My friend John

I saw my homeless friend John today. He is very often at the Wedgewood exit off of 65 when we are coming home from church. Casey, Meredith and I have made friends with him and always give him our spare dollars. We plan to take him to lunch next week, so he may very well be my first story for my homeless blog. I look forward to next Sunday, as well as to sharing his story with anyone who will read it. 

Sunny with a high of 75....

I just finished taking a test in my New Testament class, and it only took me about half an hour, so here I am, sitting outside, waiting for my next class to start. It is absolutely GORGEOUS out today and I'm SO glad. Its been raining so much lately, and as much as I like thunderstorms, especially at night,  I was just about done with the whole rainy and gross thing. Days like this just remind me of how much I have to be thankful for. In reality, I should be reminded of this every day, whether rainy or sunny, but I'm not. 

Maybe I should just start waking up every day and listing off the things I'm thankful for. That should put me in a good mood every day of the week. I'm gonna try it. We'll see how it goes. 

Anyway, just thought I'd mention how great I think this day is going to be. I hope it lives up to my expectations. 

My hippie side is peeking through.

So I'm sitting in my microeconomics class and my teacher is talking about the Olympics in China and the protests that are going on because of the human rights violations in China. And then she talked about John McCain's statement about the outcome of the recent Russian election, as well as stating that he would be increasing spending on the war in iraq and afghanistan. 

After this discussion, as well as watching the local news on any given day, I pretty much decided that there is entirely too much violence and conflict in the world today. I know this makes me sound like such a hippie, but can't we all just love each other? Seriously. Take a look at the beauty in every day. Find joy in the small things. Laugh a little, let the small things that you would normally get upset about just roll off your shoulders.  Find some happiness. You woke up today, didn't you? It's not that hard, just smile! Relax. Everything's gonna be alright.  

You are blessed everyday. 

First blog post...ever. Well, ever since Xanga. Does that even count as a blog?

So I'm gonna try this whole blogging thing. We'll see how it goes; see if I actually stick with it. 

Originally, the goal of this blog was to tell the stories of the homeless people I encounter in Nashville, in Colorado, or wherever. I hope to still do this, and get rid of some of the misconceptions people have about homeless people (ex: they are all alcoholics and drug addicts). I want to photograph them, put a story with a face, so everyone can get to know these people. I would love for some of these people to get a new start in life. Many of the homeless people I have met still have hopes of a better life, and still have faith in God despite their desperate situations, often teaching me a lesson in faith. It is so funny, because here I am, handing them money, saying "God Bless, have a great day", thinking to myself "Wow, Susan, what a good deed you are doing" when they look right back at me and say "I am blessed by God every day. YOU have a good day." The Glory of God and his faithfulness never ceases to amaze me. 

BUT, I will also use this blog for my own thoughts of everyday life as well, probably more to sort them out for myself than benefit anyone who will actually read this. If you should read it, though, and gain some insight for yourself on something that probably took me waaayyy to long to work through, I'm glad. 

So, this was my first post. Hopefully it only gets better from here!

Be Blessed, I know I am everyday.