured and well mannered requires self discipline and focus.  And also in this fast paced world of me me me ...... someone needs to speak up and remind women and girls we have a higher place to dwell in.  Not in the dregs of society with the rude and uncaring, but rather to attain to a place of honor and respect.

So the Tea was born....

5 Questions for Women in America

1. Are you longing to be connected to other women who love God and are Christians?
2. Do you miss having personal friends that stick with you through thick and thin?
3. Are there times when you need a compassionate shoulder to lean on in the time of need?
4. Have you experienced life that has given you wisdom that you now wish you could share with others?
5. Where do you go for personal education on the issues that affect you?

If you feel a connection to these questions - Role Models of America is where you belong!

Email today and get connected to other like women who can bless your life with answers, comfort and many experiences that all women experience in life.

The Role Models of America 2009 Tea "Hats Off to Women"

You are Cordially Invited to attend the 2009 Role Models of America Tea.  Our theme this year is called, 'Hats Off to Women' and will be focused around the many different roles or 'hats' that women wear day by day.

It will be held at :

New Life Christian Fellowship

Community Center

2104 Underwood

Laporte Tx 77571

on May 2nd at 2pm.

It's a free event to all women and girls.

Come for a lovely afternoon of gourmet food, meaningful entertainment, and see an innovative ministry for women that will leave you encouraged, blessed, pampered and challenged to be a better women, wife, mother, employee, employer and friend!!

What is a Role Model?

by Susan Young

1) How do you define the term "role model?"

Someone who is doing well in a particular field and whom one can aspire to learn and emulate.

2) Do you consider yourself a role model?

            Yes

3) Who has served as a role model for you?

            Doris Avila has been a great role model for me but there are others as well.

4) What is your greatest responsibility as a role model?

            It’s important that you are teaching and mentoring those people coming along beside you.

5) What is the most pleasant part of being a role model?

Seeing those things you are passionate about coming alive and making a positive difference in the lives of others.

6) What is the least pleasant part of being a role model?

            There is little room for error and even bad days can be hurtful.

7) What is the greatest discovery of your lifetime?

            That I serve a God that loves me not as the divine accountant but simply just because.

8) Do mentors chose protégés, or vice-versa?

Cool question. I think as much as we’d like to mentor those we see gifts in, the protégés have to be willing so I don’t think mentors chose protégés. That would be nice though.

9) How important is understanding where you "came from?"

It’s only important as a reference point. We tend to get stuck there and that can cause a victim mentality so when we make it a reference point the destination becomes the focus and that, I think, propels us forward.

10) Who do you consider historically great role models?

            Jesus, Ruth, Esther, Susan B. Anthony, Ida Wells-Barnett

11) Who do you consider historically lousy role models?

            President Bill Clinton, Gloria Steinem

12) What common characteristics can be observed in these historic persons?

            They all had a heart set upon the disadvantaged and making a difference to those in need.

13) How necessary is influence in serving as a role model?

            Role Models influence by their service so it’s necessary. I think they go hand and hand.

14) How does a role model help the protégé see the potential within?

When I mentor I try to remember the example of Jesus. Watch as I do. Watch as I do and help me. Next, I watch and you do and I help you. Then you do. 

15) How much time is spent correcting versus exhorting?

While correcting is necessary, it’s better to find the positives and try to bring those out so that they overshadow the negative.

16) How important is recognition of individual difference in role modeling?

            Very important. No one is ever going to do things exactly as you do.

17) What personal characteristics best relate to serving as a role model?

Being able to communicate your heart and your passion is essential. Being stable and trustworthy, being able to let go of ownership and being social helps.

18) How important is patience in serving as a role model?

            Without it you will frustrate yourself and kill your protégé.

19) What role does an outgoing personality have in serving as a role model?

            I think that in order to motivate you’ve got to be outgoing.

20) Do you impart a personal message of overcoming?

            Always.

21) Does a role model empower others through decision-making?

            Yes, when the people you are leading feel that you know what you are doing, they’ll follow.

22) How powerful a force is a positive attitude in role modeling?

            No one wants to follow a negative cause.

23) What part does humility play in role modeling?

            I think if we lose humility we lose our ability to role model.

24) Is it necessary that a role model serve in the same profession as the protégé desires to be in?

            No.

25) Are professional athletes and other celebrities’ good role models?

I don’t think we can point to a profession. I think we’d have to look at the person individually.      

