30 Days of Pinspiration: Day 5

Day 5: Starfish

Check out my explanation here: 30 Days of Pinspiration: Day 5

Source: 123rf.com via Michelle on Pinterest

I love y'all for free,

nNb ♥

Stepping out of my comfort zone...into GREATNESS!!!

I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.

~Pablo Picasso

Hey lovelies!

The City Year Step Team (of which I am apart of), was featured on the City Year Detroit blog. I was also interview for the post (first official time being interview, too cool!).  In it, I talk about my experiences in pushing myself outside of my comfort zone to learn how to do step moves. I was even blessed to voted the Step Master of the team w/o voting for myself and no prior experience--God works in mysterious and wonderful ways!! He took me through so many moments and that pushed me into my challenge zone that helped me grow tremendously. I gush about my experiences briefly on the post.

Take a look at the blog post below y'all!

http://cityyeardetroit.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/no-raggidyness/

Disclaimer: 

City Year Detroit is not affiliated with naturalNaijabeauty.com in anyway. The views expressed on this blog are my own and are not those of City Year Detroit. 

Peace,

nNb :)

30 Day Blog Post Challenge: Day 4

Question 4: Bullet your whole day?

• Woke up at 6:30 am
• Took a shower and got dressed to go to work
• Left for work
• 7:20 am circle in parking
• Departed for school
• Saw the kids in the morning 
• Deliver goodbyes to students with hugs
• Leave school for Deloitte speaking engagement in Ann Arbor, MI.
• Delivered a testimonial about my experience as a corps member in City Year Detroit
• Had a party with my students during my last 5th class I would have with them.
• Said final goodbyes and took pictures with students
• City Year graduation roll-out
• Step team practice
• Returned home
• Watched "The Great Debaters"

A little contet: Today was our last day to be with our students while in City Year. It was a very emotional day...tears were flowing from both myself as well as my students. Any questions or concerns, feel free to comment below.

Have a great evening,

nNb :)

*Reflections* --> Following God's Will For Your Life

"We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can, namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us."

~St. Teresa of Avila

Hey y'all!

As we are approaching the end of another year, many of us can say that we have had some high points and some low points. There have been trials and tribulations as well as moments of joy. If you are questioning whether you had any moments of joy, remember this: You are reading this post, that means that God woke you up this morning and for that you should be thankful and joyful :)

I for one am thankful for the fact that I graduated from the University of Michigan...low g.p.a. and all! That was nothing but God! I am thankful for having a roof over my head, despite the fact that I am struggling financially...again, nothing but God!

As this year comes to a close, and the City Year corps year drawing near the halfway mark, I became stressed about plans for next year. I started frantically researching graduate schools and checking requirements for admission. I had everything planned out...grad school for non-profit management, then a nice career in the non-profit industry. Afterwards, I would cry a little realizing that I don't have the "credentials" to gain admission to some of these schools that I am interested in.

After a very powerful sermon that I heard at church, I realized that this life is not mine. God has a will for my life. Here I was planning out my whole life...down to the amount of children that I wanted...and packaging the whole thing up and asking God to co-sign for me. It doesn't work like that...

I was reading my study bible and here was an insert that they placed in there to give people more insight:

"Jesus said anyone who wants to follow him must 'deny himself and take up his cross' (Mark 8:34). The cross meant suffering and death for Jesus. Does that mean that you'll suffer too?

The cross is more than a place where Jesus died. It is a symbol of our salvation and a symbol of God's will. The cross was God's will for Jesus. But your cross, God's will for your life, is different. What is Jesus telling you?

• Deny yourself. Choose what God wants, not what you want.
• Take up your cross. Do God's will each day.
• Keep on following Jesus.

Following Jesus will make a difference. The old you will be left behind, and you will become a new and beautiful person in Jesus."

