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What's Cookin'?
Encouraging you:h is on Lisa's heart
By REBECCA WELLS
Using a paper clip, Lisa Hansen
illustrates to local students how
the choices they make can perma-
nently impact their lives. She is a
certified abstinence educator, or
HEART coordinator, for Care Net
Pregnancy Center of Mason Coun-
ty, HEART being an acronym for:
Health Education and Relation-
ship Training.
Her job is to present abstinence
as an option in the context of sex
education in health classes at area
junior high and high schools.
"They're just appreciative that
we've given them an option," she
says of the students' general reac-
tion to her presentation in local
classrooms.
It's up to them to decide on their
own whether or not to become sex-
ually active in relationships and
many of their parents don't talk to
them about abstinence as an alter-
native, she's learned. "You really
do have to make that decision for
yourself," she considers. "Some of
them don't have anyone to help
them make that decision."
LISA KNOWS first-hand what
this can mean for a teenager. As a
little girl she had been a pastor's
daughter and grew up with a love
for music. However, by age 14 she
became inexplicably angry and
suicidal, feeling worthless and hat-
ing men. In spite of her parents'
best efforts to protect her, she ran
away from home twice and wound
up on the streets, eventually get-
ting pregnant.
She married the father of her
baby and had a second child with
her husband a week before he left
her for another woman. In the
meantime, she had contracted a
sexually transmitted disease.
That's when she found out
through her parents about some
trouble in her own past that had
led to the sudden change in her be-
havior and a depressive downward
spiral. This information inspired
her to set and accomplish goals for
herself. Lisa moved back in with
her parents and later fell truly in
love with Mike and married him.
He is her husband of eight years
and together they have a 5-year-
old son, Will. Her other*to Sons,
Skylar and Hayden, are now ages
15 and 11.
When she shares her story, with
students, she tells it as a third-per-
son account, at first, not revealing
whose experiences she's talking
about until the very end. This al-
lows the students to view every-
thing from an open perspective.
"IT'S A PRETTY vulnerable
state to be up there," she says of
exposing her past to a room full of
adolescents.
Her history has instilled Lisa
with a passion for advocating
healthy relationships and reach-
ing out to young women. She hopes
to prevent young people from tak-
ing the same risks she did and she
wants to help them overcome any
of their own mistakes.
That's where the paper clip
comes into play. She asks the stu-
dents to take a regular paper clip
and unbend it into a fiat, straight
line: a fairly simple task. Once
they manage this, she asks them
to bnd it back into its original
form again. This, they notice, is
more challenging.
The lesson she demonstrates
here is that avoiding a mistake is"
safer and easier than trying to fix
one. At the same time, she points
out that while a re-bent paper clip
might never return to its former
shape, it can still be used for its
original function. Using herself as
an example, she teaches teens how
LISA HANSEN is passion-
ate about working as an ab-
stinence educator.
the same holds true in her own
case and in the case of others in
similar situations.
"THERE ARE so many kids
who feel like they've screwed up
so badly," she says. She wants to
show them they still have hope
of restoring their lives, no matter
what's happened to them.
"I've had a couple of kids say,
'Well, I'm a mistake,' " But she
emphatically assures them, "No,
no you're not." Lisa says of what
she's able to achieve through her
job: "It's fun; it's very cool."
All this culminates a two-day
course. At the Introduction, she
engages the students with ques-
tions about their personal goals
in coming years. "I love to ask the
kids to tell me about the person
that they want to spend the rest of"
their life with," Lisa says.
Sometimes students respond
with fhnny ideas of what they
want, but normal answers in-
clude a person with traditional
qualities, being trustworthy, hon-
est, loyal, responsible and loving.
These questions and answers lead
the students to think about how
important the choices are that
they make today and how they can
impact their future.
"THEY KNOW what they are;
they spell them out," she says of
these choices.
Students tend to name drugs,
alcohol and unplanned pregnan-
cies as choices with potentially
negative repercussions in their
future. From there Lisa focuses
on the negative impacts of an un-
planned pregnancy.
The financial and emotional re-
sponsibilities of raising a child are
something the teens understand,
and the same goes for the difficul-
ties parenting poses to a person
who is trying to go to college. Sta-
tistically, she says, fewer than one
third of all teens who start a fam-
ily before 18 finish high school and
even fewer go on to get a college
education.
Addressing the results of sexual
expression, she breaks them down
into fbur main categories: sexually
transmitted diseases; pregnancy;
emotional implications; and ef-
fects on society.
