A MONTH OF SUPER JANE

These last few weeks have been unbelievably busy!  I don't know how we made it through all of calendar appointments but we did and it was a COMPLETE pleasure to watch JANE achieve success!  Jane is quite a little firecracker and she has gotten really involved in her school.  She is singing in the choir, part of the student council, on the skipping team (POWER-PUMPERS), plays on the mod-ball team (modified softball), competed in the public speaking competition (3RD OUT OF 75 STUDENTS), and ran in the 4X100 metre relay at the zone athletics carnival (an area track and field meet).  

She has been a such a joy to watch as she has done her absolute BEST!  She often says that the BEST was saved for last in our family - we love our cheeky Jane.  Tom and I could not be more thrilled with the young lady that she is and that she is doing her best to develop into a well-rounded girl.

Jane is preparing to run in the 4X100metre relay.  She was so nervous because she has never raced in a official way with a baton.  She came 2nd in her leg of the race - she loves to run FAST!

Her team-mates!

When my girl is nervous - she is a NAIL BITER!  We need to break that habit.  :)

Jane skipped for a continuous hour with her team the POWER PUMPERS.  The school raised about $9,000 for the HEART FOUNDATION.  I love you my little power pumper skipping girl.

Jane came third in 75 students in the public speaking competition at her school.  She had to give a prepared speech that was 2-3 minutes long with a prompt from the school.  Jane picked the prompt "The Best Advice I Ever Got Was...."   She wrote this speech all by herself with just a little bit of help from us.  

"Good morning teachers and fellow students. Today I want to share with you the "The Best Advice I Ever Got Was....  Whenever you are sad, usually there is someone in your life who tries to cheer you up.  Sometimes they offer some really terrible words meant to make you smile and forget your troubles.  That often does not work.  However, good advice can lift your spirits.  The best advice that I ever got was, from my dad, Thomas C. Manning.  The advice is "Be Strong, Be Confident, Be Happy."  

The meaning of those three words are very powerful to me.  The dictionary meaning of Strong (as in Strong of Character) is: having great power or energy, not easy to break.  This definition is not to be strong as being able to lift an Elephant.  This word implies more than muscle strength.  In any situation, you have the ability to stand for what you believe in, to withstand the strong winds of life that will come.  This trait is one that I try to show everyday.  I try to handle any challenge that I face in life with this advice of BEING STRONG running through my mind.

The second word in this bit of advice given to me by my father is BE CONFIDENT, defined as: being sure of one's self, having no uncertainty about one's own ability, bold, self-assured.  If I want to be the leader of a nation - I can do that.  My father has always taught me that if I believe in myself and my abilities I can accomplish anything no matter the goal.  I can be a leader, I can be an example.  Everyone carries a little bit of confidence otherwise we wouldn't be able to talk to each other.  Trying to be confident in anything I do is not easy but I am up for the challenge.  It is not easy - but it is worth it.

The third trait contained in this statement given to me is BE HAPPY.  Happy is defined as delighted, pleased and fortunate.  Not to smile all day making your face hurt.  But Happiness is a characteristic and trait that all people can carry with them.  To be happy means being content with yourself, being satisfied with what we have and not always wanting more.  To be happy means more than watching a funny movie and laughing with your friends.  It means that you can find the joy in the little things - a rainbow, a unicorn named Steve, or a four leaf clover.  It is not that we can't be sad or have emotion.  But it is about the bigger picture.  Be Strong, Be Confident, Be Happy is advice that I try to live with every day.  Thank you for listening."

In the final round of the competition, she had to give her prepared speech followed by an impromptu speech that she had 10 minutes to prepare given a topic.  The topic that she was given was "What is one thing your mom told you to NEVER do....."  As I was sitting in the audience waiting for Jane to return to the hall, I wondered what she would say.  There have been many topics that I have told her to NEVER do but, some of them are not topics that I would feel comfortable discussing in a large forum.  I was hopeful she would steer clear of those topics.  She did well, she wrote a speech about how she is NEVER to scare her dad.  He does NOT like surprises and being startled.  She has only scared him one time in her short life.....and let's say it did not go down well at all.  She made the speech funny, entertaining and full of vocabulary words.  She did not stutter once and I was thrilled with her success.  She came in third!  WELL DONE Super Jane.