What are you thankful for???

This month on Facebook many of us have been writing something to say each day what we are thankful for! I have really enjoyed this as I feel we need to do this each day...what a difference it is to wake up and think about what are you thankful for to start your morning off!!! It sure makes even the tough days so much better!!! Thankful for my family, my parents, our home, our health even though somedays we are falling apart, thankful for the doctors that have been so awesome to us! Thankful for Food Pantry's that have helped us for so many years...the list goes on! hugs, cheryl

November???? Where is the time going?

I honestly had so many plans and dreams for this year! It seems it has been a year filled with hospitals, doctors and surgery's! I am still in a mess with my husband and his spine! Not sure what will happen this week. He has a huge mass on the outside of his incission and now looks like it will have to have another drain put in it this week. Please pray for Kerry and all that is happening here! Hopefully I can get creative this week. hugs, cheryl

Pumpkin Prayer.......

Dear God,
As I carve my pumpkin help me say this prayer.
Open my mind so I can learn about you (top of pumpkin).
Take away all my sin and forgive me for wrong things I do. (clean inside)
Open my eyes so Your love I will see (cut heart shaped eyes)
I'm sorry for turning my nose up to all you've given me (cut cross shaped nose).
Open my ears so your word I will hear (cut Bible shaped ears) Open my mouth so I can tell others you're near (cut fish shaped mouth)
Let your l ight shine in all I say and do! (place candle in and light it)
Amen
http://myhomespunthreads.blogspot.com/2008/10/pumpkin-prayer.html

Please pray for my husband!

We have gone through a rough couple of weeks once again but I know God is in control and I honestly have to trust him as the trials in life just keep throwing difficulties at us! My husband had a three level fusion on Oct 8, 2009. It was a rough time following the surgery. My husband has Post Traumatic Stress so everytime he goes into the operating room he goes back to 12 years ago when he went through a horrible surgery and ICU at a local hospital....I always thought it would leave someday but when Kerry goes into surgery all those memories come back so strong...so strange how the brain works and remembers things so intensly...you would honestly not believe how difficult to go through this over and over. The day after surgery we were told that my husbands interthecal cathater had been cut in surgery and had to be reconnected! Well, after getting my husbands staples out last week they discovered that the pump was still leaking and now Kerry is facing another surgery to go in and put a new cathater into his pump and spine! It has been up and down the last few weeks and just so difficult to go through more hospital and doctors.........I pray that this will be the last of this medical nightmare and hopefully this last surgery will give some relief to my husband. Tomorrow we go back for them to decide what is the next step and when they will decide Kerry can go back into the operating room as his incision was not healing well and had to wait for the swelling to go down. I am trusting God with all the decisons as it just gets so overwhelming to what will take place in the next few weeks and that their will be no infection in his spine! hugs and prayers, cheryl

PS It was neat today I went to get LiHeap help with our local County Office and the lady that was taking our application was so sweet and I told her I can either look at the cup half full or half empty! Today it is half full! She looked at me and said, "But sometimes we are still thirsty!" How true in life....Have a great week!

Love this saying!!!

I have always believed that God never gives a cross to bear larger than we can carry. No matter what, he wants us to be happy, not sad. Birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn't we? Rose F. Kennedy

My girls this fall!!!

 

Before and After Pictures of my Dining Room ...all for $8.00

I went to Home Depot last week and was looking at colors for my dining room and picked out a color chip...then asked if they had any oops paint? Ironically they had almost the exact color I wanted for $5.00 for the gallon...went to the Unique Thrift Store and found curtains for half price so got the entire room done for $8.00 total!!!

I lost another pound

I am so happy..I am down 12 pounds now!! This has been the hardest thing I have done ever!!! I went to Bikram Yoga today also..I feel so much better after sweating for 90 minutes..it is amazing...On Monday I start a Challenge at a Women's Workout..for Biggest Loser Contest! You have to go and work out three times a week, go to a nutrition class, have a trainer, and also journal everything you eat..I am suppose to stay around 1400 calories a day!!!! In 16 weeks I cannot wait to see how much I have lost...gonna do it this time!!!! hugs, cheryl

Lindsay turns 24!

This was on my daughters facebook page on the morning of her 24th Birthday..it was so hard being 8 hours away but when I read this from her it made me realize how grown up she is...All the trials from our life has made her into someone special!

My birthday

Today at 8:40am
Today is my 24th Birthday and I can't help but look at where I have come over these years. All the things that I have been through made me who I am today. When I was taking care of my dad when he was sick it made me learn to have compassion and to care for someone. Through my difficult teenage years it made me strong. When I was 19 and moved out into my first apartment I learned to be independent.When I went to South Africa at 19 I learned how much God loves me, how much he wants so much better for me, I learned that week in 2005 that God has called me to a higher purpose.When I was 20 years old and got a job as a office manager at the pediatric office I learned how to be responsible, be a leader and a team player. The day at kid's camp I think in 2007 when I was a counselor God called me to CBC and I learned how to give things up for His Kingdom. When I had family members and my best friend died I learned to know what it is like to lose.The day I moved down to Springfield car all packed and my sister Natalie with me , I was so scared but I learned to trust and let God take care of details! The times in the dorms with my crazy friends I learned how to have fun again, I learned what it was like to have the Joy of the Lord. Yes and even the time with someone earlier this year (we all know who he is) I learned what it was like to be heart broken and how I let myself down and friends, I learned who my true friends are through that experience. The time when I decided to leave CBC and finish my nursing degree, I learned regret and what it feels like to mess up but God again picked me up and told me He loves me and only wants the best for me. The day I decided on this last Friday that there is no more looking back, no more going back to my past, only looking forward, pressing on until I win this race called life!