26) How important is inspiration in serving as a role model?

            You have to be able to inspire others so you have to be inspired.

27) Do personal habits count in serving as a role model?

            Yes.

28) How important is physical importance in serving as a role model?

As in appearance? I guess it depends. If I am role modeling fitness then I should well and take care of myself and be someone who doesn’t do things that harm my body. If I’m a chef and I’m overweight then I hear that makes you trustworthy.

29) Does clothing impact your function as a role model?

Again, I guess it depends. I think it’s more important to be clean and put together, dressing appropriately for the field you’re in.

30) Is anything more important than vision-casting for a role model?   

                Belief in what you’re doing and knowing where you’re wanting to go is the key. So probably not.

               

Girls in My Circle

GIRLS IN MY CIRCLE

 

When I was little,
I used to believe in the concept of one best friend,
And then I started to become a woman.
And then I found out that if you allow your heart to open up,
God would show you the best in many friends

One friend is needed when you're going through things with your man.
Another friend is needed when you're going through things with your mom.
Another will sit beside you in the bleachers as you delight in your children and their activities.
Another when you want to shop, share, heal, hurt, joke, or just be.
One friend will say, ' Let's cry together, '
Another, ' Let's fight together, '
Another, ' Let's walk away together. '

One friend will meet your spiritual need,
Another your shoe fetish,
Another your love for movies,
Another will be with you in your season of confusion,
Another will be your clarifier,
Another the wind beneath your wings.

But whatever their assignment in your life,
On whatever the occasion,
On whatever the day,
Or wherever you need them to meet you with their gym shoes on and hair pulled back,
Or to hold you back from making a complete fool of yourself ..
Those are your best friends.

It may all be wrapped up in one woman,
But for many, it's wrapped up in several..
One from 7th grade,
One from high school,
Several from the college years,
A couple from old jobs,
On some days your mother,
On some days your neighbor,
On others, your sisters,
And on some days, your daughters.

 

So whether you lived for 10 years or 110 years,
Take notice to the women that God has placed in your life
To make a difference.

TREASURE them as they TREASURE YOU!

 

Ecclesiastes 6:14:

A faithful friend is a strong defense: and he that hath found such an one hath found a treasure.

Every woman wants a true friend.  But finding such a friend can be a lifelong pursuit.  Females search among many  women- making mistakes of her trust and treasures along the way. "Oops"' she says to herself - "I don't think we are on the same page here - better move on".  And so she does, sometimes to no hurt on both sides, sometimes with plenty hurt equally.

Still some are more affected by it, than others, based on their personality types.  The Sanguine woman is a people person and she needs the support and friendship of many friends fo laugh and cry with.  The Melancholy woman not so much, she is focused inwardly and analyzes all her conversations doubting herself and others motives.  The  Choleric woman is a strong leader who needs friends to bounce ideas off of. The Phlegmatic woman is a loyal and true friend often of the other types of personalities. Once made a friend - they stay a friend, 

In my life I have found many friends that were brought into my life for seasons - not for life.  Some remain in my heart and are remembered fondly, as life and circumstances caused our paths to grow apart,  Others it's with pain when I think of them, for their actions towards me were unjust and betraying. I personally have found a handful of friends in my lifetime. And not all of them are for the same reasons.  Some are in the same line of work as I am, my peers,  Others are at church and we do ministry together well. Then there are personal friends to mention - that have nothing to do with work - just good to be with during life's ebbs and flows.  

I have tried to be friends with women who snubbed me, or ignored my tentative reaching hand to them,  And on several occasions I have had special planned events and invited  women to attend - which they did for several years in a row.  But all to no avail - they never called, or reached back for me.  So I stopped trying - it was pointless in this particular group.  And so I know about trying to find good friends. And sometimes family members are not the right choice for a good friendship either.  Too many other issues   

But the  heart of a woman continues to look for a friend to share good and bad with.  So..... how to find one?

1.Ask God to be your friend.  And then be aware when He is! 

2. Be open to new women you are introduced to. Don't ignore them - they might prove to be the best friend ever!

3. Be a friend  to those who are around your life right now.  Start where you are - not with empty words and cards, but with actions.  Then see how they respond back to you.  It might be a mutual connection. 

4. Stay true to your character - it's the most important part of finding the right kind of friend.

Your friend.....

