Last Monday, May 31 - Memorial Day, a dear friend and ex-boss when home to be with the Lord. This man exemplified, love, faith, dignity and grace. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend. When in conversation with him, he had of a way of making you feel as though you were the only person in the world. His precious wife does the same.

His death came sudden and as a shock. He had not been feeling too well and had an upper respiratory infection and wasn't progressing as he should. Tuesday, June 1, the doctors at Baylor Hospital in Dallas drew blood and found that he had acute Leukemia. The doctor delivered a shocking message that there was nothing that could be done, and at his age, he could not withstand the chemo treatments. He was given 3 days to live. He made it to 6 days. Early Monday morning while sleeping, he passed from this life into the next. He spent his last 6 days with family close by. They have some wonderful and precious memories of his last days with them. James was an encourager to others and he continued this until the end. The days ahead will be long and lonely without him, but the family has the Comforter to help them through the rough times ahead.

It can be said that his was a live well lived! He accomplished much in his lifetime, but he would tell you that his greatest accomplishment was his family. Never let us find ourselves taking each other for granted because life is too short and each day with our loved ones and friends is a treasure and gift from God.

Love,

Sherry

Sarah Palin Book Signing

Last Thursday night the temperature in central Oklahoma was below freezing. But . . despite the frigid weather, I and our youth pastor's wife, Sasha, headed to Norman for Sarah Palin's book signing. The event was held at the Hastings store. In order to obtain a signature, the books had to be purchased from Hastings. Also, they gave out wristbands to guarantee you a signature. By 7:00 a.m. all the wristbands (500) were given out. However, they did allow others to line up behind the fortunate 500. We had purchased our books two days before so, without wristbands, we began what turned out to be real adventure.

Sasha wasn't able to leave work early so we didn't arrive in Norman until around 6:15 p.m. We found a parking place very quickly across the street from the event. We crossed the 4 lanes of traffic and the first thing we saw was a few protesters with their signs and posters. The crowd was large. Due to many spectators, it was not apparent just where the line began so I asked a security guard for assistance. We got to the back of the l-o-n-g l-i-n-e and patiently waited. We were standing in the parking lot and it was s-o-o-o cold (in the mid to lower 20's).

After a few short minutes, Palin's beautiful bus arrived. Because there were so many people, we were unable to see her, Trigg and her parents exit the bus. It had been reported that she would be giving a short speech outside the store, but just before she arrived they removed the platform.

We continued to wait . . . . and wait. . . and watched the first lucky 500 march in to have their books signed. The comments of those leaving with signed books in hand was very interesting. One guy (mid 20's) commented how beautiful she was and also said "I'll never wash my eyes again" :)

Finally, our line began to move, but in spite of the movement, the hope for a signature was growing dim, however, we continued to wait . . . and wait. . . all the while our toes were growing numb, and our legs, fingers (even with gloves) were steadily growing colder.

After standing in line for almost 2 hours, beginning to feel pain in our feet from the numbing cold, we decided to leave and go to Olive Garden for dinner . . . and warm up. We decided to be grateful to have been able to see the bus and experience the excitement of the crowd, and we still had a book to enjoy reading. Also, it gave us an opportunity to spend some time together, which is very rare because of busy schedules and she's the mother of three darling little girls, ages 4, 3 & 1.

We had a nice dinner and talked. Around 9:30 we decided that we have better head home. I suggested that we not go back via I-35 because of the construction, but instead go another route. Also, this route would take us back by the Hastings store and we could check and see if the signing was over . . . or not. We felt pretty sure Sarah would be gone. But . . . to our surprise, the protesters were still there and there was a short line just outside the store. We whipped into the parking lot and were able to park very near the store. Just as we got to the second entrance where they were filing in, the guards said they were having to lock up. I told Sasha, "Come, on. Let's go in the other door." She followed me and the automatic doors swung open wide and we walked in.

