Hello out there! For Brenda...

Brenda is my second mom. I talked to her tonight and she said she missed me. You know, in the blogging world. So I thought I would catch you guys up. So...Hello all! I am alive. It's been a while. Judgement House is over, and what a mixture of emotions! First and foremost, all I can say is WOW! It was amazing. Absolutely amazing. 168 people accepted Christ after going through it. Over 1900 people went through. Awesome. If you didn't get a chance to go through it, make sure to look out for it next year, as I am SURE we will be doing it again. But, am I glad to be getting sleep again? Absolutely! Any updates on me? Not so much, not really. Chugging away as usual. Can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving and I can't even remember what I did for Thanksgiving last year. Family...wanna help me out? I really can't remember. But speaking of holidays...I know it seems more like a New Year's Resolution of sorts, but have you ever just decided to give something a try just to see if it changes how you view things? No, I am not talking about some sort of drug or crazy thing like that. Some time near the beginning of the year, I decided to give people a break. Really, I know I have my own issues that nobody understands but me, and I also know they are a part of me because of the way I grew up, or something that has happened to me in life. Good, bad, whatever...our circumstances have a lot to do with who we are. So I made it a point to try and look at people with some level of understanding that they are the way they are for a reason. Now there are the few exceptions who are intolerable no matter which way you spin it...but for the most part, if you look past the attitude or the quirky behavior, you'll find a valid reason. I am not sure why I started doing this. But I can say that it definitely changes how I see people. The truth is, I will never fully know you and you will never fully know me. But that doesn't mean we can't accept people on the "somewhat unknowns" of their lives. Have you ever known anyone who was just an outcast? Truly an outcast and you couldn't stand to be around them? Then you found out something they had to deal with in life and you felt terrible for them and disgusted with yourself for being so shallow? So I just decided to give people a chance. For crying out loud, nobody is perfect and even though we think we are normal, at least one person we know would tell us quite openly, that we are not :) It's been very interesting to try this little experiment (one that I hope becomes a permanent characteristic for me). It's not only interesting to see how you react to someone, but also how they respond when they look at you and see genuine acceptance. It's almost as you can see the light turn on in them and all of a sudden they become...dare I say?...Normal? Define normal anyway. Not one mirror in my house can define it. I'll bet yours can't either. But don't worry, I love you anyway! JUST THE WAY YOU ARE!