Female2Female

All the Phenomenal Women

Posted on 02. Mar, 2010 by Laura in General

Below are all the motivations for the women who were nominated as part of the Phenomenal Women competition. I have not edited or changed anything in these motivations and decided not to translate the one in Afrikaans.

I nominate Rolene Marks

My nomination is for a woman who gives 150% of herself in every aspect of her life.

From being an amazing, supportive and loving wife to being a fantastic friend.

From working her gorgeous arse off to volunteering in many many organisations.

She works tirelessly to promote Israel.

She gets involved in the community.

She is always there for me with a quirky smile, a hug and a cuppa or even a smile inducing sarcastic chirp.

I have never met anyone with as much zest for life as she has.

Even when life has thrown her a few curve balls she has a smile on her face and a positive attitude.

If anyone is deserving of being called a Phenomenal Woman, it is her.

Nominated by Gina

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 I hereby nominate Miss Sheena Gates :

- She promised cuter puppies the world over.
- She has faced things that no one should ever face in her life and come through a stronger person without ever losing her smile or her heart.
- She is the mother of an angel.
- She started up and runs Nerdmag amazingly well and lets me blabber on over there.
- She is one of the nicest people you’d ever hope to meet (as long as you’re not an absolute dick to her)
- Has a wicked sense of humour.
- Has the ambition, strength and will-power to do whatever she wants to do and has just landed herself a job doing just that.
- She has made herself a serious SA interwebs celeb
- She has lovely boobs.
- She promised cuter puppies (this is an important factor)

Nominated by Tara

I Nominate Sheena Gates (www.shebee.co.za) Cos she is pretty darn awesome. I don’t know anyone else who has gone through as much as she has in the last year and still remained upbeat and happy. She deserves 10 prizes like this.

Nominated by Heidi

I nominate Miss Sheena Gates. She is wickedly funny

Nominated by Bianca

I nominate Sheena Gates because I’ve never met anyone quite just like her. Nominated by Lisa

I OFFICIALLY nominate Sheena Gates. She is phenomenal in many ways that I am sure Jon can attest to. But she gets my vote. Nominated by Justin

 I would like to nominate Sheena Gates. As for motivation – I think the lady speaks for herself and says it better than I could! Chick – you rock out with your socks out and I think you’re phenomenally funny and patient (*clears throat* you put up with us monkeys at camping quite well!). In the short while I have had you in my monkeysphere you have made me laugh and appreciate a whole lot of things i had forgotten to think about.

Nominated by Nicole

I nominate Sheena Gates  because she knows what she wants and is not afraid to ask for it. And in a world with so many extraordinary people trying to be ordinary, she isn’t – she’s happy to be extraordinary.

Nominated by Marian

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I nominate Tracey

We met about five years ago, just after I came back from the UK. I had a thick English accent and she will tell you her version any day. I went for a job interview, something that was made to come across as a highly professional job, yet in actual fact the job entailed walking around through summer and winter selling all kinds of cheap shit.

 At this stage of the story we were acquaintances, nothing more. After about a year, a mutual friend needed a ride to Tracey’s house and I was forced to assist. I had a friendly chit chat and as I was about to leave Tracey mentioned to the friend that I was pregnant. I was in denial, I was in a stage where I prayed every day that “it” at that stage would magically disappeared. The message was passed along and not very long after I found myself on Tracey’s porch, bawling my eyes out. This was the first moment I got to terms with the fact that I was pregnant.

Thankfully by this stage Tracey had gone through a similar experience. The difference was where my boyfriend at the time (more often referred to as the Sperm-Donor) was all for keeping the child. The father of her child made arrangements for her to abort as soon as he found out she was pregnant.

Emotional Highlight In our friendship includes:

1. Convincing me that the choice was mine whether or not to keep my child when my mother thought it was a good idea to “trick” me into seeing someone regarding adoption options.

2. Picking up the pieces of an ignorant and unprepared mother, when her baby was born 4 weeks premature.

3. Rubbing my back and telling me everything will be okay when I found out the Sperm Donor not only slept with another girl, but in fact impregnated her as well.

4. Coming very close to taking care of Logan for a couple of months when I went through a reckless phase of drinking and partying.

