North Dakota International Ambassador 2018

Hello!  My name is Jami Lee Streyle, and I am your North Dakota International Ambassador 2018!  Thank you so much for allowing me to share my journey!
I’m a lover of dogs, kids, skydiving, hiking, swimming, running, skiing, snowmobiling, music, yoga, art, traveling, and all things outdoors!  My children are the center of my world, and my boyfriend, Jeremy, is the love of my life.  I’m a self declared professional volunteer, CEO of my household, I’m fueled by 4:00am alarm clocks and endless pots of coffee! I’m a go-with-the-flow type of woman, and I tend to run on my own clock!  I joke that the sky is purple in my world, because sometimes I’m structured and disciplined, and sometimes I like to move to the beat of my own drum.  I see the world through an artist’s eyes, and I recognize and appreciate all the beauty God has created!  I’m passionate about helping others, especially women and children in transition, and I’ve partnered with the non-profit The Jeremiah Program.  Recently I was asked to write an article for Sheyenne Living Magazine to share my story and journey.  Thank you for being a part of it.  Here it is posted below.  I hope you enjoy!

All my love and light,

       Can you imagine your life changing in a new direction, zig-zagging sharp and often like the chevron pattern on the beautiful rug in the magazines you see?  My guess is that many of you can relate, as most people encounter different transitional phases and changes in circumstances in life several times over.  Sometimes things are clean and easy and predictable, like the chevron pattern, as we shift directions in life, and sometimes it feels undeniably unpredictable, less strategic and a whole lot messier. One thing is for certain, more is yet to come, and it can be beautiful and joy-filled in all circumstances.  We know this because God himself commands us this in 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

       I was a former intensive care nurse, self-declared professional volunteer, CEO of my household, and a single mom of three great kids: Carson (15), Paris (12) and Kami (10). I love helping others in many capacities, and found myself in several different life transitions over the second half of my 41 years in this life, and I used that to help others. In most recent years, these transitions shifted sharp and forced me to solely focus on my children’s and my own healthy transition, increasing my credibility into the successes that it brought. I attribute much of my success through healthy transition to my Bible study sisters, family, friends, and the new love of my life, Jeremy Frie. Almost immediately after meeting Jeremy, I knew our souls matched. When love is experienced that deep, there are no words to describe it, and I attribute the success of my recent life’s transition to that love and the love and support of my community network.  God asks us to love and care for others, and I have always strived to do that, but when placed in a position to receive, it gave me further insight into how to use that deeper experience to help others.

       I aim to help other women and children in transition. I strive to increase awareness of transition and understand it as positive and optimistic, and a way to embrace ones path. Transition doesn’t have to be a negative experience. It can be empowering, enlightening, motivating, humbling, and up-lifting. Transition is a new way of thinking about the events that shape our adult lives – like marriage or divorce or job loss or empty nests – and we can offer support and love specifically designed to help women navigate transition successfully. This is a substantive departure from the negative characteristics typically ascribed to it.  I am a firm believer that if a woman or child is loved well, then they can heal well, thrive well, succeed well and break the chains of the traumas that life’s circumstances can present. I do not like the words “victim” or “survivor.”  We shouldn’t aim to just survive, but we should instead aim to thrive and live fully, no matter what. We were created out of love from our Heavenly Father. We were meant to love like Christ, and be the hands and feet of Christ. We were built for community; to support one another and uplift one another. Too many women choose to tear each other down, but those chains need to break and become replaced with our weapons and armor of love, intellect, knowledge, wisdom, strength, experience, kindness, empathy and forgiveness. Those attributes, while beautiful, can be strengthened in numbers when loved and supported in community.

       Though I have volunteered for many organizations, non-profits, and schools over the years, I particularly have enjoyed volunteering at The Jeremiah Program both with my children and singly, and I look forward to deepening a relationship with the staff and women there with future volunteer opportunities. I am passionate about their mission because they strive to accept, support, love, and provide a safe environment to live, learn and grow during several phases of transition for both women and children, breaking a two-generational chain of bondage, and helping them transition healthy into their beautiful life. Some of the ways I have volunteered at The Jeremiah Program is by teaching Holy Yoga as a Master Holy Yoga Instructor and Holy Yoga Therapist, serving meals to the women and children attending the empowerment classes, playing and reading with the children, and interacting with the moms. Building a foundation of love, kindness and trust is so important, and I strive to instill that in my own children and life so that we will be God’s loving contributors to society.

       When approached last winter by Janelle Steinberg and Meg Forde, the co-directors of the North Dakota International Pageant, to run for a title, I was honored but initially resisted. Though I love and believe in this platform based pageant system and witnessed the great things that have come from it as I watched a family member and multiple friends use their crowns as a microphone for their platforms, I wasn’t sure if it was the right time for me. After all, I was a bit of a misfit and didn’t fit into any of the national titleholders categories because of my former marriage and current age. Much to Janelle’s persistence, Janelle informed me that they had created a new state title, North Dakota International Ambassador, for women like me who have a platform but no category to belong in. If that doesn’t speak the language of a woman in transition, than I don’t know what does. After praying about it, I decided to run for the title and was crowned in January as the 2018 North Dakota International Ambassador. I am honored to be a part of the International Pageant system and am excited to use my voice as a platform to empower women and children in transition to better their lives, feel loved, create an environment of support and a place to belong, and draw awareness of these transitions to empower others to help and take action.

       I love and embrace my beautiful life and the transitions yet to come. My life’s mantra is simply Jesus’ own words to us:

‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:40)