"IT'S FUN, BECAUSE they
ag know it, they all understand it,
they get it, but it's the first time
they see it in that way," Lisa says.
She defines the differences be-
tween intimacy and sex and gives
the students a chance to respond.
"It's really sweet, because they see
that they do want something more
for themselves than a sexual rela-
tionship," she says.
Lisa also breaks down the dif-
ferences between love and infatu-
Vegetarian Cooking Classes
• Need quick, healthy meals?
• Want to save money?
• Experience feeling better?
Learn quick, easy vegetarian recipes
dinners, desserts and drinks
Sample each delicious recipe
Take home a folder of recipes
Thursday, March 1,8 and 15 * 6:30-8:00 pm
SheHon Civic Center (Cota St)
$5 per night or $10 for all 3 classes includes food and materials
• Space is limited,
Call Chriss at 426-5242 or Eileen at 427-1073
Presented by Shelton Seventh-day Adventist Church
ation, discusses different levels
of intimacy and addresses the
concept of setting personal, physi-
cal boundaries. She ends her pre-
sentation by describing five main
"love languages" and tries to help
the young people figure out which
ways they tend to express love.
Lisa also offers ideas for how to
clearly show love to friends and
family without resorting to physi-
cal expressions. "It's a lot of fun!"
she says.
FOLLOWING HER presenta-
tion the students fill out anony-
mous evaluations. "I get the best re-
sponses!" she says. "It's amazing."
This feedback lets her know
how the students have come to
understand intimacy and love for
what they really are and how they
are learning to appreciate the im-
portance of setting boundaries.
Lisa's not alone in these presen-
tations. A team of three volunteers
joins her in speaking to classes in
Mason County, and there is also a
group of volunteers who speak in
Thurston County. Besides giving
presentations to students, Lisa is
also in charge of training and mon-
itoring the volunteers, keeping ev-
eryone up-to-date, and maintain-
ing the entire HEART program.
Lisa says the volunteers all
make an impact on the students.
Though the HEART volunteers
never decline an invitation to
speak, her job is part-time and
definitely has the potential to ex-
pand to full-time if funding were
available. The program continues
to grow, as this year she and her
volunteers have been able to go
full-bore with presentations in
Thurston County schools.
SHE AND HER family attend
the First Baptist Church of Shel-
ton. Her husband works for Black
Hills Distributing and is finishing
up his license to become a helicop-
ter instructor pilot. "We're really
excited about it," she says.
True to her Arizona roots, Lisa
shared a recipe for arroz con pollo
y frijoles, a traditional southwest-
ern dish which translates from
Spanish into English as "rice with
chicken and beans."
This recipe calls for chicken
thighs and, although Lisa real-
izes breasts are leaner, she says
the flavor in thighs is "outstand-
ing!" She says: "Don't count calo-
ries with this meal; just enjoy the
great taste!"
Her whole family loves this rec-
ipe, she adds, and although it's a
little spicy, nobody ever leaves any
leftovers.
Arroz con Pollo y Frijoles
Ingredients:
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken
thighs, cut into pieces
2 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. coarsely ground black
pepper
1 C. long-grain rice
2 10-oz. cans diced green toma-
toes and green chilies, undrained
1 14-oz. can chicken broth
1 16-oz. can refried beans
1/2 C. shredded Monterey Jack
cheese
Preparation:
1. Season chicken with garlic
salt and pepper.
2. Brown chicken over medium-
high heat for seven minutes on
each side.
3. Remove all but 2 tables lj
of drippings from the skillet. '
rice and brown over medium, h e$
for about two minutes, stirr
constantly.
4. Add tomatoes and chick
broth; blend well. Place chicken0
top of rice. Bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat, cover and
mer for 20 minutes, or until
is tender and chicken is no
pink. Remove chicken from
and keep warm.
6. Drop beans by
into rice; sprinkle with
Heat for five minutes or
beans are hot and cheese has
ed. Serve with chicken.
Care Net's
fund-raiser
is on FridaY,
.A"
Themed, "With All Your HeF /
the 2007 dessert fund-raiser.
Care Net Pregnancy Center ofla'
son County is tomorrow.
The event will begin at 7P. '
on Friday, March 2, at The Fay,"
ion at Sentry Park, 190 West Se"
try Drive in Shelton.
