Feel Good Friday

Here are a couple things that make me happy today.

1. It's a Harper's moon tonight. If you forget what a Harper's moon is, click here. In fact, it's a very special Harper's moon tonight. It will be the biggest, brightest full moon of the year. It will seem 14% bigger and 30% brighter than a normal full moon do to the elliptical orbit of the moon around the earth. You can read more about that here.

2. Venus Williams ruffled some feathers at the Australian Open the other day when she wore this outfit. She designed it herself - including the flesh-colored undergarment. I think it's funny. Yes, I am about 10 years old.

Feel Good Friday

I saw this story on CNN and I thought it would be perfect for Feel Good Friday.

Then I watched it a second time and it reminded me of something else I've seen recently.

Hearing things like this make me feel a little yucky inside because I realize that I put way too much emphasis on fairness and I allow my world to be small. I am going to be more conscious of leaving corners and expanding my world. More on that later.... In what ways can you leave a corner?

Feel Good Friday

So...I know it's Saturday, and technically, I missed Feel Good Friday. But, I have a good excuse. I've been home with a sick baby all week and time has become one big blur. And, this is a good story and I don't want to wait until next week to share it with you. And, it's my blog and I do what I want.

This is the Ohio State School for the Blind marching band. Yes, you read that right. It's a marching band. In fact, this band has been invited to march in the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade. This is a big deal for any band, let alone the only blind marching band in the nation and probably the world. Thousands of bands apply to march in the parade, but only 21 are chosen to participate.

The band became a marching band in 2005 when the Ohio School for the Deaf revived its football program after a 30 year hiatus. There are currently 30 members in the band and about as many sighted marching assistant volunteers.

I am so inspired by these kids and their can do attitude. I think their director, Dan Kelly, put it best when he said, "My philosophy is - if it can't be done, let's do it anyway."

Feel Good Friday

I'm starting a new thing. Each week on Friday, I am going to try to post a feel good news story. I hate watching the news right now. It's so dark and depressing. I know there are good things happening in our world. I'm amazed that news outlets and the public in general would rather focus on the negative instead of reporting on the positive. So...I am going to seek out the good news and share it with you. Here's the first installment:

Dan Stroup is an eighth grade teacher at Heritage Christian School in Indianapolis. What makes him unique is that he sends hand written birthday cards to each of his students every year. Not just the students he currently has in class, but every student he's ever had in the 30 years he's been teaching. He sends out approximately 2500 birthday cards a year. Each card is unique - no form letters and each one includes a Bible verse. This year's verse is from James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, but do what it says. Mr. Stroup is walking the walk. He says that he spends a portion of every evening writing out the cards. Some nights, he spends just a few minutes, but other nights he spends several hours. He jokes and says that November 4th is his day off - none of his students have birthdays on that day, yet. Many of his students have been profoundly touched by his small acts of kindness. They look forward to getting their card every year and many of them save each one. I would encourage you to read the original article on Mr. Stroup or watch the video below. I certainly didn't do his story justice here. But, the bottom line is that small acts of kindness can go a long way.