Now we are in! We stood around for a short moment assessing the situation. I saw the end of the line and quickly joined the ranks of those who were still seeking a signature. An official looking gentleman asked us if we had just purchased our books. Sasha told him that we had purchased them a few days ago and that she had the receipt in her book. He looked at us for a brief moment, then said "You two will be the last."

! ! ! ! ! ! ! We made it ! ! ! ! ! About that time a lady walked up to me a put a wristband on my arm and told me that it was good for a signature in two books. One of the employees asked her where she got the wristband and she replied that she had just found it and there was only one!

So now, we are in THE line inside where it was warm. They had Sarah positioned in the back of the store. Before we were allowed to approach her table, we had to take off our coats, check in our purses, relinquish our ! ! cameras! ! ! open our books to a certain page and then . . . wait. . . again.

The line continued to slowly move then . . . finally, there she was - - dressed in black with her hair down and styled straight. She IS beautiful -- flawless skin. She must have been exhausted from signing, smiling, greeting and shaking hands for 3 hours. Her lipstick had worn away but she was still stunning. She is much smaller than I expected -- very petite. She has a small bone structure that I especially noticed when she shook my hand. As far as her height, I would say that she is about 5'6".

After the signing, greeting and receiving my book, I walked a few steps away to wait for Sasha. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder. When I turned around, there was an elderly gentleman smiling at me who said "You can't greet Sarah without meeting her father, too." It was Mr. Heath, Sarah's Dad. He was greeting everyone as they left. We shook hands and I told him how nice it was to meet him. He thanked us for supporting Sarah.

We stopped in the in-store coffee shop to see if the Palin group would exit the building through the coffee shop. (While we were waiting, we noticed Mrs. Heath getting a baby bottle warmed. ) Instead of through the front, Sarah, her family and assistants were ushered out the back to the bus. Sarah was taken to the airport to fly to Dallas and the bus caught up with her the next day.

We were so amazed and yet felt kind of bad for all the others who had to continue to stand in the cold for a signature. And us . . we waited in a warm Olive Garden restaurant, eating and chatting and enjoying ourselves. To be perfectly honest, we both feel that we had been shown favor from our God. After all, he knows the desires of our hearts, -- carnal and spiritual. I was excited to get a signature, but this adventure was really for Sasha to get a signature and I was there to be a companion.

Here are a few pics.

This is my book.

The coveted wristband.

and . . the long awaited signature.

Due to schedule conflicts (keeping little people over the weekend) I was unable to go to "Deeper Still" in OKC. Several of my friends are at DS as I type this so I will get try to experience it through them -- not the same, I know. However, the book signing did fit into my schedule and made my week special!

Thanks for reading my babblings of this unlikely adventure. :)

Love,

Sherry

Christmas Tea

On December 1, we had our Annual Ladies Christmas Tea at church. This is my "baby" so I am the responsible for getting it together. It's my gift to the ladies of our church. We had 57 reservations and 53 were actually there.

I invited three guests; Cinda from Wichita, KS and my sweet blogging friend, Valerie, and her mother, Lenore, from Shaweee, OK. We had a Christmas piano concert this year. Since I was extremely busy that night, I took very few pictures. If you would like to see more, check out Valeries blog. She did an excellent job of recapping the evening.

Love,

Sherry

A Play Date

What a fun day the kids (little and big) had at the Jasmine Moran Children's Museum! We invited B's best friend, his parents and little sister (and one other family that couldn't come) to join us for the day.

We started off with lunch at McDonalds then headed out to the Museum. This is such a great hands-on place for kids. Because we had little B with us, I didn't get as many pics and I would have otherwise.

B is sand sculpting.

Creating a Masterpiece!

This is so cool.
As the kids would stand there, butterflies, marbles and other
things would "land" on their shadow.
With the flash off, I captured somewhat of an image.
These were butterflies.

Ready for work!

All done!

