November in New England

Hello Friends!

Yes, again, it has been a while since I've blogged. I am sorry for my absence, but I have enjoyed reading all of your blogs, although I don't always comment on them.

The last time I posted I think I said how I had joined Weight Watchers. I have now lost 17 pounds and I'm starting to fit into a couple pieces of my old clothing. I actually have a pair of jeans that fit me now! It is not easy and it has been a lot of work to try and shed some weight, but I know that with God it is possible (and the only way I could do it).

My oldest daughter is enjoying college life and is doing well in her studies and making good choices for friends. She is still dating a young man that is in his senior year at the local Christian school here.

My boys are all doing well in school and enjoying some after school activities including band, art classes, chorus, etc. My two oldest boys are looking for jobs. My oldest son has an appointment to have the driving test to get his license in a couple of weeks.

When my daughter was 16 she was so cautious when she was driving...almost to the point that others would be raging because she would drive so slowly. My son, on the other hand, has quite a lead foot and I have told him that the whole time that he is driving he has a Cheshire Cat grin on his face...and he admits that he does too...I'll be doing a lot of praying when he is on his own in the car! Boys are SO different than girls!

I recently purchased a necklace with Caleb's name on it from a crafter from etsy.com http://www.etsy.com/listing/59617196/violet-in-the-snow-personalizes-and-hand What a beautiful piece of jewelry and not very expensive either.

My baby girl was in the hospital for five days recently with a staff infection. To make a long story short she was under a doctor's care for two days and I went to the doctor's again to have her "well check" at 12 months and she was not doing well. He, in so many words, told me to go straight to the hospital. Her temp at his office was 101.5 and by the time she was admitted an hour later it was 104! I wish I lived in a world where babies/children didn't die, but I know I do and it brought back memories of Caleb and I was very sad and scared at times. God drew me close and held me tight and we made it through, thank you God!

I have been scrapbooking like crazy lately. I have now made it, chronologically through Caleb's life and I am about two months past his death. It has been very therapeutic for me and I thank God for the continued healing.

I have read the BEST book since losing Caleb on trials...it is called Holding onto Hope by Nancy Guthrie. It is a must read for everyone! It is not a difficult book to read and if I can read it in a matter of two days, everyone can! I can't express how much I appreciated that author and her honesty and wisdom that only God can give.

I will try to post some pictures this week if I find the time. I want to get this post published before I lose the motivation lol!

My love to you all. With Hope, Cheryl

New Beginnings

I attended Weight Watchers this morning. It is the first time in a few years that I've gone. I have 20 plus pounds to lose and I can't wait to fit back into my clothes again.

I have been successful in the past at losing weight with Weight Watchers. I am praying for a repeat!

Bible study started up again and I went this morning. We reviewed part of Romans 9 this morning.

I also went to my youngest (living) son's lunch today at his school. I love to go and spend recess and/or lunch with my children when they attend elementary school. They are still so generous with hugs and kisses :)

Baby is sleeping and the kids will be home soon from school. Gorgeous day here in New England. Have a wonderful day!

With Hope,
Cheryl

School Rules!

Hello to all of my friends in blogland :)



My children are all in school as of yesterday, except for the baby, of course.



We brought my daughter to college on August 20th, as planned and, although it was a very difficult day, it went well overall. She is 1 1/2 hours away from us and is really enjoying college. She is calling less than I would like, but I think it is better this way then if she was calling all the time if she was lonely for example.



It was evidence again that life goes on after one of your children dies. The college didn't make "move-in" day the next day because our family lost one of our children on August 20th. Time keeps marching along, but my heart is still mourning little Caleb.



House is quiet. The baby is sleeping. She was awake later than usual because she wasn't feeling well yesterday. I have a million things to get done, but I wanted to try and write a blog entry because it has been more than a month since my last one.



I noticed that my youngest (living) son was asked yesterday on a "take-home" paper how many people were in his family. He had written down 9. Last year he was really saddened when they asked him to draw a picture of his family and he left out Caleb. I don't that he wanted to have to explain to anyone that he had a younger brother, but he had died. This year maybe a little healing has gone on because he included Caleb. Thank you God. Healing takes time. Some days I'm not sure that I've healed at all, other days I feel like I've come a long way.



Looking forward to some cooler New England weather.

9/3/2010

Just read an awesome book called "Holding on to Hope". It is about loss and suffering. As I was reading the book, I thought that I could have been the one to write it because she wrote just how I have felt through my trial. It was beautiful and spoke to me personally. The author is Nancy Guthrie and I highly recommend it for anyone, even though it speaks about child loss, it is written for any kind of loss/suffering. It is an easy read.

