J. Ko's side: Day 1 of the Plus USA Pageant Weekend from

Day 1 of Plus USA Pageant Weekend Sept. 1, 2012 No words can express what the past 24 hours have been like. For the past 2 years, I’ve known this event was in the works and I had been looking forward to being with the Plus Size POWER organization and all the Plus USA delegates. Having been in many of their shoes once before, Lord only knows I’ve been looking forward to helping my fellow PSP family members and daughters in Christ prepare for their journeys ahead of them. Never could I have expected to have all the chaos that I had getting here. On my way to the hotel Friday night, the night of the blue moon, I witness the expression, “Once in a blue moon. Driving on Highway 377 between Brownwood and Brady, here comes this deer leaping out of nowhere. Praising God, nothing happened to me. I was just startled and a really nice man passing by, stopped to see if I was ok. I continued to finish the rest of my trip to the hotel in beautiful Downtown San Antonio. Once I got on 87 outside of Fredericksburg, I was like “God, I don’t understand this. My heard is totally into the pageant weekend and everything but, in my heart, the look in a few people’s eyes when I told them I couldn’t go to the HPU Trinity game which, was a part of my plan since I saw the publication of the schedule, yet, for some odd reason, this other part has a life, actually no one knows about and I hated lying to someone today but what choice did I have. How are certain parties privileged to know about my life. First off, I don’t go bragging about things and there are things that not everyone needs to know. Secondly, I’m not 100% what’d I say, how’d I approach this arena of my life, that yes means a lot me but, to someone who may not understand the unfamiliar. All I can say is you’d give me the right words I hope.” Technically, after being on 87 I just wanted to keep on going home to Stockdale but, I had to just get to the Double Tree for the pageant events. However, I knew God was in control and he has his plans for me. It was about 2:45 am by the time I rolled into the hotel parking garage and my aunt was there waiting to help me get to the room and make sure I was ready to be up by 7 am to get ready for the day ahead. Little did I know I’d walk in and see a beautiful welcome msg that’d startle me even more. Regardless of what hurdles I had to get or leaping deer I had to see, I did manage to be up before 7 am, get ready for hair and make-up and get ready to say farewell to the pageant side of my life. Say farewell to being involved with making appearances and getting ready to live a normal beautiful curvaceous life. Well, my day started out by being caught off guard with seeing a group that I hadn’t hoped to run into to, nor I had ever had the intentions of telling about my “secret” life. Funny thing is, from these gentlemen that I respected and admired, I was myself and gave a very brief statement of what I was doing. They wished me well, I wished them well. I went on my merry well and met the delegates. Once we had our welcoming, God decided to throw me another unexpected twist into my day, an organization that had welcomed me with open arms and a placed that I had represented in the past as the former Miss Teen Plus USA, had asked me to continued representing the organization. Plus Size POWER had asked me if I’d me if I would want to continue working with the organization and being a face for the organization. I was baffled and lost for words. The day continued to be full of craziness when I ran into people who I never expected to see. Crazy how even as my secret started to be relieved after the day trip to the Towers of America, it seemed God planted all the words I needed to say to this man I looked up to, from a sports perspective. As the day continued with the photo shoot and discovering that some of the models weren’t there, we had to improvise. The shoot ran great and I had the opportunity to spend the evening with one of the Texas delegates. She was totally an amazing person to be around. I’m so blest that God had placed her in my life. At dinner it was so awesome people came up to us wanting our picture. Who know Mi Terra’s would be a great photo opt? Yes I know, in the back of my mind I wanted to be at the Jackets’ football game for a lot of reasons. I did keep up with the game via live stats but, it wasn’t the best way to handle it. After that, she and I ran some errands for the director and we had the opportunity to continue to bond. She definitely taught me some great lessons about life, faith, and love. I still don’t know how she put up with me and my groggy side when I started crying about certain things. Even after the Day 1 had come to an end, I really realized that God had his plan and he knew exactly what he was doing. I mean so what if I didn’t get to be there physically showing support for people who I wanted to be, I knew in my heart, they knew I was there in spirit. However, we all have our own lives we’re been called to live and have to understand that God has the plan. Well tomorrow’s interviews, rehearsals, and the final show/pageant!! It’s going to be another sleepless night!!