After reading that passage, I have decided to leave my life to God. I will follow His will, even if that means that I will have to scrap that whole lifestyle I envisioned for myself. The way I see it, if Jesus knew no sin, and was completely righteous and my righteousness is the equivalent of filthy rags AND I am still seen as righteous through the blood of Jesus, what right do I have to deny God my life?! Absolutely none! He sacrificed His son for a wretch and a sinner like me! What an awesome and amazing God!

I will wait on the Lord and follow his will and I will put my desires on the back burner. I know that God has got sooo much in store for me, that if I follow his will, he will pour down so many blessings on me!

He will do the same for you as well as long as you have FAITH and SURRENDER yourself to him!

With love,

nNb :)

Why is Violence the "Norm" in Our Society???

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog post are not those of City Year or any of its affiliates. These views are simply mine and I am just using my blog to express MY opinion...

Hey everyone,

Today I feel compelled to comment (vent) about the current epidemic of violence in our society. As you all know, I am a corps member in City Year Detroit for the 2011 FY. I work in one of the roughest public high schools in the city. This week has been a rather challenging week for myself as well as my team. Just this week alone, I witnessed fights as well as heard about fights in the vicinity of the school. I witnessed one of my students get escorted out of the school in handcuffs and lastly, there was a shooting outside of my school today. While talking to some of the students, most of them seemed unfazed by the escalating violence in their school. Even after the shooting, I didn't get a sense of panic and fear from the students, I got a vibe of indifference and apathy. This brings me to my main question: Why is it that our society is so apathetic to the growing violence in our neighborhoods?

The shooting that occurred outside of my school was the result of a fight that escalated to someting more serious. From my observations, students tend to "play-fight" with their friends and slam one another on the floor and horse around until someone actually gets hurt. Once this injury happens, all joking ceases and the students actually begin fighting... Students in the surrounding areas rush towards the location of the fight, often harming one another to get a good view of the fight. The worst part of the entire ordeal is that the "beef" never ends! Once someone is beaten in a one-on-one fight, they call their friends to go back and attack the other person again, sometimes even wielding a weapon! These rivalries are long-lasting and often end up in multiple injuries.

Why we allowing this to happen in our community?! Why can't we as a society, come together and prevent this nonsense from occurring? We tend to care more about the negative influences in the media rather than the positive ones...we have students that can quote entire rap stanzas but struggle to spell words with a difficulty wayy below their grade level. When will this madness end?!

Feel free to respond to my post below, on my twitter (make sure to mention @natNaijabeauty) or on my Facebook (Michelle Nkechi Udeli)

Updates!!!

Hey y'all!

It's been a longgggg time since I've done a post of any sort. To all my followers, I truly apologize for the delay. So much has happened in such a short time span, both good and bad and I am excited to share all of it with you :) Rather than bore y'all with lots and lots of text, I decided to relay the information in the way I do best...you guessed it, VIDEO BLOG POST!!! In addition to this video, I will be doing a lot more blog posting, artist spotlights and I will RESTART and COMPLETE my weight loss journey! So much excitment to come your way so keep it posted!

Here's the vid. Make sure to comment below and follow me on Twitter: @natNaijabeauty :)

Peace -n- love,

nNb :)

Exercise Journal Entry #4

"If you don't do what's best for your body, you're the one who comes up on the short end."

- Julius Erving

Hey lovelies!

So...I know it's been a while since my last journal entry. I had to take a slight hiatus because of a Basic Training Retreat with City Year Detroit! wOOt! I wasn't able to film my weight loss for the week because I didn't really have access to a scale...lol! I got to do a BUNCH of team building and I have to say that this group of people are the COOLEST people I have ever come across! :)

Sidenote: We went to Camp Cavell in the wonderful city of Lexington, MI. The camp site was right off Lake Huron which made for some very lovely pictures!




Back to my weight loss journey...

I do have some good news to report:

I'VE LOST 5 POUNDS SO FAR!!!!!

It may not sound like a lot, but you have to learn to crawl before you can walk... I will do another video shortly to talk more about my regimen.

Peace,
nNb :)