Travel Day

We are on our way to Des Moines, IA for a Women Of Faith Conference. Dee and I are both volunteering for the first time at this event.

It rained and/or misted most of the way. I love my GPS, it took us straight to the convention center as if we lived there. It can even show us the local resteruants.

This is the look out our hotel window.


This is where we ate.



...and this is what I ate. The beans tasted so much better then they looked.




I am thankful for save travel and a great friend to share the road trip with.



This is where I slept, doesn't it look comfy.

Better go, I have to be at the conference center by 8:00-long day ahead me.
God Bless.

Chocolate and other goodies

How would you like a chance to win these?

Kelly over at Happy Texans is have this great giveaway in honor of making her first 10% weight loss goal.

Even though we are trying to get fit and take off some weight we still need to give into our inner brat that wants chocolate & sweets. These delights will satisfy those needs without blowing your day.

What are you waiting for? Catch the link and check out Kelly's blog and find out how YOU can be entered in this wonderfully sweet drawing. The drawing will be held Friday, May 8th.

Now go out and make it a sweet day!

Sheryl

Wordless WednesdayTuesday

Maddie

NO Snacks In Bed

TGIF...I love the weekends.

This is what I found in my bed this morning when I pulled the covers up. Maddie has a habit of hiding food around the house. Guess she thought she might want a midnight snack or something.

Good, now I'm sleeping with dog food. Dogs....gotta love'm.

Have a great weekend.

THIS IS FOR YOU: All my blogger friends

If you haven't already heard Susan Boyle from Britain sing on Britain's Got Talent click here. But don't forget to come back.

This clip from Britain's Got Talent says so much about our society today. As soon as Ms. Boyle walked out onto the stage the judges as well as the audience wrote her off. And while we're at it let's be honest, how many of us were being a little judgmental when we saw her walk out on the stage. After all she just didn't fit the physical stereo type we have created for performers.

How many times growing up did we hear our mother say "You can't judge a book by it's cover" same goes with people. The only one qualified to judge mankind is God himself.

That is why I love the blogging/twitter world so much. It doesn't matter if your fat or thin, black, white, or purple, short or tall, blond or brunette, young or old. We don't judge each other for what is on the outside. We get to know and love each other for what is on the inside. It has been a true blessing getting to know each and everyone of you. I thank you for sharing your families, frustrations, and most inner feelings.

The blogging community is very caring and loving. We cry with each other and make each other laugh. We pass on prayer requests and make like a sounding board when someone is frustrated. Where else can you find such a wonderful, supporting group of friends. The same goes for all of my twitter friends as well. THANK YOU for being a supporter of my blog. I am very honored that you take time out of your busy schedules to check out what going on in my head (I know, there's usually not too much there) and even more for leaving supportive comments.

I try to read and comment on as many blogs as I can. Ok fine, true confessions: I am addicted to blogging and even spend my break time if not more at work cruising through the blogging world. I love to read and it's always at my finger tips. I have made many friends blogging as well as in the twitter world. After all with twitter, where else can you tell two different people "good morning" and "good night" at the same time :-)

If you have the time - check out the partial list of blogs, in my sidebar, that I follow on a regular basis. This is not a complete list so if you don't see your blog just let me know. I would love the opportunity to check out new blogs.

We have not stumbled upon each other by mistake but by the grace of God. It's a whole new world out there and I am glad to share it with you. As the old song goes:
"Thank you for being a friend."

Sheryl

Prom Night

Do you ever get bloggers block? Don't know if that is a word but it is for tonight. It's been kind of a weird week for me. Even though I didn't get my blog updated I have been reading and commenting on several through out the week. I love keeping up with my blogging family.

This was prom weekend and for us it was extra special because it was Sr. Prom - my baby's last high school prom :(

When I asked her to describe the day and night she simply said "amazing". Yup, that's what a mom wants to hear. Well I thought since I haven't blogged for a while I'll make it up with this post, sorry for all the pictures but they are what tell the story. Now mind you, my only part in this day was to pay for the dress and hair and oh yeah...like any good blogger I took lots of pictures. My final role in this event was to get up at 3:30 in the morning to hear all the "amazing details" before she took off to spend the rest of the night with a friend.

The day started at 7:00 for Karissa and her friend, hair appointments at 7:45 a.m. and you can't have a formal event with out going out and getting your nails done. I know she spend some time at the mall but I'm not sure for what, guess it's a teenage thing.

The girls came home in time to put their make up on and get dressed.


Notice the tiara?

Here is the back of Karissa's hairdo.













Jake felt it was his responsibility to make sure no one got in there way while they were getting ready.

















Note to self: put hoop on first, then the dress. We had quiet a laugh but we finally got the hoop tied tight enough to prevent it from sliding off as she walked.



Here's her dress.
















The forecast was for possible thunderstorms and even though it did rain in the morning, the day turned out beautiful.













Look at those dresses and how grown up they are.


Okay, may be no too grown up :)
















Off they go.........