All that I have been through again made me who I am today. For these experiences are not made for me at all, they are made to be useful in his kingdom and so that I will understand what others go through. I am so thankful for this life God has called me to, I am scared because at times I do not know if I am worthy of what he has for me but I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. : )

I am strong, beautiful, caring, compassionate and most of all I am a child of Christ <3

"If you are going to be used by God, He will take you thru a multitude of experiences that are not meant for you at all; they are meant to make you useful in His hands and to enable you to understand what happens in other souls so you will not be surprised at what you come across." 2 Cor. 1:3-5

Mallory turns 21!

I cannot believe Mallory is 21! Where did those years go..she was the tomboy at the park! Always wearing the baseball hat backwards and the overalls! Time goes by so quickly and your little girls grow up!!!!

Goethe Quote

Goethe Quote, originally uploaded by Artsychick Studios ♥.

Love this saying!

Show courage and make your own trail

Show courage and make your own trail, originally uploaded by ButterFly Project.

'' Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is not path and leave a trail ..."
Emerson

I love this quote!

Psalm 139: 13-16..."You are the one who put me together inside my mother's body, and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me. Everything you do is marvelous! Of this I have no doubt. Nothing about me is hidden from you! I was secretly woven together deep in the earth below, but with your own eyes you saw my body being formed. Even before I was born, you had written in your book everything I would do."

I found this on a blog today and had to share this picture..it is too sweet!
http://www.gracefullives.blogspot.com/

be nice to yourself

be nice to yourself, originally uploaded by prettyfnmess.

I am back...just have had so much going on in my life! Will update this week but check out these awesome cards you can print and download to use! hugs, cheryl

Please turn off music on the right hand side to listen to this!

I have lost 11 pounds now!!! Also dropped two sizes!

I am so happy! Today I had two different doctor appointments and both of them noticed my weight loss and also some of the secretary's! I was told by one of my friends there today that I am her inspiration! It has been a long journey and I still need to lose 30 more pounds to get to my goal of where I was back when Kerry first became disabled but I am motivated to keep going! I tried on jeans this week that I have not been able to wear in years! I have been trying to walk twice a day now and it sure has been helping...hugs, cheryl

P.S. Where has this summer gone? The kids are starting school this week and it just seems like they just got out!

Jamba juice coupon..buy 1 get 1 free!!

Print this out and get one free~ Enjoy! hugs, cheryl

Rose

Rose, originally uploaded by Penalty Box Productions.

These are the most amazing pictures...check them out!

One Extremely Long Week! Kerry Surgery...

Kerry has been in pain since November and he has been to so many doctors and no one seems to know what is wrong with him...we saw Dr. Butsch at Rush in Chicago and he was willing to do surgery on Monday, July 13 to go in and see what was wrong with his stomach so we were at Rush bright and early! It seemed everything was going well until Kerry was about to go home and he lifted his gown and his bandage had blood all over it and it was bright red...I had the nurse call the doctor and they came out of the operating room to check and they changed it and made us stay a half an hour longer as they felt maybe he was bleeding internally! If I had only known what was in store for Kerry the following week! He didn't seem to bleed much more so we went home and he was fine for two days and the third day he woke up with a huge bruise across his belly! I had never seen anything like this but had no idea what it was...I called back to the doctors office but they didn't seem concerned and it was now Friday afternoon...told us to come in next week! I had a friend come over and check him and she didn't like how it was looking either and said to keep an eye on it...then on Sunday Kerry was really complaining so I called Chicago again and was told it was probably nothing and to come in on Tuesday...On Monday I still didn't feel comfortable and called his GP in town and had my dad take him over to see her and she immediately called the ambulance as she felt it was all infected..so he was brought to a Joliet Hospital...they ran tests and a Ct scan...it came back a huge blood clot and we were told his body should absorb this and to not move or twist and to lay still for a week...he was running a temp of 102 and it just totally brought back flashes from 11 years ago at Edwards Hospital and all the nightmares of the infections he has fought in his life....we came home last night but the nightmares I had and dreams...I woke up today with the worst headache and still today just laying here thinking of all the things we have been through and how much we have fought through to keep Kerry going ....Praying we do not have another fight on our hands and his body will just absorb this clot and no other problems here with this surgery! We are just worn out mentally, physically and emotionally! Please keep us in your prayers! hugs, cheryl

Broken China Necklace

I am finally back trying to get into making crafts again..I sure have missed not being creative...I had soldered this before my neck fusion and shoulder surgery and I made the necklace while Kerry was in surgery the other day! It feels so good to be able to look down and use my arms again! You have no idea what you take for granted until you lose it! I am so thankful to be able to start to do things once again! God is Good All the Time! hugs, cheryl If interested leave a comment!