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My friend has an outreach ministry to the homeless in Phoenix, Arizona. It's not put on by a church or other organization. Just a group of people who long to make a difference in someone's life. If you're interested, he's been blogging pretty regularly about it on his myspace page: Outcast Press

Another friend of ours is reaching out to people in Northern Arizona and blogs about it here

Tags: Outreach Ministry Homeless Addiction

Just the latest in my life...

School...I finished my class a week ago. I got 96/100 on my final and ended up with an 'A' for my final grade. I'm truly shocked. I really am. If you knew me in high school, you'd know why. :) I'm taking two classes next Semester... Childhood Communication Disorders, and Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech and Hearing Mechanism. Sounds like a lot of work. I hope I can pull it off.

Church...I went to the smaller campus last week. I was still very nervous but the smaller size seems to be a better fit for me so I'll try it there for awhile.

SA Group...Well, we don't have weekly meetings anymore, but I'm still trying to set up some get-togethers every now and then. Last week, four of us went to see the movie Four Christmases. It was pretty good. I'm going to try to set up another movie before I start classes again. Either Yes Man or Seven Pounds. I want to see both. Maybe I'll set up a dinner or lunch at Chili's. It will give us a chance to just hang out and talk for awhile.

Christmas and other stuff...I'm almost ready for Christmas. This is usually a very stressful time of year for me because I'm constantly hunting for the perfect gift for everyone. But I haven't felt it this year like I have in the past. I think it's mainly because I was absorbed in studying for my final and I copped out and just bought a bunch of gift cards. No stress :) I have the week between Christmas and New Year's off and I'm really looking forward to the break.

I don't watch much tv but this show is so good. Very intense! Can't wait for the next season to start.

The Cleaner

Tags: Tv Intervention Drugs A & E

I finally got my grade on my term paper. I got an 'A' It was my first college term paper and I had no clue what I was doing. I was just hoping I'd at least get a 'C'. Now I just have to take the final next week and I'll be done with the class. I've got a lot of studying to do before that final :reading_help:

Tags: College Education Term Paper

First off, I just wanted to welcome everyone here from SAF.

Went to the first service at my new church today. I was a nervous wreck before I left and figured the whole morning would be a disaster. Thankfully, it wasn't. The place was packed which meant I had someone on both sides of me, making me feel a bit claustrophobic. Next week, I'm definitely sitting in an aisle seat. Anyway, I did ok until they had everybody from our church stand up so they could welcome us. I thought I'd be self-conscious with all eyes looking at me, but I wasn't, I was just overwhelmed by how many people I saw. I'm also not used to waiting in a car line just to get out of the parking lot. Guess I'll have to get used to that.

I'll be turning in my term paper this week...finally! I'm so relieved to have the initial writing part done and just need to proofread it and fine tune some things.

Thanks everyone for the comments on my previous blog entry. Becky maybe we're both cheesy cuz I had the same thought. With a church that big I have a good chance of meeting someone.

Well, I went to a special meet and greet thing at church last night. This was set up so that our new senior pastors could introduce themselves to us and answer any questions and concerns we had. They seem nice and really have a heart for serving the community. They are a husband and wife team like my current pastors are. They were both going around and shaking everyone's hand before the meeting and I was sitting in an aisle seat and the husband came over to me and said hi. I shook his hand, said hi and he went on to the person next to me. One down, one to go. His wife was right behind him and she said hi to me and told me her name so I shook her hand and told her my name but I said it so quietly she asked me to repeat it. I hate that. I always feel so shy and guarded when I meet new people. I remember I did the same thing to my current pastors five years ago. Sooo....maybe in another five years I'll warm up to these guys too LOL.

My new church has a special service the first Friday of the month and some of the people from our church are going to go and see what it's like. I'm thinking it might be easier on me to go to a smaller service the first time around. That way I'll get a little familiar with my new surroundings and get a feel for what to expect. Ok, enough about church...

I have a 10 page term paper due the week of Thanksgiving. I'm taking an introductory communication disorders class online that uses film and literature to discuss the different types of disorders, like Rain Man (autism), Children of a Lesser God (deafness), etc. I'm really enjoying the class but I could do without the term paper. Our term papers are to be done in two parts. For the first part, we are to pick a film that has a character in it with a communication disorder and discuss how that character is portrayed, stereotypes, etc. The second part is in the form of a research paper about that communication disorder, addressing causes, diagnosis, treatment, etc. I decided to research dementia and chose the movie, "The Savages". I'm hoping to get some credit for at least turning the paper in since this is the first paper I've ever written and I honestly have no clue what I'm doing.

Tomorrow's Friday...finally!

I've always been the type of person that has resisted change, but there's been so much transition and things that have changed in my life during the last year or so that I've pretty much gotten to a point that I'm resigned to it. The latest change is a big one for me though...Church. I've been going to the same church for about five years now. It's my home. My family. Like a lot of small churches these days, mine has been hit pretty hard by financial woes, among other things. Some may view pastors as having a lot of money and constantly begging for more but most aren't after your mastercard and choose to live very frugally. My pastors live in a modest house and share one car between them. Anyway, because of these issues, we were told a week ago that our church couldn't afford to stay open. The solution was to merge with another church and our senior pastors would be put on staff there as some sort of associate pastor role. So next week is our last service in our building. I guess it wouldn't be that bad of a change but we're merging with a mega-church; one that has about 4,000+ members . Yeah, I know, 4,000 people and social anxiety do not mix well. But in the grand scheme of things, I know this is probably the best case scenerio for everyone. My pastors get a steady paycheck, the congregation gets to stay together at least, and I get weekly exposure practice. Aside from the mega-church aspect of it, I'm a little taken aback by the fact that I will now have new senior pastors and at some point, will need to inform them of my social anxiety so they don't do something stupid like shove a mic in my face or call me up to the stage for something. I doubt it would happen in a church that big but you never know. I'm sure I'll be writing more about this as I go through the actual transition and start processing everything. In other news...I got a 90 on my exam I took yesterday. It's my first "A" since I started taking college classes. I really had to work for that grade though. I studied all that week before and drilled all of these terms and definitions in my head. My brain was fried by the weekend.