Love is indeed RESPECT

About 2 months ago, I learned about this place called the Valley Trauma Center in Van Nuys, Calif. where they provide various types of service for victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse. 2 weeks ago, I went in for an interview to start training for volunteering this January 2011.

I'm extremely excited because awareness of sexual violence is something that I'm extremely passionate about. I signed up for several advocacy positions that are available beginning with my #1 pick:

Prevention Education Advocacy - assisting in providing hundreds of presentations to the community annually to raise awareness about issues regarding interpersonal violence, with the goal of lessening the impact of domestic/sexual violence in society by speaking to students, parents, and community groups.

Rape Crisis Advocacy - answering hotline calls, accompanying survivors at hospitals, courts, and police stations, and providing follow-up calls for clients

Buddy For Me Mentoring - mentoring and guidance for victim or at risk children and adolescents of domestic/sexual violence

Community Service Volunteering - assisting with fundraising, special events and other projects of VTC

I hope that one day I'll be able to go around to high schools educating teens on domestic and sexual abuse and through this center, I know I WILL be able to that! Thank God! Teens now-a-days need to know about these things more than ever, especially since they're getting all "serious" with their relationships and not being a virgin is "cool" now. I just hope to God that this type of violence will decrease, beginning with awareness and education. So excited! :D

Please be an advocate yourself! If you, or anyone you know has been a victim or show sings of being a victim of domestic or sexual abuse, please contact one of the following:

Valley Trauma Center 24-hour helpline: 1-818-886-0453
 Valley Trauma Center website: http://www.csun.edu/vtc

Also, Love is Respect is a national 24-hour domestic violence and sexual abuse resource located in Austin, Texas. Love is Respect can be accessed by phone or the internet, specifically designed for teens and young adults. The helpline and website offer real-time one-on-one support from trained peer advocates and is managed by the National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH).

Love is Respect 24-hour helpline:  1-866-331-9474
Love is Respect website: http://www.loveisrespect.org/

Its turkey, mashed potatoes, and karaoke time!

Here we are on the official day of giving thanks, but let us not forget that every day should be Thanksgiving. I hope that everyone has a great time fellowshiping with family and friends and for those who are travelling, to have a safe trip to and from home. Here's a verse from my King James bible, that I hope you will remember even after this holiday weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!!!! :D

1 Chronicles 29:10-13 David's Prayer

Praise be to you, O Lord,
God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.

To teach or not to teach. hmm...

This is a special request from my friend Rashad aka Shad (aka the Black Ghandi aka Blhandi aka Shandi lol). He said that he wanted me to post something so he could read it, so here it is :)

There's way too much on my mind right now and there's always something to do so I haven't been blogging in a while. But for the past 3 weeks I've been getting used to my new role at my church as the administrative coordinator and the assistant teacher for the preschool Sunday School class, which has been great! The kids are so cute and full of energy and now I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I'm currently majoring in journalism, but I'm feeling a huge calling for elementary school teaching. For the past 2 months I've been asking God, "An elementary school teacher?... uhhh... Are you sure? Like REALLY sure??????" and He's been giving me lots of signs of "Yes Genevieve. I'm God and I'm sure" haha. So now registration for classes next semester is coming up real quick and I'm at 70% sure I want to change my major, but I'm still a bit hesitant about it. I think its only cause I really did want to become a journalist, but hey, if the big man upstairs says that I'm going to be a teacher, then I guess I'm going to be a teacher. In the beginning the biggest thing that was running through my head was that teaching doesn't really pay the bills all too well, if you know what I mean. Like teaching only earns enough to get by, you know? But recently I've come to realize that money is not an issue. The Lord has reminded me that He will always provide financially and that its extremely dumb of me to be so concerned about that nonsense. And plus, in volunteering at Vacation Bible School at my church this past summer (a 1-week summer bible school for kids between the ages 3-6), its been amazing seeing God work in children, which I call "little sponges" and seeing him plant little seeds of the spirit in them :P I would be so honored to be a teacher instilling knowledge into little sponges!!!!!! (haha that sounds so weird). Well we'll see...

My Halloween at the SV Kids Harvest Festival

Halloween is always full of parties, costumes, and kids running around in the dark night. So this year, my church, South Valley Church, decided to hold an awesome festival for kids to have fun in a safe environment at no charge at all. The Harvest Festival began at 4pm with trick-or-treating at each of our church's classroom doors, then at 5pm the courtyard opened for all kinds of carnival games. Kids, teens, parents, and even all my pastors participated in a series of contests like limbo and hoola hooping on the grass while some were gettin lost in a dark maze set up in one of the classrooms. There was also a big bounce house set up on the playground for kids to enjoy and when anyone needed a bit of a recharger, festive refreshements like Halloween cookies and fun snacks and drinks were available. Servant's hearts filled the volunteer list to host each game station. I teamed up with my brother-in-Christ, Mark, to work the ring toss game where players had four chaces to toss a glow-in-the-dark hoop from a couple feet away and try to ring it around a pumpkin. I gave out candy to those who did not win and a prize for those who did and, let me tell you, ringing a pumpkin isn't as easy as it sounds. The festival ended at 6:30pm and by then parents were happy that the kids had way too much fun and were too tired to go trick-or-treating anymore. Oops. Hopefully next year's Harvest Festival will be filled with even more festivities and families to safely enjoy Halloween. Next up...Thanksgiving!

For more information on South Valley Church in Newhall, Calif., visit http://www.southvalleyonline.org/

So My Journey Begins

Hello hello! Well this past week has been a pretty successful one if I must say so myself. Last Saturday, October 16, 2010 I participated in the annual "Walk for Life" event held by the Santa Clarita Valley Pregnancy Center, which promoted pro-life and helping those faced with a crisis pregnancy to "see the light at the end of the tunnel." Secondly, just last night, October 23, 2010 I had the privilege of also walking in the annual "Light the Night" event, established by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Both were held in Valencia, Calif. and both walks were about 2 miles in distance. I really enjoyed doing both events and meeting new people with the same interests in spreading awareness for these causes. I encourage all of you to look into some local walking events like these that represent a certain cause that you might be interested in spreading awareness for.

For more information on either organizations or info on their future events visit http://www.scvpc.org/ for the SCV Pregnancy Center or http://www.lightthenight.org/ for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Happy Volunteering!!!!



October 16, 2010 "Walk for Life" participants release balloons signifying
each previously terminated unborn life being released into heaven.







October 24, 2010 "Light the Night" participants carried balloons containing small
light bulbs as they walked; each color signifying hope for those currently fighting
cancer, those who have defeated cancer, and those who have lost a loved one to cancer.