Gayla Holley

Friendship Among Women

UCLA STUDY ON FRIENDSHIP AMONG WOMEN

 By Gale Berkowitz

 

A landmark UCLA study suggests friendships between women are special.  They shape who we are and who we are yet to be. They soothe our tumultuous inner world, fill the emotional gaps in our marriage, and help us remember who we really are.  By the way, they may do even more.

 

Scientists now suspect that hanging out with our friends can actually counteract the kind of stomach-quivering stress most of us experience on a daily basis.  A landmark UCLA study suggests that women respond to stress with a cascade of brain chemicals that cause us to make and maintain friendships with other women.  It's a stunning find that has turned five decades of stress research---most of it on men---upside down.   "Until this study was published, scientists generally believed that when people experience stress, they trigger a hormonal cascade that revs the body to either stand and fight or flee as fast as possible," explains Laura Cousino Klein, Ph.D., now an Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health at Penn State University and one of the study's authors.   "It's an ancient survival mechanism left over from the time we were chased across the planet by saber-toothed tigers.

 

 Now the researchers suspect that women have a larger behavioral repertoire than just "fight or flight."   "In fact," says Dr. Klein,"it seems that when the hormone oxytocin is released as part of the stress responses in a woman, it buffers the "fight or flight" response and encourages her to tend children and gather with other women instead.  When she actually engages in this tending or befriending, studies suggest that more oxytocin is released, which further counters stress and produces a calming effect. 
This calming response does not occur in men", says Dr. Klein, "because testosterone---which men produce in high levels when they're under stress---seems to reduce the effects of oxytocin. Estrogen", she adds,
"seems to enhance it."

 

 The discovery that women respond to stress differently than men was made in a classic "aha!" moment shared by two women scientists who were talking one day in a lab at UCLA.   "There was this joke that when the women who worked in the lab were stressed, they came in, cleaned the lab, had coffee, and bonded", says Dr. Klein.   "When the men were stressed, they holed up somewhere on their own.   I commented one day to fellow researcher Shelley Taylor that nearly 90% of the stress research is on males.   I showed her the data from my lab, and the two of us knew instantly that we were onto
something."

 

 The women cleared their schedules and started meeting with one scientist after another from various research specialties.   Very quickly, Drs. Klein and Taylor discovered that by not including women in stress research, scientists had made a huge mistake: The fact that women respond to stress differently than men has significant implications for our health.

 

 It may take some time for new studies to reveal all the ways that oxytocin encourages us to care for children and hang out with other women, but the "tend and befriend" notion developed by Drs. Klein and Taylor may explain why women consistently outlive men.   Study after study has found that social ties reduce our risk of disease by lowering blood pressure, heart rate, and cholesterol.   "There's no doubt," says Dr. Klein, "that friends are helping us live."   In one study, for example, researchers found that people who had no friends increased their risk of death over a 6-month period.   In another study, those who had the most friends over a 9-year period cut their risk of death by more than 60%.

 

 Friends are also helping us live better.   The famed Nurses' Health Study from Harvard Medical School found that the more friends women had, the less likely they were to develop physical impairments as they aged, and the more likely they were to be leading a joyful life.   In fact, the results were so significant, the researchers concluded, that not having close friends or confidantes was as detrimental to your health as smoking or carrying extra weight!   And that's not all!   When the researchers looked at how well the women functioned after the death of their spouse, they found that even in the face of this biggest stressor of all, those women who had a close friend confidante were more likely to survive the experience without any new physical impairments or permanent loss of vitality.   Those without friends were not always so fortunate.

 

Yet if friends counter the stress that seems to swallow up so much of our life these days, if they keep us healthy and even add years to our life, why is it so hard to find time to be with them?   That's a question that also troubles researcher Ruthellen Josselson, Ph.D., co-author of "Best Friends: The Pleasures and Perils of Girls' and Women's Friendships (Three Rivers Press, 1998).   "Every time we get overly busy with work and family, the first thing we do is let go of friendships with other women," explains Dr. Josselson.  "We push them right to the back burner.   That's really a mistake because women are such a source of strength to each other.   We nurture one another.   And we need to have unpressured space in which we can do the special kind of talk that women do when they're with other women.   It's a very healing experience."

 

Taylor, S. E., Klein, L.C., Lewis, B. P., Gruenewald, T. L., Gurung, R. A. R., & Updegraff, J. A. Female Responses to Stress: Tend and Befriend, Not Fight or Flight"