Fast forward to midnight, prom got over and the girls came home to change into their "after prom" dresses. In my day we had one dress and it didn't look anything like what they're wearing now, but that's another story.

My husband and I finished the movie we were watching and went upstairs to get ready for bed. This is what I walked into:

Do they not realize other live in the house also?

















This was my favorite find. This dress was left out also and no one was even planning on wearing it.



















She didn't get much sleep but I give her credit, she still got through her volunteer time at the humane society.

I am thankful she had an "amazing" time as she puts it, and that God kept her safe and free of harm.

Sheryl

Puppy Paws

Life with a big (65#'s) medium sized dog just amazes me sometimes.

My husband went in to take a bath tonight and this is what he found:

My daughter had taken a bath earlier and for what ever reason was running through Jake's head - he jumped into the tub after she was done, leaving the evidence behind.

Jake is the border collie/lab mixed pictured in my sidebar.

Dogs.....

Testimony - God Given Strength

No matter how we feel, God will give us the strength we need to accomplish His will.

If you have been following my blog at all you know that I am in the process of trying to lose some weight and becoming more fit. I have gotten to the point where I can only stand or walk for about 15 minutes before the small of my back starts killing me. If I am standing in one place I have to sit down for a few minutes to give my back a break, and if I am walking it just plain hurts and sometimes is a challenge to keep walking. I haven't decided if I have a medical problem or I am just that out of shape after a long, inactive winter. I am choosing to exercise for a while and try to strengthen my back before I go to the doctor.

Anyway, Sunday morning (Resurrection Sunday) I was rehearsing with the praise team, about 45 minutes later we concluded that rehearsal. Then it dawned on me, my back didn't hurt once during that time not so much as a little ache, I never even thought about it.

Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Later that day while doing the dishes my back ached as always....need I say more, God will get us through what He wants us to do.

Psalm 69:30
I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.

Sheryl

"Not Me!" Monday

Welcome back to "Not Me!" Monday. This is a great way to start the week.

This blog carnival was created by MckMama. Stop over and get updated on Stellan's condition and prayer requests.

God does have a since of humor :-)

Even my family is even getting into this.

• I DID NOT come out of an office only to run into (literally) the occupant of that office coming back. I most certainly DID NOT scream at the top of my lungs loud enough to bring people from the other side of the building running to see what happened.
• We have a double stove, I DID NOT preheat the top oven and my husband DID NOT put the lasagna in the bottom oven. Most assuredly we DID NOT discover this error 20 minutes before our guest arrived. And to make up for our miscommunication we DID NOT call Pizza Hut so we would have dinner to serve our guests.

Life.......

Happy Easter

He has risen! Have a blessed Easter.

Sheryl

Run KE Run

A cold wet track and hurdles do nothing for a mother's heart.

I've seen too many kids wipe out.

KE had an invitational today involving 12 schools.

She placed 4th in the 100 yard high hurdles &

6th in the 300 yard low hurdles.

Go KE...Go KE...Go KE...

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Going down memory lane:

Going back 13 years, I walked out the front door and found KE (4) and my niece (5) involved in the following serious conversation both shaking their heads:

KE: I think it was a kitty.
Niece: No, I think it was a puppy.
KE: No, no it was a kitty.
Niece: No, it was a puppy.

I stopped and listened to them for a little bit and couldn't figure out what they were talking about. I looked out into the yard and realized what had their attention we had our yard aerated earlier that day and didn't have a chance to sweep the side walk yet.

Kids....

With graduation about 6 weeks away I'm sure I will be doing a lot more reflecting.

Sheryl

Healthy you challenge

Diana over at Scale Junkie has set a Healthy You Challenge (HYC) to give those of us who need a little support in becoming healthier. Whatever your health goals are, to increase your exercise, loss weight, eat better, this is a great way to obtain online support from people who are running the same race as you are. Click here to read about the challenge.


This is my story, to eat better, to increase my movement, and lose weight. I would like to lose a total of 90 pounds but that is a real turn off. After all, who wants to wait that long. I have to decided to break my weight loss goal into small sub-goals. My first goal is to lost 20 pounds by 6/6/09, my daughters high school graduation.


Here are my results as of Saturday, April 4, 2009


Good news and bad news: The good news is that I lost another 2.5 pounds giving me a total weight loss of 5 lbs, yea I got my 5lb button. Bad news is after only 2.5 weeks I am already falling back into bad habits and I am afraid to get on the scale Saturday.

Each day is a new day and I am not going to dwell on this past week regardless of what the scale says, I am going to move forward or in relationship to the scale - I'm going to move down...hee hee.

I do have to say that even though I am not always getting my eight glasses of water in and I am drinking more water now then I used to. As far as the pop goal, some days I do good - some days not to much.

I believe that hearing from others with a common goal is a great support system. With that in mind I have joined the world of Twitter. You can get the link to follow me in my sidebar. I encourage others to do the same and follow each other. We can post our successes and bombs and encourage each other on to a healthier life. I won't deny I am still getting used to this Twitter thing, if you have text messaging you can do it all through texting once you have it set up, it's actually a very easy way to stay in touch.

