AT YOUR BEST ~ Kenya



Graduation Day

Tell us why you felt at your best in this moment:
I felt best at this moment for several reasons: I was celebrating my 35th birthday; I was a new mom; and I’d just earned my Masters in Public Administration--while being pregnant. I felt overwhelmingly blessed, and a sense of joy and accomplishment.

I always wanted to return back to school earn my masters degree, but felt like since I did not do as well in undergrad, that maybe I would not get accepted or wondered, “what makes me think I could earn a Master’s degree?”! I also wanted to become a mom and that part I did not have any control over, other than just praying to God that he would bless my husband and me with a child. Well, with the encouragement and support from my wonderful husband who believes that I can do anything, I applied to graduate school! My first quarter I received a 4.0 and began to gain confidence in myself that I could do this! Well, shortly after starting the program, to my excitement I found out that I was pregnant! Not only was I pregnant, but the Lord blessed us to be pregnant with twins! I still remained in graduate school, with determination and a goal to be almost finished with my program by the time the babies were due. To my dismay, we got the heart breaking news that one of the twins had passed away and that the likelihood of the other surviving were very slim. I was given the option to abort the remainder of the pregnancy or to just wait for the other baby to pass! My husband and I decided to leave it in God’s hands and decided to wait it out! In the meantime, I remained in grad school still holding a 4.0. Months passed by and I was still pregnant!

On January 23rd 2010, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl! Our miracle blessing who doctors never thought should have made it! I also completed my Masters in Public Administration on August 29th 2010. The best husband in the whole entire world, who always believes in me and had no doubts, threw a beautiful Birthday/Graduation party! It was all in my honor to celebrate my accomplishments. That day I was surrounded with so much love from my family and friends! I felt absolutely beautiful!

Birthday/Graduation Party

Later, on January 22, 2011, my husband, daughter and I traveled to Miami, FL to attend my graduation ceremony--which just so happened to be the day before my daughter’s 1st Birthday! Walking across that stage that day and hearing my name called knowing my wonderful family was there cheering me on was like an out of body experience! Who would have ever thought, a black girl that was a product of a mother who got pregnant at 14 years old and married at 15, and of two parents who did not even earn a high school diploma, would be walking across the stage earning a masters degree! I felt my best at that moment because my beautiful daughter will always know the true meaning of determination, perseverance and education! She can look back at this picture and say “there are my mommy and daddy holding me at my mommy’s Masters Degree graduation ceremony and I was turning “1”!

How do you define beauty:

I define beauty as being on the inside! Someone who is kind spirited, respectful and nonjudgmental. Looking beyond people’s faults! Outward beauty is having poise, radiance and being self assured.

How do you define happiness:

Happiness is when you have loving family and friends. Happiness is when you don’t need the material things in life to satisfy you, but you’re rich in Love!

Your turn! Send your pics in to PeaceLovePrettyThings@gmail.com and tell us why you felt happy and beautiful and at your best in that moment. Feel free to share your favorite quotes about happiness and beauty and we'll include them with your feature. Please put AT YOUR BEST in the subject line.