The aquarium.
The littlest girl (R's sister) has quite a personality.
She squealed and jumped up and down when she saw the fish.
This section of the aquarium was filled with polluted water.
I felt sorry for the fish is this section.

Good friends! (R has on face paint. B washed her off.)
They get along so well. It's a pleasure to be with them.
B and I were actually in conversation when I took this pic.
She had some question about the little plane.
They also had an actual cockpit of a jet plane for the kids to "fly" as well.
Awesome!

He enjoyed the day, too!

There was an operating room, emergency room, grocery store, a town, Segway Transporter to ride, climbing jungles, arts and crafts, television studio, real ambulances, fire trucks, a maze to walk through, puppet shows, water fun and SO much more!

Another beautiful day to have fun with the little ones -- a blessing from our Father!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Love

Old friends and sweet conversation

This morning we have a guest speaker at our church who just happens to be an old friend from our years in Louisiana. They arrived yesterday afternoon; checked into the Holiday Inn Express; and later we picked them up for dinner -- Mexican was their choice.

Our conversation seemed to pick up where it left off. We filled in the gaps of time and some of what has transpired since we last saw each other: children, grandchildren, ministry, etc.

Friendship: a gift from God that will be in it's most perfected form -- in Heaven! If you have a friend you haven't spoken with in a while, given them a call and make connection. You'll be glad you did! Friendship is a gift!

Love,

"What Shoe Are You?"

I have a dear friend (pictured on the left) who has written a book entitled "What Shoe Are You?"; understanding the personality traits. I am using her book in my class as our Sunday School lessons over the next few weeks. In fact, I'm privileged to have her actually do the teaching. She is a professional speaker but for me, over the next 5 weeks, she's working for chocolate ;)

Her name is Lori Randall, and I can highly recommend her to you if you are looking for a motivating speaker. She is the Mrs. Christian World 2005 and Mrs. Oklahoma United States 2002.

She has a tremendous testimony. With the birth of both of her children, Lori experienced severe postpartum depression and psychosis. The illness left her physically, emotionally and spiritually bankrupt. But God is His great mercy reached down and performed a miracle in Lori's life. It's a wonderful testimony of God's love, mercy and restoration.

Lori has done an excellent job with her book. She shares scripture and detailed information about the God-given personality traits, the strengths and weaknesses. Not only does she give us insight into our strengths and weaknesses but she goes beyond that in giving insight into how to deal with other people and their personalities. Understanding and knowledge go a long way in aiding us to achieve harmony in our marriages, with our children, in friendships and in the workplace.

Instead of using the traditional names for the personalities, she changed them to make them more visual and easier to remember.

Sanguine: CLOWN SHOE
Choleric: COMBAT BOOT
Melancholy: ALL BUSINESS SHOE
Phlegmatic: HOUSE SHOE

FYI: Lori is a clown shoe :) She wears the shoes during her presentations as visual effect.

I have placed a link to her bookstore on my side bar. If you are interested, take a look.

However, be watching because I will be giving away one of her books in the next few days.

She is one of the sweetest, most fun and genteel ladies I have ever met and a faithful member of our church. So, if you need a speaker for a women's event, she would be thrilled to come and minister. Her website will give you all the info you need to contact her.

Love,

My New Bloggy Friend!

The 2008 Siesta Fiesta was a special time for the LPM blogging friends to meet each other in person, most for the first time. I did not attend this wonderful event, but I will remember reading about it and seeing the pictures for a long time.

The main reason for my remembering it is that in all my blog reading about it the conference, I ran across someone who attended that just happened (as I found out) to live near me. I commented on her blog and and to make the story r-e-a-l-l-y short, this what transpired:


This my new friend, Valerie. She is so darling! We had the best time getting acquainted and sharing our love for our bestest friend, God . We met at a Mexican restaurant last evening at 6:00. Before we knew it, the place was pretty much emptied out and the staff was sweeping the floor and cleaning up -- it was closing time! Needless to say, we were not at a loss for words :) We then headed for our cars but talked about 10 or 15 minutes more in the parking lot!