Local musician Paul
will perform a full hour
tertainment at this event.
at the door will cost $15
More information is
by contacting the Care Net
nancy Center at 2233
Street, P.O. Box 1581
98584, or by calling
"THAT'S WHY IT'S nice to
have volunteers," she says.
She started out as a Care Net
volunteer 11 years ago after her
father opened a branch down in
Tucson, Arizona, where she grew
up. She moved to Shelton about
nine years ago and she wanted to
plug into the local pregnancy cen-
ter right away, so she trained to
become a volunteer.
As soon as she heard about the
abstinence education program, she
knew she had to be a part of it. That
was eight years ago. "Before I knew
it I was running it," she recalls.
To maintain her certification
as an abstinence educator, Lisa
undergoes a three-day training
course every two years. Doctors,
lawyers and other specialists pro-
vide the most current information
on relevant topics at these semi-
nars.
IN HER FREE time, Lisa loves
to garden. Coming from the des-
erts of southern Arizona, she is im-
pressed and excited about the wide
variety of flowers and plants that
flourish in this part of the state.
She'd never seen hydrangeas or
lilac bushes before moving here.
"It's fun to be blown away by
what you can grow up here. It's
amazing!" she says.
Considering Lisa used to run a
wedding floral business, she is "fa-
miliar with flowers. At the same
time, during the extended rainy
season and sporadic summers in
Washington, she misses Arizona's
steady sunshine. Assisting people
with home decor and paint colors
is another of Lisa's hobbies.
"I have a knack for helping peo-
ple make their house look the way
they want it to," she says.
DOLLAR STORE
Locally owned and operated
00DOG
limb
Garden Tools
GII I SHOP
NOW
OPEN
At 7am
E
O
Kitchen
I
im
• $1
All items llmited to stock on hand
330 W, Rallread Ave • (360) 432-31
Downtown Shelton at Evergreen Plaza
Monday - Saturday O am - 8 pm, Sunday 11 am - 6 pm
eokl rosalie4.
On Maroh
6th, 13th & 17th at 6P p'
Start Entering in the
Cage or Table 6amesll
OPEN DALLY
Sun-Wed Thurs-Sat
10am-12am 10a m-2ar
19330 N. HWY 101. (360)
Page 14 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, March 1,2007
What's Cookin'?
Encouraging you:h is on Lisa's heart
By REBECCA WELLS
Using a paper clip, Lisa Hansen
illustrates to local students how
the choices they make can perma-
nently impact their lives. She is a
certified abstinence educator, or
HEART coordinator, for Care Net
Pregnancy Center of Mason Coun-
ty, HEART being an acronym for:
Health Education and Relation-
ship Training.
Her job is to present abstinence
as an option in the context of sex
education in health classes at area
junior high and high schools.
"They're just appreciative that
we've given them an option," she
says of the students' general reac-
tion to her presentation in local
classrooms.
It's up to them to decide on their
own whether or not to become sex-
ually active in relationships and
many of their parents don't talk to
them about abstinence as an alter-
native, she's learned. "You really
do have to make that decision for
yourself," she considers. "Some of
them don't have anyone to help
them make that decision."
LISA KNOWS first-hand what
this can mean for a teenager. As a
little girl she had been a pastor's
daughter and grew up with a love
for music. However, by age 14 she
became inexplicably angry and
suicidal, feeling worthless and hat-
ing men. In spite of her parents'
best efforts to protect her, she ran
away from home twice and wound
up on the streets, eventually get-
ting pregnant.
She married the father of her
baby and had a second child with
her husband a week before he left
her for another woman. In the
meantime, she had contracted a
sexually transmitted disease.
That's when she found out
through her parents about some
trouble in her own past that had
led to the sudden change in her be-
havior and a depressive downward
spiral. This information inspired
her to set and accomplish goals for
herself. Lisa moved back in with
her parents and later fell truly in
love with Mike and married him.
He is her husband of eight years
and together they have a 5-year-
old son, Will. Her other*to Sons,
Skylar and Hayden, are now ages
15 and 11.
When she shares her story, with
students, she tells it as a third-per-
son account, at first, not revealing
whose experiences she's talking
about until the very end. This al-
lows the students to view every-
thing from an open perspective.
"IT'S A PRETTY vulnerable
state to be up there," she says of
exposing her past to a room full of
adolescents.
Her history has instilled Lisa
with a passion for advocating
healthy relationships and reach-
ing out to young women. She hopes
to prevent young people from tak-
ing the same risks she did and she
wants to help them overcome any
of their own mistakes.