5. Calming me down when Logan’s dad decided to stop paying maintenance.

6. Allowing me to voice my frustrations when my mother’s boyfriend was verbally abusing my son and I.

7. Giving Logan and I a home for a couple of months

8. Pulling me out of a slump so bad I thought I would never get out.

There are many more moments and most people would probably fall asleep as I mention them all. Yet in essence – this is a friend in a million! More often referred to as my mango – yes, because she can also irritate the living shit out of me! This year has been an incredibly difficult year for her. I would love to go into greater detail – but this is not my place. I would however mention a couple of ways she has inspired me lately.

Work Related – The team she is working with and the way she cares for her colleagues. She endures, I’m not sure I would be able to go to work every day and deliver my best, if I was doing work and not seeing results. No bonus, no promotion. No nothing apart from the occasional pat on the back.

On my part – Maybe I should come to terms with the fact that I have a purpose to fulfill in my current work-place. Whether or not I like it, I need to seek what the purpose is, fulfill it and then I would be able to move on.

Tracey’s Family Life – Last year was difficult with custody battles. The first part of the year was filled with infertility heartaches and the second part with issues in her marriage. Still she remains as steady as a rock.

Translated to me: As much as I want to find the person that wants to marry spend the rest of his life with me. I need to be prepared for anything and everything. I need to be realistic. Worse case scenario I will grow old alone. I need to embrace my challenges – this is what makes me strong.

Finances – She paid off all her debt and her debt was as bad as mine is. She cut out all luxuries and persevered. She plans and she sticks to the plan.

Me – It gives me hope – however long it takes, I will get there. Little by little!

Life in general – Tracey is driven without being too aggressive, she is patient. She is down to earth, she is content with her situation and yet she strives and she hopes for better. She perseveres! She asks the questions yet she is quick to forgive and then she closes the file, never to be opened again. As soon as you start whining, she stops you in your tracks and she tells you the facts as they are. She has a heart of gold. I have never seen a person who has grown from strength to strength as quickly and plainly as I have Tracey in the past couple of years.

Nominated by Alet  

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 I nominate Alice [@al_ice]. For the following reasons:
1. She always has a superb hashtag 
2. She is positive and vibrant and happy and helps everyone and LOVES her friends fully, and is truly herself.
3. She has the most amazing way about her – a kind of way that sets worries aside, and a friend at ease,
I am blessed and thrilled to call her my friend

Nominated by Cazpi

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I would like to nominate my mom, Wenchy as she is a great mother who always takes care of us and she helps us with whatever we need to do and she puts her heart and soul into us.

I does love her.

Nominated by Kevin

 my mom wenchy is the most Phenomenal Women because she has done so much for me and my brother snd sister so my reason is i have just gone to a new school and i very shy and my mom has helped me to turn thet frown upside down another reason is that i do cause alot of TROUBLE but i allways get thouth everthing because of my Phenomenal mom thank you mom lots and lots i love you

Nominated by Liam

She is phenomenal because she is real!!Real in everything she does and in every interaction she has with everyone around her.

Just for that she needs all the praise and gratitude of everyone she comes in contact with making a difference in so many good ways in all their lives.

Love her!!!

Nominated by Dion

I nominate Wenchy because Kevin and Liam and Dion speak the truth. She does so very, very much and without even smudging her lipstick. She is phenomenal. x x x and I want her to win.

Nominated by Meriel

I would like to enter this competition and nominate Wenchy.  You know I have NEVER met Wenchy but it turns out that she is my Cousin, Mel’s best friend   She is always been an inspiration to me since I started reading her blog many many moons ago and I just love her determination with her weightloss journey – She is truly a Phenomenal WOMAN

Nominated by Genevieve

My vote is for Christel aka Wenchy. 

I met Chris online with our moms group. About a year or so later my then new fiance and I went to joburg and got the chance to meet everyone.

Chris invited us to her house and had planned a surprise engagment party for us… next time we saw each other was our wedding, her and Brian stayed at the hotel with us. I know that Chris has enriched many many lives by just being a friend.   I feel truly blessed to have her in my life.

