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,
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)