That's where the paper clip
comes into play. She asks the stu-
dents to take a regular paper clip
and unbend it into a fiat, straight
line: a fairly simple task. Once
they manage this, she asks them
to bnd it back into its original
form again. This, they notice, is
more challenging.
The lesson she demonstrates
here is that avoiding a mistake is"
safer and easier than trying to fix
one. At the same time, she points
out that while a re-bent paper clip
might never return to its former
shape, it can still be used for its
original function. Using herself as
an example, she teaches teens how
LISA HANSEN is passion-
ate about working as an ab-
stinence educator.
the same holds true in her own
case and in the case of others in
similar situations.
"THERE ARE so many kids
who feel like they've screwed up
so badly," she says. She wants to
show them they still have hope
of restoring their lives, no matter
what's happened to them.
"I've had a couple of kids say,
'Well, I'm a mistake,' " But she
emphatically assures them, "No,
no you're not." Lisa says of what
she's able to achieve through her
job: "It's fun; it's very cool."
All this culminates a two-day
course. At the Introduction, she
engages the students with ques-
tions about their personal goals
in coming years. "I love to ask the
kids to tell me about the person
that they want to spend the rest of"
their life with," Lisa says.
Sometimes students respond
with fhnny ideas of what they
want, but normal answers in-
clude a person with traditional
qualities, being trustworthy, hon-
est, loyal, responsible and loving.
These questions and answers lead
the students to think about how
important the choices are that
they make today and how they can
impact their future.
"THEY KNOW what they are;
they spell them out," she says of
these choices.
Students tend to name drugs,
alcohol and unplanned pregnan-
cies as choices with potentially
negative repercussions in their
future. From there Lisa focuses
on the negative impacts of an un-
planned pregnancy.
The financial and emotional re-
sponsibilities of raising a child are
something the teens understand,
and the same goes for the difficul-
ties parenting poses to a person
who is trying to go to college. Sta-
tistically, she says, fewer than one
third of all teens who start a fam-
ily before 18 finish high school and
even fewer go on to get a college
education.
Addressing the results of sexual
expression, she breaks them down
into fbur main categories: sexually
transmitted diseases; pregnancy;
emotional implications; and ef-
fects on society.
"IT'S FUN, BECAUSE they
ag know it, they all understand it,
they get it, but it's the first time
they see it in that way," Lisa says.
She defines the differences be-
tween intimacy and sex and gives
the students a chance to respond.
"It's really sweet, because they see
that they do want something more
for themselves than a sexual rela-
tionship," she says.
Lisa also breaks down the dif-
ferences between love and infatu-
Vegetarian Cooking Classes
• Need quick, healthy meals?
• Want to save money?
• Experience feeling better?
Learn quick, easy vegetarian recipes
dinners, desserts and drinks
Sample each delicious recipe
Take home a folder of recipes
Thursday, March 1,8 and 15 * 6:30-8:00 pm
SheHon Civic Center (Cota St)
$5 per night or $10 for all 3 classes includes food and materials
• Space is limited,
Call Chriss at 426-5242 or Eileen at 427-1073
Presented by Shelton Seventh-day Adventist Church
ation, discusses different levels
of intimacy and addresses the
concept of setting personal, physi-
cal boundaries. She ends her pre-
sentation by describing five main
"love languages" and tries to help
the young people figure out which
ways they tend to express love.
Lisa also offers ideas for how to
clearly show love to friends and
family without resorting to physi-
cal expressions. "It's a lot of fun!"
she says.
FOLLOWING HER presenta-
tion the students fill out anony-
mous evaluations. "I get the best re-
sponses!" she says. "It's amazing."
This feedback lets her know
how the students have come to
understand intimacy and love for
what they really are and how they
are learning to appreciate the im-
portance of setting boundaries.
Lisa's not alone in these presen-
tations. A team of three volunteers
joins her in speaking to classes in
Mason County, and there is also a
group of volunteers who speak in
Thurston County. Besides giving
presentations to students, Lisa is
also in charge of training and mon-
itoring the volunteers, keeping ev-
eryone up-to-date, and maintain-
ing the entire HEART program.
Lisa says the volunteers all
make an impact on the students.
Though the HEART volunteers
never decline an invitation to
speak, her job is part-time and
definitely has the potential to ex-
pand to full-time if funding were
available. The program continues
to grow, as this year she and her
volunteers have been able to go
full-bore with presentations in
Thurston County schools.