Nominated by Heather 

There really are no words for me to describe the impact Christel has had on my life. I have known her for just over a year and she does not hesitate to support me, to listen to me cry, to offer to have people taken out. She understands what it means to come from an emotionally abusive relationship. She knows what it means to feel you don’t fit in. She knows what it means to feel like you want to run away. But she also knows we need to keep going and make sure we look proper doing it. She has come out of a physically and emotionally abusive relationship. She battles an ADHD son daily. She deals with her current partners 2 children and ex wife on a daily basis. She finds time to help out with charities and is the first one to gather her friends to collect money if it is needed for a friend in need. To me, she is the definition of phenomenal.

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 Shayne from Timeout

(Now I know that a fair few of you out there know that Shayne is my sister, which means that I could be biased, but after reading my reasons WHY I think she is phenomenal you can decide for yourselves if I am just being biased.

* She was a single mom for a good many years, who has managed instill in her eldest daughter a love of reading (and you all know, I’m a great fan of reading), a love of learning, a strong will, a confident (yet can get cocky-but who doesn’t at the age of 12) attitude, loving personality and unique individuality.
* She then, after years of doing the ‘being single, drinking and partayingthang’ realised that who she was (and is ) is perfect and if some man could not see that, then they weren’t worth it. (In fact,she started to love herself

)
* She then met a man who loved her for herself, warts- which shedoesn’t have, and bad moods- which she does have and all and followed her heart.
* Followed her heart all the way to the Eastern Cape, leaving friends and family behind. People that had been with her for all those years, who had stood by her and supported her, and though we knew without a doubt that Cape Town just wouldn’t be quite the same without her in it, supported her decision to uproot, and follow her heart.
* For then adjusting to a farmer’s life, for learning the ins and outs of small town living, for shopping at P.E.P, for making new and wonderful friends who she would never have met if she hadn’t made the move
* For then having another beautiful daughter to add to the mix, for making a family 
* For acknowledging when things got tough, for dealing with depression, for taking steps in rectifying the issues which she needed to rectify in order to be happy in her happiness and letting go of the guilt.
*For starting her own business – Yummy Mummy- for the yummiest eats in town, which is going from strength to strength and even though she may have doubts as to whether she is good enough, the proof is in her cupcakes.
*And on a more personal level, for being on the other end of a telephone, for being with me at the birth of Bean (for dealing with my ‘don’t touch me’s and being prepared to ‘catch’ baba if the midwife didn’tarrive in time;-), for being my sister and ultimately, my friend.

And THAT is why I think she is phenomenal! (Can you call me biased now?) Nominated by Robyn

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I am still in the unfortunate position to not have met Lynette in real life, but that doesn’t make an iota of difference! My reasons for why I think Lynette is phenomenal:
* She is steadfast in her faith, even in her darkest hour and direst moment of need, there lives faith
* She draws apon this faith like we breathe air and her life’s work is testimony to that faith.
* For helping 

others who, many of us, would have left for ‘cant be helped’ and loves them with a full heart
* For her family values and the love that comes straight from her insides and not being shy to let it out
* For her kind words and God messages
* And for her comments on my blog;-)
* She is a heartfelt individual and though she has problems of her own, in which we are allowed small glimpses, this is not the be all and end all of who Lynette is, she is much bigger than that, with a heart that is even bigger than she is.

And those, my dear readers are my reasons why I think that these two women are phenomenal.
Nominated by Robyn

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 I would like to nominate Eleanor Brooke from The Home of Hope for all the incredible work she does with abused, abandoned and HIV babies and children in our community. All this with not much funding from the government – she is an angel and incredible. Xxx Nominated by Wendy

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 Melany

Wenchy nominated Mel (supermom.wordpress.com), and I can’t do anything – only to agree and vote for her!!! Melany is supermom indeed, and is one of my very very best friends. She lives 11.000 km from me. We met only twice – once in SA, and once here, in Poland. We started to correspond when we both studied on UNISA. We do it still, since 1997 or so. Not just ‘correspond’. We simply share our lives. Really. We exchange sometimes 100 e-mails per day, and sometimes just 3 per week. But I know, I really know she is always there for me. She was the first one knowing my husband wants a divorce. She was the first one knowing I want to adopt a child. She was the first one seeing this child – these 11.000 km simply don’t count, if you meet phenomenal woman.
You know, she made me Godmom of her son. And finds ways to make me present in his life, even if he saw me only once – in age of 3 months.
How did she knew he will be soooo much like me? My own son wouldn’t behave more like me probably.
She is just phenomenal. She knew me and this boy suit each other perfectly. She just knew.
I agree, Wenchy – Mel is perfect. She doesn’t judge. Even if I do something what she wouldn’t do (usually she wouldn’t LOL). She accepts it. And gives me all her support.
She is phenomenal. I am happy I met her on my way. My life wouldn’t be the same without her.
And you know, when I think ‘South Africa’, I don’t see zebras or lions, or Table Mountain in my mind. I just see Melany’s face.
Her e-mails are like sunshine and air.
And she made my daughter learning English – just because she wants to talk to aunty Mel one day.
Isn’t she phenomenal?
When somebody needs a help, she just runs. Without thinking and considering. Just runs.
Everyone who reads her blog knows what she did for Kyla lately. Isn’t it fenomenal???
Mel, doesn’t metter what a result of this ‘competition’ will be. For me you are a winner. Always. Nominated by Lilly