Valerie has posted about last night, too. She went into more detail on her blog about our "conversation" that led to dinner . You can visit her blog and read about it by clicking here: http://valeriechris.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-new-blogging-friend.html

It's amazing how the family of God really feels like family! I do not have any biological sisters, but I have many sisters in Christ! And now.... a new one!

Note: Nope, I didn't bring my camera......again. I am going to have to carry one of my bigger purses that my camera will fit into. After all..... I BLOG, for heaven's sake! Second thought, maybe a NEW purse would be better:)

Anyway, have a great day. (Gustav is sending us rain today and for that we are thankful!)

Dummy!

That would be me-- dummy!

This weekend we (hubs and I ) were able to be reunited with a childhood friend. We haven't seen her in FOREVER. That's right, since high school. Back before the age of PC computers! (Did I really say that?)

We went to school together; she in second grade and I in first. She moved after that but she lived in the little town where my parents attended church. She came to our church and that's where we became friends. So much time has passed!

She came and spoke for us Sunday night at our 5th Sunday Potluck Fellowship. She had a liver transplant 21 months ago. She shared her story of how God worked several miracles during her wait and in receiving a new liver. Not only did she receive a liver transplant but she recieved a spiritual "heart" transplant as well. What a blessing it was to be with her again. We plan on keeping in touch and visiting as often as possible.

She looked absolutely great! But..... you'll never know, my bloggy friends, because dummy, here, did NOT TAKE ANY PICTURES! Now, you would think that a blogger would have her camera, wouldn't you? My only excuse is that it was Sunday I was cooking and transporting food to the church and did not think about a camera.

I'll do better next time :)

Friendship

Sunday I drove two hours to a surprise 35th wedding anniversary party of my best friend from high school. In fact, we went to school together from first through twelfth grade. She was certainly surprised and very surprised when she saw me standing there with the rest of her "in town" friends.

So many friendships were rekindled that day as the happy couple greeted and visited with many they had not seen in a while -- for some, it had many years. My friend and I share the kind of friendship that picks up right where it left off not matter how long it has been since we talked. We are the sister that each other never had. We each have older brothers: hers twelve years older and mine seven years older. We stay in touch and meet as often as we can.

After the party I went to their home so that we could visit one-on-one. Since it had been an afternoon of reminiscing with old friends, we did the same. It was the first time I had been in her home when all three of her sons and their families were there. She is truly the Princess -- maybe I should say Queen -- of the home. Her husband, children and grandchildren love her dearly. She is a blessed woman -- a Proverbs 31 woman. I would not be at all surprised if I heard them call her blessed.

Life hasn't always been easy for her. However, God has restored what Satan tried to completely destroy. She came through the trials with her dignity and her faith intact. She remained faithful to God and He has abundantly blessed her -- spiritually , physically and financially.

Each time I am around friends whom I am not privileged to live near, I am reminded that one day in Heaven there will be no more goodbyes. Relationships will be perfected -- no jealousy, envy, -- just love and joy.

Relationships -- that's what God is trying to teach us in His Word. That is the central theme throughout the Bible. It started in the garden, man messed it up. God gave the 10 Commandments to Moses, man failed again. Our world is in chaos due to messed up relationships. Homes, schools, work places even in some churches, relationships are in a crisis. Wars -- relationship failure -- when it gets right down to it, that's the problem.

King David asked for God to make him a clean heart and renew the right spirit within him, Psalm 51:10. We can only be responsible for ourselves and teach our children and grandchildren God's ways. But, if we each do our part, we can make a difference for the Kindgom.

I am blessed with sweet relationships in my life. True friendships cannot be bought, they come via time -- earned with love, loyalty and trust. I am so thankful for my friends. To my sweet life long friend, may you have many more years of happiness with your prince charming.