SHE AND HER family attend
the First Baptist Church of Shel-
ton. Her husband works for Black
Hills Distributing and is finishing
up his license to become a helicop-
ter instructor pilot. "We're really
excited about it," she says.
True to her Arizona roots, Lisa
shared a recipe for arroz con pollo
y frijoles, a traditional southwest-
ern dish which translates from
Spanish into English as "rice with
chicken and beans."
This recipe calls for chicken
thighs and, although Lisa real-
izes breasts are leaner, she says
the flavor in thighs is "outstand-
ing!" She says: "Don't count calo-
ries with this meal; just enjoy the
great taste!"
Her whole family loves this rec-
ipe, she adds, and although it's a
little spicy, nobody ever leaves any
leftovers.
Arroz con Pollo y Frijoles
Ingredients:
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken
thighs, cut into pieces
2 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. coarsely ground black
pepper
1 C. long-grain rice
2 10-oz. cans diced green toma-
toes and green chilies, undrained
1 14-oz. can chicken broth
1 16-oz. can refried beans
1/2 C. shredded Monterey Jack
cheese
Preparation:
1. Season chicken with garlic
salt and pepper.
2. Brown chicken over medium-
high heat for seven minutes on
each side.
3. Remove all but 2 tables lj
of drippings from the skillet. '
rice and brown over medium, h e$
for about two minutes, stirr
constantly.
4. Add tomatoes and chick
broth; blend well. Place chicken0
top of rice. Bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat, cover and
mer for 20 minutes, or until
is tender and chicken is no
pink. Remove chicken from
and keep warm.
6. Drop beans by
into rice; sprinkle with
Heat for five minutes or
beans are hot and cheese has
ed. Serve with chicken.
Care Net's
fund-raiser
is on FridaY,
.A"
Themed, "With All Your HeF /
the 2007 dessert fund-raiser.
Care Net Pregnancy Center ofla'
son County is tomorrow.
The event will begin at 7P. '
on Friday, March 2, at The Fay,"
ion at Sentry Park, 190 West Se"
try Drive in Shelton.
Local musician Paul
will perform a full hour
tertainment at this event.
at the door will cost $15
More information is
by contacting the Care Net
nancy Center at 2233
Street, P.O. Box 1581
98584, or by calling
"THAT'S WHY IT'S nice to
have volunteers," she says.
She started out as a Care Net
volunteer 11 years ago after her
father opened a branch down in
Tucson, Arizona, where she grew
up. She moved to Shelton about
nine years ago and she wanted to
plug into the local pregnancy cen-
ter right away, so she trained to
become a volunteer.
As soon as she heard about the
abstinence education program, she
knew she had to be a part of it. That
was eight years ago. "Before I knew
it I was running it," she recalls.
To maintain her certification
as an abstinence educator, Lisa
undergoes a three-day training
course every two years. Doctors,
lawyers and other specialists pro-
vide the most current information
on relevant topics at these semi-
nars.
IN HER FREE time, Lisa loves
to garden. Coming from the des-
erts of southern Arizona, she is im-
pressed and excited about the wide
variety of flowers and plants that
flourish in this part of the state.
She'd never seen hydrangeas or
lilac bushes before moving here.
"It's fun to be blown away by
what you can grow up here. It's
amazing!" she says.
Considering Lisa used to run a
wedding floral business, she is "fa-
miliar with flowers. At the same
time, during the extended rainy
season and sporadic summers in
Washington, she misses Arizona's
steady sunshine. Assisting people
with home decor and paint colors
is another of Lisa's hobbies.
"I have a knack for helping peo-
ple make their house look the way
they want it to," she says.
DOLLAR STORE
Locally owned and operated
00DOG
limb
Garden Tools
GII I SHOP
NOW
OPEN
At 7am
E
O
Kitchen
I
im
• $1
All items llmited to stock on hand
330 W, Rallread Ave • (360) 432-31
Downtown Shelton at Evergreen Plaza
Monday - Saturday O am - 8 pm, Sunday 11 am - 6 pm
eokl rosalie4.
On Maroh
6th, 13th & 17th at 6P p'
Start Entering in the
Cage or Table 6amesll
OPEN DALLY
Sun-Wed Thurs-Sat
10am-12am 10a m-2ar
19330 N. HWY 101. (360)
Page 14 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, March 1,2007