I am so excited to be able to get a little more housework done while the children are in school. It seems almost funny to enjoy scrubbing :)

I want to get back into my scrapbooking and I think that I will sign up for an all day crop this fall. I haven't spent any time away from my baby, who will be 1 in October. She is still nursing and has a lot of separation issues. I'm sure that my family will be able to care for her though and she will do fine...if she can't see me she tends not to cry as much...The minute she hears/sees me, then she cries! I think that I need that time with my friends and need to feel productive again with my albums. I miss my friends at times, so I will look forward to this.

I hope that you are all doing well. I love to read your posts and keep up with your families, etc.

I read a saying tonight...not sure who wrote it, but it said "If the mountain was smooth, you wouldn't be able to climb it"... pretty simple but profound statement...my life is a witness to that truth. I would never be as close to God if it hadn't been for the tragedy in my life.

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. John 16:33

With Love and Hope,
Cheryl

Seasons of Life

So many things going on here in my little part of the world.


God is good all the time and we do continue to be uplifted and supported by His love and mercy.


My husband and I have been doing well, although we did have a surprise awakening a few weeks ago. I woke to use the bathroom on July 7th to the sickening smell of heating oil permeating our entire house. I quickly woke my husband and we went running down into the basement to wade into a huge puddle of oil everywhere. Our full tank of heating oil had sprung a leak and was squirting oil. My husband, who is quite talented at many things, sprung into action, cut a piece of a bike tire tube and retrieved a huge magnet and put the tire tube on the leak and then stuck the magnet over it. Voila...leak solved, but what to do with the gallons of oil on our basement floor?



I called the fire department and a couple from our church. We had help within a short amount of time and finally, almost three weeks after the incident, the oil smell is surprisingly gone, in part due to the great cleanup that everyone helped my husband with and the repainting of the basement floor. We were thankful that more oil didn't leak so that there was no danger of environmental pollution.

We will bring our daughter to college on August 20th...the same day that Caleb died two years ago. You realize how much you really love these children when you "lose" them (so to speak)...sometimes only to camp or college for a time, but sometimes to Heaven. Psalm 10:17 “You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry.”

Our oldest son has been a junior counselor at a Christian camp for a month. He is able to come home on Saturday nights, but then goes back for a week at a time. He has recently started to have pain from his wisdom teeth and will have them removed earlier than expected. He was originally scheduled to have them out on August 6th, but the date was moved up because of his pain. He will have them extracted on Thursday morning. I heard that the pain following surgery is pretty severe, so if God puts it on your heart, please pray.

My next to the oldest son will go away to Teen Week during the first week of August at the same camp that my other son was a junior counselor at during July. He has been doing some dog walking for a neighbor and is really helpful around the house.

My third oldest son turned 12 years old today...Happy Birthday sweet boy! He brings lots of joy and passion into our family. He is a live wire! Thank you God for the gift of his life!

My fourth son is doing well and is growing by leaps and bounds. He still loves to snuggle and is constantly wanting me to hug him (which I love to do!).

My baby is now 9 months old and is pulling up and standing next to things. She is such a cutie and commands a lot of attention...must be those eyes :) When my oldest daughter moves out, the baby will go into her room. I will miss having the crib in my room and wonder how anxious I will be when she isn't as close to me. Caleb died when he was in his crib in a room adjacent to ours. The fear has never gone away, and I doubt it never will.

The days leading up to the anniversary of Caleb's death are difficult. I will never look at the season of summer again the same way. It was the last season that Caleb was alive.

We are going to be going on vacation for a week in August and we will be going to the beach. Oh how I wish that Caleb was with us to enjoy the first actual week away as a family that we have ever had. It is frustrating for me to focus so much on the loss of Caleb when I have other beloved children here that God has allowed me to mother. I try not to let my emotions take over too often, especially when the children are around.

I am starting a new season in life...the guiding the children out the door season. I will miss my dear daughter...the hugs, the texting lol, the long showers, the love of shared scrapbooking, shopping times, sneaking candy at night, the smell of your perfume and hair products, the jewelry all over the house, the late morning wake ups, the flip flops everywhere, the hair that you leave in the drain every day, the singing that you do monthly in front of our church, the concerts that you play your flute and sing solos at school, seeing you drive the 1992 Volvo station wagon around town, stopping by with your brothers and seeing you behind the library desk, birthday parties on the deck, I could go on forever...you will be sorely missed. I love you and please know that you are always in my heart and prayers.

Love to you all out there in blogland. ((hugs))
With Hope,
Cheryl

Wordless Wednesday

Finally a Post!

Hello Friends!



I am sitting here tonight while my children and hubby are in bed sleeping. It is quiet and I thought that I would write a short post so that I could catch up a bit on what has been going on in my life lately.



My life has been blessed with many school activities for the children, as well as caring for my now 7 month old baby girl, as well as the five other children.