 

I nominate my daughter Melany who is a wonderful Mother, friend and daughter. Always having her heart open for others and ready to help (supermom.wordpress.com )

Nominated by Marie

 

My best friend, confidant, soul mate and favourite blonde, Melany.

Very simply put, Melany is a nicer, more conservative version of me…   I am the tattooed twin who says f_ck, Mel plays in sand pits and coaches cricket. I trust Mel with my life… she knows me well enough to be the one to decide to keep that machine running, or switch it off.  

Melany is the kind of person who says “you are more than this marriage”, “my car is idling, say the word and I am on my way”… “I don’t agree, but I understand”, “I forgive you”, “There is nothing you can do that will make me stop loving you”, “I am thinking of you” (accompanied by our customary mms of a cup of coffee – we send each other these all the time)… “I won’t let you fall”, “You can do this”… vriendin… the undisputed head of my fan club and I will kill the bull for this woman… or at least bury some men in the apple orchard.

She is the silent reason in my head… she is my conscious… just prettier than Jimmy the cricket. 

Mel is also a wife, a SuperMom to three darling boys and a foster little girl… she pours everything she has into these little souls… and it shows. Professionally Mel is a kick ass tax accountant who never charges me. hehehheh

Soos bloed. Soos die son.

Ek het jou vreeslik lief. Vriendin.

Nominated by Wenchy

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 Lani

lani is my sister in law, beautiful, vibrant and filled with the most amazing spirit and enthusiasm for life – I would love just a tsp of her bubbliness.

6 MEI 2008
H A L E L U J A !!
DIE HEER SE GENADE IS GROTER AS GROOT…

22 Februarie 2000

My storie begin hier. Ek sit verslae voor die Dokter. Hoekom ek? Dit gebeur net met ander mense, mense waarvan jy lees in tydskrifte en stories wat vertel word. Dit kan nie waar wees nie… ek het KANKER!! BORSKANKER!!

Die Dokter sê dit is in ‘n gevorderde stadium, dus moet my hele linker bors verwyder word. Ek is teen die grond. Ek is in opstand!! Ek is 32 jaar oud, my kinders is klein, ek WIL NIE doodgaan NIE!!

Na nog ‘n opinie van ‘n ander Dokter is daar geen omdraaikans meer nie…die Hospitaal is my voorland.

Ek voel soos ‘n HALWE vrou. Gaan staan voor die spieël en kyk na jouself. Hoe aardig sal jy tog lyk met net een bors? My selfvertroue het ‘n knou gekry. Chemoterapie vir sewe maande en dan ‘n hele paar sessies Bestraling nadat die wond genees het.

Die Rekonstruksie operasies was aanvanklik baie geslaagd, maar ná die 2003-episode het ek vir myself al hoe meer en meer “minder vrou” gelyk. Gelukkig vir klere en oulike onderklere – net jammer dit moet saans uitgetrek word en word jy weer eens herinner aan jou lot. Ek was erg in opstand, maar na al die operasies, chemo & bestraling het ek uiteindelik berusting gevind aangesien die Dokter my verseker het dat ek okay is.