So how about it, want to take the Twitter Update challenge with me and encourage each other into a healthier life style?

I know, it's not healthy to spend a lot of time on the computer or our phones :-), but the support will be great.

Have a great day and make it a healthy one.

Sheryl

Fan Award

1

I was given an award today from Tami @ The Miller Family. I am a HUGE fan of her site too! Stop by and I am sure you will become a fan too!

Now, here are the rules:

1. Leave a comment or email for your favorite blogger telling them that you are a fan of their site.

2. Feel free to copy and paste the award, or you can get the code at Sited and Blogged to present to your blog friend or post on your site when it is awarded to you.

3. When you receive more than one fan, put the number of fans you have received under the image.

4. The more fans you receive the better! So, what are you waiting for...tell someone you're a fan of their blog....

Stewardship Of Time

When I hear the word "stewardship" the first thing that comes to mind is money, but how many times have I really thought about stewardship in the sense of "time"?

Yesterday during the worship service we were reciting the "Church Covenant".........

We will be faithful in our stewardship and support of the Church, recognizing that our time, our abilities and our resources are all a trust from God to be used in serving Him and assisting others.

I was reading along and as I got to this section it hit me hard, as I continued to read the rest of the covenant things became a blurr, I could hear the rest of the congregation but everything was drowned out by this one paragraph. I could no longer continue to read the rest of the covenant. It's like reading scripture, sometimes you'll read over a passage that you have read several times but this time it grabs you.

All sorts of things start going through my mind, I'm not using my time, abilities and resources to serve God and others as I should.

I am feeling so in touch with God. What a perfect time to refocus my attention on Jesus, the week before he dies for our sins...my sins.

My eyes are now watering and I have goose bumps and all of this comes 45 minutes before I am to lead the church women into a 30 Day Challenge of Prayer.

God speaks to us in all sorts of media. I believe God is reminding me to use my time and resources to worship Him and to help others to really use this 30 day challenge to get closer to Him through the scripture and prayer, to narrow the gap.

Confession: I can be very selfish with my time and this whole thing has made me re-evaluate how I spend my time.

God has shown me that my time is a gift from Him and I need to be a good steward of that time.

Yea Saturday.....

Yea, it's Saturday - the best kind of Saturday - no commitments.

Not that I don't have things that need to be done but at least I'm not required to be anywhere. We are in a winter storm warning through tomorrow, possible blizzard conditions, so time to kick back and relax and get some things done around the house.

DRAMA - for those of you who have girls you know there is a never ending supply of drama. Well today can and will be full of drama, to which degree I don't know - Cheerleader Try Outs. We'll know the results this afternoon, I'll keep you updated.

Well off to start a load of laundry, my family has this thing about clean clothes - go figure.

Go forth and make it a great weekend.

Sheryl

I AM

Helen Mallicoat

I was regretting the past and fearing the future. Suddenly my Lord was speaking:

My name is I AM.

When you live in the past,with its mistakes and regrets,it is hard. I am not there.

My name is not I Was.

When you live in the future,with its problems and fears,it is hard. I am not there.

My name is not I Will Be.

When you live in this moment,it is not hard. I am here.

My name is I AM.

Source: Found in The Silence of Unknowing by Terence Grant

You signed us up for what-when?

You have just got to love your children - regardless the age don't you?.

Ok, so I'm sitting in the chair last night all wrapped up in a blanket because my body decides to wait until spring to catch a cold. I receive an email on my phone, it's not like I keep it with me all of the time, gee I might miss something I get the following e-mail from the cheer coach:

Sorry for the late notice, but xxx told us recently that they added us on April 5th..........

I've talked to some of the girls at tryouts today and here are the one who said they could work:

You guessed it MY name was on that list, and when was my daughter going to tell me?

Here's the conversation (of course I text her and tell her to come up stairs):

Me: Tell me about this email talking about the concession stand on Sunday.

Her: Oh yeah forgot to tell you, they needed help and I figured we've done it before no big deal. - then she walks off.

Me: O.........K........

Do these kids never think that maybe we already have something planned - like maybe we have a life too? Like a "Women's Challenge Kick Off" on that very Sunday. One that I am leading and really need to be there for.

So after texting my friend about my dilemma, she says, "can B work for you?". Well, duh didn't think of that. So I explain the situation to my husband, he finds a couple of excuses not to work the concession stand and I come up with solutions. He finally said. "I would rather go lead your women's group after worship." That made my jaw drop to the floor, I said, "You're kidding?".

Well, I'll just have to figure out how to be in two places at once.

By the way.....I have to teach my daughter to check the weather 1st, Sundays forecast:

Eeekkk Rain, snow, and 44 degrees. Does that really sound like baseball weather to you?

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HELP: Can anyone tell me why blogger will let me put in paragraphs in one post and not the other. Sorry that this was hard to read.