40 is just a number...unless of course it's YOUR number!

I turn 40 today. I know, try to contain your shock. You thought I was only 29....(I can fantasize if I want to; it's MY birthday!) The number doesn't seem to bother me all that much; after all, it's just a number. But there is something about the passing of a decade of years you have lived that makes you look back on your life - and look ahead. I will never be in my 30's again.....ok, that moment of reflection has passed. Moving on. Looking back on my life I can honestly say I have few regrets. Sure, there are things I would have done differently. But if I went back to do some things over, and all the circumstances of that time still remained the same, I still would make the same choice. There are a few things I would like to go back and tell the girl of my youth though. To that 7 year old girl out in the front yard pretending to direct a "photo shoot" with all her friends doing action shots, I would whisper to always keep that imagination and love of life. Your bossy spirit will come in handy one day when you're trying to coax a 2 year old to go potty for the first time (the imagination part will help a lot too). To the insecure 12 year old whose heart is broken over girls she thought were her friends, I would tell to be strong. God has better friends in mind for you and is getting rid of these nasty girls for something much better. Friends that you will greatly need in the months to come that you can't foresee right now. To the 15 year old young lady who is complaining about her hair and her weight and her....wait, I still do that. I still would tell her to knock it off and enjoy the body God gave her.....like I am telling myself right now. It just gets worse as time goes by! To the 17 year old high school student who fell in love, I would tell her to not worry. The man you love who is going off to college is still going to be in love with you 23 years later. He still will be treating you like a princess and you still will be feeling you don't deserve him. And you will love him more in the future than you ever thought possible in high school. To the 26 year old who can't pull herself off the floor after the devastation of losing her dad, I would say to keep crying.....and that it really will be ok. God will show you He is still with you and your family. Through the tears and the grief and the anger at God, you will come to know Him in a way you never did before. God will bring joy back into your family. He hasn't left you, even though you feel so alone today. To the 30 year old who is ready to give up hope of ever being a mom I would say hang on! These boys are coming, and they are loud, and fun, and tiring and totally awesome. If I had to do these years over again I would have stressed less and prayed a lot more. I would worried less about what other people wanted me to do, and searched more of what God wanted me to do. I would have hugged my dad a lot. An awful lot. God has been so good to me. He has blessed me with a family I love and true friends I adore beyond words. I am reminded of the words the Lord spoke to me years ago. As I was putting together a scrapbook of my father to give to my son, the Lord whispered in my ear "Sherri, look at this wonderful life I gave your father. You have been focusing on his death; I want you to focus on his life". What beautiful words to change someones life. He did that for me that day. So today I am focusing on this great life God has given me so far. My prayer for this year is that I enjoy the life God has given me. May he challenge me in ways that make me depend only on Him. May he continue to bless our family and show his face to us each and every day. And may I continually strive to glorify him in all I do and think and all I say. Thank you Lord for 40 wonderful years. You are awesome and I love you. "The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever—do not abandon the works of your hands." Psalm 138:8

Puzzle-mania!

My four year old has gotten the "puzzle bug". It's all consuming and time consuming. It all started when his grandma bought him a glow-in-the-dark puzzle from the dollar bin at Target. He put it together in no time flat and was hooked. In the last week, we have had to buy him no less than 3 more puzzles (not including the free one from Wendy's). He is starting now to take them apart and put them back together again! And of course, we can't put them away. We are running out of table space!

I'm glad he loves puzzles. It's so much better for him than Nintendo (again, an addicting game!). He's pretty proud of himself when he is done and ready to move on to the next one. I always remember our preschool director saying she can tell the kids who worked on puzzles as a child.......I hope Jason is one of them!

Food, beautiful food

I love food. I'll admit it. I love it more than my children some days. Food doesn't talk back, always makes me happy, and doesn't make a mess (if you order take out!). Of course, this also explains my weight, but that's another issue for another day. Today, we're focused on food.

We had the great privilege to eat at The Lady and Son's in Savannah and it was delicious. First, before you eat, they bring out these delicious cheese biscuits on top of a Ho cake. The Ho cake is basically cornbread in the shape of a pancake and tastes great with syrup. Yummy! I could have eaten these all day long.

We decided to order the buffet for lunch, which consisted of 2 types of chicken, pork, and a ton of veggies including her famous mac and cheese.

This is what my plate looked like when I got back to the table. What was hysterical to me was that there was a salad bar. Really?! A salad bar at Paula Deen's? Who the heck would eat that? Not me - what a waste of stomach space.

Gosh just looking at that picture makes me hungry. I love the Cracker Barrel, but now it has lessened in my mind after this lovely food!

Next was dessert. My friends surprised me and had a waiter sing Happy Birthday to me while bringing out the Ooey, Gooey Butter cake! That was fun (and embarrassing!) I also got another dessert that came with my meal in banana pudding. Gosh it was all delightful and we needed naps after it. But it was a great place to stuff yourself after a great morning of running. I love that place. I truly do!

Ok, so here it is, the highlight of the weekend for me!