27 Augustus 2003

Ek’t nooit gedink dat NA my eerste diagnose van kanker in 2000 en my herstelfase, die woord Kanker ooit weer met my verband sou hou nie! Maar, hoe nietig is die mens!!!! Die Liewe Vader het ‘n Groter plan met my gehad en op 27 Augustus 2003 is ek weer eens gediagnoseer met Metastatiese Borskanker. My wêreld het in duie gestort!! Ek was so ‘CONTENT’ met alles in my om my en van my, dat ek nie kon GLO so iets gebeur nie. En die vrae – hoekom dit, hoekom dat, hoekom ek? Ek’t in opstand gekom en wou dit net nie aanvaar nie, maar…

CHEMOTERAPIE het my gedwing om dit te aanvaar. Daar was koue dae, hartseer dae, alleen dae, dae van wanhoop, dae van ongeduld, dae van “kan ek nie asseblief maar doodgaan nie?”, dae van beterskap en dae van geluk.

Hare verloor (ek moes ‘n pruik dra!!), selfversekerdheid verloor, moed verloor, naarheid, moegheid, kan-nie-meer nie, hoekom, waarom, hardlywigheid, omval, opstaan, aanhou, moed hou, gewig optel, selluliet, “gevoel” in tone en vingers verloor, slapeloosheid, alleenheid, verstaan niemand dan nie, merke op lyf, vel veroudering, teerheid, negatiewe gedagtes oor myself, depressie, aanhou, uithou, moed hou, EK SAL LEEF!!

Die blote gedagte van “Mevrou, jy het 3 jaar op die meeste lewenskwaliteit oor”, het my hart koud gemaak. Wat van my kinders; wat van my man; wat van ons toekoms; wat van, wat van???? Hierdie gedagte het gemaak dat ek aanhou, uithou, volhou en weer en weer siek wees van die Chemo WANT EK WIL LEEF!!!!!! Ek wil my kinders sien grootword. EK SAL LEEF!!

Ek weet die Chemo het van my ‘n ander mens gemaak, MAAR die Here het my nog ‘n kans gegee. Hy het die tegnologie daargestel om my beter te maak en daarom het ek elke dag met ‘n glimlag aangepak, al wou ek soms net in ‘n hoekie sit en NIEMAND “face” nie. En as ‘n mens glimlag, ja, dan voel jy sommer beter!!

Die lewe was vir my ‘n lied want ek het geglo dat ek gesond is. Maar soos wat ons as mens maar is, vergeet jy van die Genade wat Jesus aan jou bewys het deur jou deur ALLES te dra. Jy val terug op jou ou eetgewoontes en “verkeerde leefwyse”. Jy vergeet om aan te hou om DANKIE te sê.

15 Maart 2006

Emosies soos nog nooit tevore nie!! Dit kan nie waar wees nie. Hoekom alweer ek? Dit is ‘n nagmerrie! Kan ek asseblief wakker word Here? 4 Dokters bevestig die simptome. 4 Dokters besluit ons moet opereer. 11 Tumors op my brein. Een is groot genoeg om uit te haal, die ander sal bestraal word.

Hoeveel keer gaan die Here my geloof nog beproef? Toets Hy my? Wil hy kyk of ek sterk genoeg is? Ja, dit is wat Hy doen, Hy ruk my terug na Hom toe! Dalk moet ek vir Hom luister….dalk moet ek my lewe regkry. Ek weet nou, dit is so helder voor my … Jesus wil my graag hê, maar hy gee my kans om seker te maak dat Hy my kry.

My emosies ry wipplank. Ek voel soos die uitverkorene vir ellende. MAAR, God praat met my, Hy het ‘n ander plan met my. Ek moet ALLES net in Sy hande los. Ek moet afsluit, ek moet aangaan, ek moet volgens die Wil van die Here leef. Dit voel of my lewe uitmekaar val!!

Of God ‘n aandeel het in ons pyn, weet ons nie regtig nie, wat ons wel vir seker weet, is dat Sy hande rondom ons is wanneer ons ly. ‘n Uittreksel uit my dagboek net voordat ek in is vir die breinoperasie: “Ek is bang!! Here, U is die Pottebakker en ek is die Klei. As dit U wil is om my weg te vat onder die mes.. laat u wil geskied. Al wat ek weet Here is dat my werk op Aarde nog nie klaar is nie; gebruik my ASSEBLIEF dienooreenkomstig. U weet ek het kinders ook Here wat deur U liefde en genade aan my toevertrou is. Ek wil SO graag daar wees vir hulle.”

