the tale of two intake forms

The two intake forms for help to those who need it that we looked at in class were very different. I agree that the one intake form without all of the religious based questions was like that because it is government funded and we all know church and state don't go together. I believe the other intake form had all of the questions on it not to judge, push away, or offend anyone; but to see where someone is on their spiritual walk. I think the people reading the forms can then find out and talk to the one's needing help so that they don't offend them or they don't beat them with a Bible if the people already have a good understanding of the Bible. I don't think Christians would ask those questions just to judge a person who needs help. I agree that some "sunday Christians" would judge others but real Christians don't. It is hard not to judge people. I am guilty of that even though I try to love everyone or at least see good in everyone. If I were giving out the intake form I probably wouldn't ask all of the religious questions but instead lead by example and maybe they would see God through me and not be turned off by my questions.

Joe Blog

I read the pages we had due for today and at first it didn't really catch my attention. I just read to read to blog to get an A but then I realized it was kind of cool. I had always seen blogs like they said in the reading- some dorky word only nerds used. I never realized that it is a place for raw feelings where no one can tell you what to write about or how to write it. It doesn't matter whose feelings you hurt because the public (or a company that needs the public's support) isn't paying you to write these things. You can say anything you want to. You can give real facts and not just spin a story the way your employer wants you to present it. If someone is offended by something you say then they don't have to read it anymore.
All in all it was very eye opening.

How I found out what family really is

<--That's Billie and Ms. Liz

This week has been a really hard week for my high school friends. I learned this week what family means. It isn't someone (or a group of "someones") you share DNA with or are "married in to". A family is a group of people who stick by you no matter what. It's those people who will drop anything at any time for you. My friend Billie Ford's mom died monday morning (Oct. 19) from a 3 year battle with breast cancer. Billie is a fun, loving, hilarious, strong, determined, beautiful girl. Her smile will light up a room and her energy is contagious. Her mom was the exact same. Her mom was "one of the girls". Billie's dad died when she was 4 then it was her and her mom. They became really close and Liz (Billie's mom) never remarried. Monday morning Billie found her mom dead. I went to her house and so did a lot of other kids I graduated with. I have heard people this week say "Billie is all alone now she doesn't have a family" (she and her aunt/uncles are not close at all) but I say that's not true. She has a family- a really big family. Kids I graduated with left their universities or jobs this week to come be with Billie. People came from TTU, MTSU, Belmont, Lipscomb, UTC, UTK, UT Martin, Jackson State. We all came back home because someone in our "family" was hurting. A lot of us have gone to school together for 14 years. I graduated from a small private school- a class of 51.I know that if Billie ever needs anything someone will be there and my guess is that it will be more than one someone. I knew we were all close in high school but this week has shown me that just because we may be all over the southeast doesn't stop us from being there for a member of our precious "family". Billie is on my mind every day and I know she is on plenty of other peoples minds. I continue to pray for Billie all day every day. I know she will be ok because in her own words at the funeral "I will be ok because my mamma wanted me to be". This week has taught me what is most important in my life. I love my friends and would do anything for them.

Concert

Last night Olivia and I went to the Phil Vassar/ Rodney Atkins concert. We sat in the nose-bleed section because we got our tickets at the last minute. I thought Phil was great!! He had a lot of energy and got the crowd excited. I am not a huge Rodney fan. He was ok but I think his singing ability isn't that awesome. He did have good energy though. I only like one of his songs and I like pretty much all of Phil Vassar's songs. I am a huge country music fan so to see Phil play in the same room as me was awesome! They were doing this concert as a benefit to the Mustard seed ranch. All of the "staff" i.e. security, ticket takers, stage builders, etc were a tn tech athelete. I thought that was cool that the school's sports teams came togethers to make this benefit happen!! It was a good experience.

TTFN
Linds

Well, It has been a while since my last blog due to the swine flu and my computer being down. Thanks to God for healing me and to my neighbor/computer man Mike fixing my computer I am up and running now. I went on the culture crawl last month with the learning communities. I honestly was bored for most of the day until we went to the train depot. I thought that was interesting because the history was still in there with the names and times of the people traveling! I find history very interesting!! I am from nashville so to see the "CPAC" (cookeville performing arts center) was kind of a let down seeing as I am used to "TPAC" and it's huge. The outside ampitheater was cool though! I would like to see a play there one day I think that would be awesome! I do like plays a lot. I did make up for my school's play junior year and I was stage manager/student director for the play my senior year. I had an awesome time doing that. Anyway I am getting off subject as usual. There were things about the culture crawl I enjoyed and things I absolutely didn't a.k.a indian food.... no it was not for me. Oh well I tried something with an open mind what more can I do right? That's all the ramblings I have for now!

John 3:30

Lindsey