As his mamma, Paula Deen would say, "Aint he purty y'all?" Oh, my word Jamie Deen is so cute! That's him with me right before the race (thank God it was before because he wouldn't have come within 10 feet of my stinkin' body after). And yes, he has his hand on my shoulder. Could I look any happier? I mean really! No wonder I was struggling the whole race - my heart started racing before the gun went off - I mean, wouldn't yours? Here's how it went down. I spotted Michael, Paula's husband, right beside the stage before the race. Now I wouldn't have known it was him, except that Paula was doing the opening ceremony and being perceptive as I am (as my friend Dawn tells me) I put two and two together. Then I saw Jamie and Bobby Deen next to him. Well, if I had been by myself there would be no picture, as I am a big enough chicken to be fried at KFC. However, because Nancy was with me (and things always get done when Nancy is around), she piped up and said "Let's ask him for a picture!" 'Nuff said! Now unfortunately for the picture of our group with Michael, it was somehow not taken as a picture, but as a movie. We asked some old lady (who shall remain nameless because I don't know her name, but if you look at the picture, right next to Jamie's hand on my shoulder - she is the culprit). She obviously had never seen a camera before and pressed the wrong button. Nevertheless, thanks to my sweet friends, I have the picture of a lifetime. He was gracious and kind to all of us, as was Paula's husband Michael. Honestly, I could have sat down right there and waited for my friends to finish the race because my day had been made!

More pictures to come tomorrow of The Lady and Sons restaurant, which thanks to my new friend August, we were fortunate enough to get into. You won't believe the pictures - they will have you drooling!

5k - I did it!

I just completed my first 5k in Savannah this weekend and am so excited that I finished! I ran the inaugural race of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Savannah Georgia along with 3,000 other people (including walkers). I finished in 35 minutes without stopping - I ran the whole thing! That was the goal....not a certain time.....just to finish without stopping; without dying. I accomplished both, which I wanted to do before age 40 (3 weeks away), and now I can cross that off the list.

I have lots to say about this amazing trip and the great women I went with: Dawn, Christy and Nancy. You just can't pray for better friends than these girls. I will post more in the coming days.....including the one thing that topped crossing the finish line for me that occurred before the race. My heart almost stopped before the horn blew when this happened....more to come!

I am so thankful I ran it; so thankful I didn't die; so inspired by the survivors of this horrible disease. I pray what took place this weekend will save many women from having to live, and survive, breast cancer. More to come tomorrow!

Friday Funnies

Since I am on my way to Savannah to run in a 5k, I thought I would post these while I am gone. Have a great weekend! Funny things heard around our house this week: David has been raising funds for his school and was calling his grandmother to ask for a dollar donation for each lap he would run. He already got $20 from someone else, which, unfortunately for him, he thought was the amount to get a scooter in prizes. In order to get the scooter he needed to raise $20 a LAP - not total. So not knowing this information, he calls his grandmother and asks for a donation. She said "will $30 be enough?". His reply "Oh no grandma, you don't need to spend that much, I already got $20 from someone else." Jason responding to me calling him today "Yes, Mother. Mother of Pearl". Wonder where he heard that? Jason praying for one of his friends who got into trouble today at school "Dear God, please help Zachary to learn to be kind. Thank you for giving us sins. Amen." Needless to say this prompted a long discussion on sin and that God does not give us sins but FORgives us of sins.

MOPS Revisited

I had a great opportunity last night to spend some times with my MOPS girls again. My how I have missed them! I was asked to share my testimony on how MOPS affected my life to the girls, along with my friends Nancy, Kristina, and Jen. It was amazing to me how the Lord moved in all our lives through MOPS. I was especially thankful that my sister-in-law came to her first MOPS meeting with me last night. The Lord had been laying on her heart to start a group for her church, and she felt last night's meeting was made by the Lord just for her. She left more excited than ever about starting a group! As I had been frantically working on my testimony the last few weeks, the Lord again used my experience with MOPS to do a work in me. As when I took over as Coordinator for MOPS and felt completely over my head and out of control (not good for a type-A person like me), I today am feeling that way - only on a lesser level. Not knowing what the future may bring, and feeling a little cramped in this apartment, along with other everyday stresses have left me feeling hopeless some days. I again turned to my normal comfort zones for happiness: food, wine, chocolate, vegging out in front of the tv, etc. It has not been good for me and my mental health on most days. But as I was writing my testimony that I would speak to these ladies, the Lord whispered in my ear "why aren't you turning to me now like you did back then?" I couldn't read the words "I know I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me" without feeling a pang in my heart that I wasn't really living it. Did I really believe what I was writing? I did back then, when I felt to desperate for his help and his love and his comfort. But what about now? Somewhere between last May when I "retired" from my position, to today, I had lost the intimate connection I had with my loving Father. The only answer I have for that loss is that I didn't need him as much. I was back to the day in, day out of everyday life and I said to myself "thanks Lord. You were really there for me in my time of need, but I can take it from here. This is boring, easy stuff. You can have a seat over there for now." I still had my quiet time, but not the on-my-knees, "please help me Lord" desperation I had back then. I suppose it's human nature to only cry out to the Lord in desperate times, but why? Why do I ever presume I can carry on with my life without his presence? The Lord has shown me once again this week that I can do nothing apart from him. If I try to do the basic things without his help, I will fail. My marriage will suffer; my family will suffer; I will suffer - and I have. He has shown me, through my own written testimony, that he wants to be the center of my life. He wants me to come to him with everything - life altering or not. I am grateful once again that he used MOPS to draw me closer to him and show me the way.