Ons gebede is verhoor!!! Die Here het beslis ‘n plan met my! Dankie dat U hand saam op die Operasietafel was Here. “U het na my toe gekom toe ek geroep het, U het gesê: Moenie bang wees nie! U verdedig my saak Here, U red my lewe!”

Twee vrouens, met dieselfde diagnose as ek, en wat dieselfde operasie ondergaan het, het baie sleg daarvan af gekom. Die Here het die een vrou weggevat (sy het 2 klein kindertjies) en die ander vrou is nou in ‘n rolstoel!! Ek voel SO geseënd!! Dit kon so anders uitgedraai het.

Ek kan met reg sê dat ek nie eers my grootste vyand ‘n breinoperasie toewens nie – ek’t op ‘n stadium eintlik gewens ek gaan dood (gelukkig word alle wense nie waar nie!) want die absolute pyn en naarheid en hulpelose gevoel wyl jy in intensief lê is onbeskryflik.

Ek het die 2de Mei 2006 met bestraling begin vir al die ander Tumors wat nog daar was. Weer eens al my hare verloor, maar gelukkig het my lang blonde pruik my goed laat voel. Ek haal my Ma aan: “My kind, skoonheid vergaan, maar deug bly staan.” Ek het geweet die Here werk met my en daarom het ek my skouers teruggetrek en die wêreld in die oë gekyk.

JANUARIE 2007

Terug Hospitaal toe vir ‘n volledige Historectomy aangesien dit blyk asof die Kanker daar wil kop uitsteek.

18 JUNIE 2007

‘n Opvolg MRI toon dat 3 van die Tumors op my brein weer aktief is. AgNee!!
Ek smeek die Here en vra waarom alweer ek? Sopas ‘n Historectomy gehad, geskei, en nou DIT ook nog!! Hoeveel kan ek hanteer? Wat is die doel met alles?

Stereotaktiese Radiochirurgie is my voorland by Olivedale Kliniek in Johannesburg. Groot voorbereiding; ‘n masker word gebou en op 1 Augustus begin ek met die 1ste van 3 behandelings.

Ek voel moeg. Jesus, wanneer gaan dit ophou? Is dit nou my lot in die lewe? Ek begin glo dat as ‘n mens een keer gediagnoseer is met Kanker, jy vir die res van jou lewe twyfel oor jou gesondheid, en sodra jy “content” is, word jy weer teruggeruk met ‘n “bang”!

Ek glo dit is net Jesus wat my “sanity” gered het. As ek wou negatief raak het Hy my iemand anders laat raaksien wat minder as ek het; sieker as ek is; geskend is waar ‘n mens dit met die blote oog kan raaksien en die ergste van alles, alleen is! Ek het besef dat ek moet dankie sê vir die paadjie wat ek geloop het saam met Jesus, dat al die seerkry en siekwees van die afgelope tyd maar net Sy manier was om my nader na Hom toe te trek.

My lewe het rustig begin raak en ek het vas geglo dat Hy my gaan gesond maak. Familie, vriende, mense wie ek nie eers ken nie, het vir my gebid. Die hele Kokstad (waar my Mammie woon) het vir my gebid.

Ek is nou reg om vir Jesus te getuig want, VANDAG 6 MEI 2008 het ek by die einde van my Kanker paadjie gestop. ‘n MRI gedoen en die Neurochirug het bevestig dat my Tumors soos mis voor die son verdwyn het.

EK IS GENEES, en al hoe dit kon gebeur is deur Jesus se Genade, almal se Gebede en natuurlik Geloof.

MY FILOSOFIE:

Leef elke dag ten volle – put die meeste uit elke uur!! Leef asof alles van jou afhang en bid asof alles van God afhang!!

Jy weet nie wat wag die volgende sekond op jou nie! Geniet dit wat jy het – wees tevrede met dit wat jy het : More word dit van jou af weg geneem, net so, in ‘n oogwink!!!

Met ander woorde, lag en die wêreld lag saam met jou. Die donkerste nag lyk dan soos helder dag! Die koudste, slegste dag vol lag, is beter as die wonderlikste sonskyn dag vol trane!!

‘n Glimlag kos mos niks – gee dit in dosyne weg!! Ek weet ek het nie altyd genoeg glimlagte gehad om vir almal te gee terwyl ek siek was nie, so party het net halwes gekry. Maar, ek hoop ek het vir elkeen wat ek ken, vol glimlagte kon gee in my lewe.

