My girls....Mallory and Natalie leaving for Amsterdam, Spain and Italy!!!

The four of us.....

My three daughters!

With their Dad!

Mallory and Natalie with bags and passports!

I am back...

Cannot believe it is March and almost Spring! Has been one heck of a winter and never dreamed all that I would endure these past few months...Kerry and I are getting divorced and just something I never, ever dreamed I would be going through! I started going to a divorce care group in Naperville and it is very helpful....started going back to Church! Losing weight and taking care of me! I am thankful for all my friends and the people that have kept me going through these difficult days...I started back to Bikram Yoga and love it...best thing I did for myself and what a workout!!! 105 degress and 90 minutes of sweating! Amazing you can feel so good after working out but you really do!~ Cannot wait to get my bike out again and start riding again! I feel like this winter was never going to end....Please keep us in your prayers and thanks for checking on me...hugs, cheryl

A Book I made for my Mom!

I made this out of an old book and took a picture of my Mom, Aunt and their friend from when they were teenagers and created a neat altered book out of it!!! One of my favorites!

Quote for today!!!

Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself.

A mismatched couple.

A mismatched couple., originally uploaded by BEAT NIK.

It is sooo cold in Chicagoland!!! BBBRRRRRR!!!!

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. ~Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! -- Corinthians 5:17 We all like "do-overs" or second chances. God does much better than that! He allows us to become new again. Being the "God of new things" he can even make us new.. Let's use the opportunity of a New Year as a s...pringboard for living a life fresh and new and alive for God!

My other goal is to read the Bible all the way through! I have joined a group on Facebook that is doing this!!!

Here is January's!! If you want to join in...let me know!

Chronological Bible in a Year
1-Jan	Genesis 1:1 - 3:24
2	Genesis 4:1 - 5:32; 1 Chronicles 1:1-4; Genesis 6:1-22
3	Genesis 7:1 - 9:29
4	Genesis 10:1 - 11:26; 1 Chronicles 1:5 - 27
5	Job 1:1 - 3:26
6	Job 4:1 - 7:21
7	Job 8:1 - 10:22
8	Job 11:1 - 14:22
9	Job 15:1 - 18:21
10	Job 19:1 - 21:34
11	Job 22:1 - 26:14
12	Job 27:1 - 29:25
13	Job 30:1 - 31:40
14	Job 32:1 - 34:37
15	Job 35:1 - 37:24
16	Job 38:1 - 39:30
17	Job 40:1 - 42:17
18	Genesis 11:27 - 15:21
19	Genesis 16:1 - 18:33
20	Genesis 19:1 - 21:34; Genesis 25:12 - 18; 1 Chronicles 1: 28 - 31
21	Genesis 22:1 - 24:67
22	Genesis 25:1 - 26:35 1 Chronicles 1:32-34
23	Genesis 27:1 - 28:9; Genesis 36:1 - 43; 1 Chronicles 1: 35 - 54
24	Genesis 28:0 - 30:43
25	Genesis 31:1 - 32:32
26	Genesis 33:1 - 35:29; 1 Chronicles 2:1 - 2
27	Genesis 37:1 - 39:23
28	Genesis 40:1 - 41:57
29	Genesis 42:1 - 44:34
30	Genesis 45:1 - 46:9; 1 Chronicles 5:1 - 6; Genesis 46:10 - 12; 1 Chronicles 2:18 - 55
31	1 Chronicles 4:1-23; Genesis 46:13; 1 Chronicles 7:1-5; Genesis 46:14-18; 1 Chronicles 7:30-40; Genesis 46:19-25; 1 Chronicles 7:6-12; Genesis 46:26 - 47:12

Vintage Postcard ~ Chubby Angel

Vintage Postcard ~ Chubby Angel, originally uploaded by chicks57.

Just the neatest postcards!!! I love em all!

joy

joy, originally uploaded by pam garrison.

For my friend that has brought so much Joy into my life...:-)

CHRISTMAS REMINDERS

CHRISTMAS REMINDERS
-May the Christmas presents remind you of God's Greatest GIFT -- His Only Begotten Son!
- May the Christmas candles remind you of Him Who is the -- LIGHT of the world!
- May the Christmas tree remind you of another tree on which -- He died for YOU!
- May the Christmas cheer remind you of Him Who said, -- "Be of good cheer!"
- May the Christmas feast remind you of Him Who is the -- Bread of Life!
- May the Christmas snow remind you of the cleansing -- POWER of CHRIST!
- May the Christmas bells remind you of the glorious proclamation -- of His Birth!
- May the Christmas carols remind you of His glad tidings which we proclaim -- to ALL mankind!
- May the Christmas season remind you in EVERY way of -- JESUS CHRIST your King!!!

Neat blog..check this out!!!

http://www.wearethatfamily.com/2009/11/diyp-cheesecloth-rosette-pins.html

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