The Shenanigans of Sherry

December 22nd.  Just three days left until Christmas and here I sit, drinking coffee with caramel macchiato creamer, thinking.  Reflecting really.  About the Christmas' past.  There is this warm fuzzy feeling that comes over me every year as this day approaches.  How come?  What is it that makes Christmas feel like a warm blanket wrapped around me on a cold rainy day? I remember Christmas as a little girl, in footie pajamas, my sleepy eyes filled with wonder.  The pile of gifts under a sad artificial tree of the 70's, with gobs of tinsel and those huge colored lights.  The doll that drinks and wets. The Easy Bake oven that made the horrible desserts I made my dad choke down. The Barbie phone that really rang!  Fun stuff.  I remember a Christmas that I had scarlet fever, it was horrible.  I had to wear sunglasses in the house because any source light caused searing pain.  But, even still, it was sort of fun to live out what se...

This is it y'all!  In five weeks, I will embark on the beginning of something new to me.  The empty nest, or at least a partial empty nest.  Presently, I have two birds sqwaking and flapping and getting ready for flight.  One sadly....is about to leap.  I stand amazed as I look at how beautiful his wings are and still, it is really hard to get my head around the fact that "this is it"!  I will be giving him a hug goodbye and then praying that I have instilled in him something, anything, purposeful to take on into life.  I pray he hears God's voice as well as mine when he gets himself in a pickle.  Time will tell I suppose. Now what?  A new chapter? A new phase? I still have three years before the second bird flys off,  but this certainly is beginning to put things into perspective.  I am going to have a whole new....adventure?  Yeah, lets go with that.  I think this is as close to a do-over as one gets in life.  Whe...

June 8th, 2011, my husband and I celebrated our 20 year wedding anniversary.  To commemorate the day we played hooky from work and went on an all day date. This is something we haven't done in a long time and I was thrilled!  We drove on back roads, stopped at little mom and pop stores, ate at a little out of the way restaurant, got some dirt on our tires, stopped at a livery, and talked.  One thing that came up was how different 20 years looks from either side.  Looking ahead 20 years seems like forever until you get there.  You plan, you invest, you prepare, you make a path for the next 20 years.  But looking back 20 years is a blink, a blur, a what just happened?. We rode along and I pondered that block of time that seemed to pass without me even being part of it. I sat amazed at how I lost all those years so quickly.  Almost seemed unfair and oh so very scary to think how fast my life is playing out. On our way home we stopped by to visit with ...

Last night, as dinner time rolled around, I stood with the door to my refrigerator wide open looking at the empty shelves, wondering what on earth I was going to pull out of the hat to make a meal with.  Then, I remembered something a friend of mine once told me.  She lives in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and she has the most amazing thing going on in her life, grocery delivery!  I thought to myself, if only I had this service I would never have to look at another empty refrigerator again.  I could do a meal plan for the week, call it in, and voila!  Dinner is served.  No more forgetting to stop for milk, or being too busy to stand in line at the meat counter.  Wow, how nice would life be then? If only I had this wonderful service available to me here in Podunkville. I decided to share this revelation with my youngest son, who is almost sixteen. I knew he would be just as amazed as I am that first, such a thing exists, and second, that it doesn't exist here...

I am constantly going through life on the look out for great sermon and ministry illustrations to use in youth group or on Sunday mornings.  It must be similar to those who cross stitch and find themselves counting everything. Its just wired in my brain somehow.  Anyway.... On the center of my dining room table sits a large hurricane (which I found for a steal at TJ Maxx), and I fill it with random things depending on the time of the year.  Right now it holds dried white beans and a large sienna colored pillar candle.  Walking past it one day, all of a sudden an illustration blinks on in my brain and I got the bright idea to pull out these beans, take them to youth group and have the kids plant them.  We were starting a series called "Getting Rooted".  So, hey, this is going to be GREAT!  What a brilliant idea!!  Sherry, you have truly outdone yourself!  The youth can tend to the roots of these new little plants while learning about their o...

As the evening of Thursday April 28, 2011 rolled around, I looked at my husband Mike, who had already tucked himself into bed, and said " I just cannot get my head around the fact, that tomorrow we are taking a group of hoot'en, holler'en teens to Acquire the Fire"  He replied without moving a muscle under his covers..."me either". I am going to be real, and say, it was probably one of the last things on my "Things I Want To Do" list.  Sorry Amp!. Although I love you guys crazy, I just wasn't feeling it.  BUT GOD!  He shows up in spite of our feelings, and emotions, our wants or our selfishness, and He gave me the strength to go. I knew something was going to happen on the weekend that the enemy was trying to stop, when our transportation for the trip was being sabotaged.  The fifteen passenger van we were going to take was broke down and we were looking at putting together a plan B.  That plan included my car, Mike's truck, and the truc...