Ek wil graag aan elkeen wat deur diep waters gaan sê dat wanneer ‘n mens op jou heel laagste is, God ingryp. Ons is tog so ongeduldig en wil hier en nou antwoorde hê, maar Hy neem sy tyd, en wanneer hy weet dit is die regte tyd, skyn die son weer helder in jou lewe.

PRYS DIE HERE, LOOF SY GROTE NAAM!!

Elani la Grange
6 Mei 2008

her challenges have just begun again – please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

When I read about this competition this morning on female2female I did not even need to think about who to nominate. I know many wonderful amazing and inspiring women who I look up to but when I think of who stands out above all others as phenomenal then it is my sister in law Elani.

I have posted her story of her fight with cancer before – Elani’s Story.

I dont think I have ever met anyone else who while fighting a hateful battle that negatively affects every aspect of your person and life, makes you feel so ill but is always smiling, positive and filled with love of life, fun and others.
I do realise that there are times she may not feel so bright and shiny inside, but she always pushes that aside to be the light in a room full of people. In just being herself she inspires those who know her – those who are also battling cancer and especially those who aren’t.

Nominated by Barbara  

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I would like to nominate my best friend and heart sister Natasha Rough.

Not only is she an amazingly talented photographer, who through sheer determination and against many odds, followed her passion and started up her photography business from scratch and little by little.  This alone should be an inspiration to others that where there is a will there is a way.

 

Natasha didn’t have the easiest childhood and could very easily have ‘fallen through the cracks’ instead through her always positive attitude she made something amazing of her life. 

 

She also actively gives to charity and every Christmas she arranges for a lot of under privileged kids through “Kringles Elves” to have a happy Christmas.  She is an amazing friend not only to me but literally to people the world over.  She never forgets an important occasion and always calls or sms’s to find out how it went.  Nothing can stop this phenomenal woman! 

Nominated by Nicci

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Jane

She is a strong single working mother of two gorgeous boys.  She does it all she’s a Doula, a blogger and the most popular mom on the block.  She finds time to keep fit and run marathons.  She strong, pretty and smart.  The full package.  Nominated by Gillian  

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Wenchy
Not just phenomenal for coping with Liam but for her capacity to love unconditionally. Her capacity to show genuine love to us all astounds me. Watching the personalities she has raised with her children – Kevin, the depth of understanding I saw him show towards everybody at Thanksgiving makes me realise that he too, like his mom has a heart so full of love that sometimes it just knocks him over. The optimism, despite other relationships to believe that the Coach is the one has given Noid the greatest gift ever. He knows that he is the one that makes her smile first everyday – before we all get a chance. Wenchy was the gift given to me in exchange for the horror that was 2009 and I would never exchange it.

MamaMeeA
Not because she almost has four children but because she has four children – all accepted as blessings. Her husband must be besotted with her. I have never seen or heard her speak of him with anything other than absolute love and with all that they have been through I admire her every day. Her son Jack is testament to her calm and gentle nature. I love the way she has looked at all the silver bits in every dark cloud that wafted over her this year. She inspires me to keep putting one foot in front of the other every day.

AngelinAfrica
Her little family and her love for G gives me faith that no matter what happens there is always hope.  I was so proud of the way she followed G to Nigeria to have her family together and goodness knows they were all she had so far away from us all. Thank goodness for the friends inside her computer who helped keep her together when she was homesick and missing everyone else. Her hatchling son that we hoped was a daughter whom we feared would have serious challenges in front of her happily has turned into a healthy baby. The fact is, regardless, she wouldn’t have changed the course of his life and would have taken what the Gods gave and dealt with her own heartbreak for love. Baby Bubbles was evidence of her and G’s love – end of story. I am so proud of the fact that she was willing to just love and let be – exactly as she was the last time with Mic. G is the luckiest man in the world because he loves her back.

These women are all mothers but they are also friends – good friends to so many and often the reasons the rest of us get up each day even when we would rather just stay in bed and hide from the rest of the world. They all have a talent for giving me a nudge when my attention has started wandering and I start feeling sorry for myself.

 

Nominated by Olivier

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Leigh-annes mom Nominated by Leigh. This motivation was for me one of the most beautiful ones!

Tags: featured, phenomenal women