My daughter, who only has one week left of school, will be graduating in a few short weeks. We recently found out for sure that she is going to be valdictorian of her class. We are so proud of her and the work that she has been able to accomplish, especially after the death of her beloved brother. She has lots of perseverance and focus and has done beautifully. I am already starting to miss her and she is still going to be here until August 20th.



I am wondering why God arranged it so that the date that she is scheduled to start college is the same date that our little Caleb died two years ago. The date itself is painful to even write and now this year I will be saying "goodbye" to another one of my children. I know that it isn't the same as when someone dies, but it is a loss none-the-less and I will mourn the loss of her presence in our home.



She has been a delight and truth be told, she was the only other female in the house until dear Elisabeth was born 7 months ago...with a husband and five boys it was a joy to have another female to "stick-together" with :)



I have been reading a couple of books, really a feat in itself because I'm not a reader, by the author Sharon Jaynes. One of the books is called The Power of a Woman's Words and the other one is called Great Mother, Great Children. I would highly recommend both of the books. I have learned so much from both of them. I think that I am happier already and so are my children/hubby. If you pick them up, please tell me what you think.



I have been using my food processor more than I ever thought that I would. Meals have been made so much quicker and easier because of it, that I can't believe it sat in my cupboard for years without being used!



The baby is still not sleeping great, and therefore, neither am I. It is fleeting though and I know it won't last forever. I still worry every night about her breathing and whether or not I will wake up and find that she has died. I don't think that will ever change.



She looks at pictures of Caleb and smiles and coos. When Caleb died one of the things I missed the most was being able to look into his eyes and see "him". I can't tell you how much it means to look into my children's eyes now. I try not to take it for granted.



On a lighter note I have visited the doctor for several things lately with the children...my youngest (living) son ran into a pole at school and got about 7 stitches in his forehead. My next oldest son broke his finger when he jammed it into the couch. My youngest (living) son found a tick embedded in his skin and had to get it removed by the doctor it was so deep (we found two more within a week of finding that one in his skin). My oldest daughter has been sick and I took her to see if she had mono yesterday. She doesn't, luckilly!...all this and it isn't even summer yet :)

I enjoy reading all of your posts and lately have not been good about commenting, but know that I do think about you all.

Love to each of you,
Cheryl

Elisabeth's First Taste of Food

I really don't know what I'm in for...

I'm willing to try it...

What in the world is it?

I'm really not sure that I like it...

Maybe they won't notice if I turn my head and spit it out...

No more PLEASE! The horror of it all!

Maybe it is not all bad after all...

I love you, my Elisabeth,...now six months old. xoxox Mommy

Ants, Ants and More Ants!

My two youngest (I don't like to say that because my youngest boy is actually in Heaven...but I mean the two youngest living boys) boys received ant farms for Christmas. Their shipment of ants finally arrived in the mail yesterday. They were ecstatic, to say the least. I helped them by emptying the vials of ants into their ant farms. They were so excited.

A short time later, when I opened up the door at the bottom of the stairs to yell up to them "giving them the five minute warning that supper was almost ready", I heard them both crying. When my youngest son came out of the room I inquired as to why he would be crying..."What happened?" He went back into the room and I quickly went up the stairs to see what was going on.

I looked at the floor in their room, and much to my surprise I saw ANTS EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!! They had "by accident" opened up the farm and left the cover off!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, I brought the baby into my room and put her on my bed, called my youngest son to come and watch her...he was still sobbing...I called my second oldest boy out of his room (he didn't know yet what was going on) and asked him to help me catch the little lovely creatures!

We proceeded to try and pick up these aggressive ants and put them back into their "home". My son (second youngest), who was still in his bedroom, was still sobbing and now...just to add more drama, the ants proceeded to crawl up inside his pajamas and start to bite him!!!!!!!!!! I told him to strip his clothes off of his body so that the ants would stop crawling/biting on him.

I'm not sure how many of these aggressive ants that are now roaming out house, but we survived the night last night without a bite...thank you God! What a nightmare!

I tried to upload a couple pictures of the labels that were included with the ants, but am having problems...so this is what they said...

1. Caution! Ants Bite! NEVER handle ants with your bare hands or allow them to come in contact with skin! Some ants sting, others bite, and some will spray formic acid...

2. State laws prohibit the release of ants into the environment.

just lovely...BOYS!

Oh no!

I'm back! :) Hello friends! You are the best! Thanks for your notes of concern and comfort. I appreciate you thinking of me.

I have been in kind of a slump. I am trying to lean on God and depend on Him for everything I need. I am trying to focus on all things eternal..ie: things that really matter in the long run. That is so difficult to do when you live in the "world".

I have also been very busy with kids, matters of the house, Bible studies and also a couple of deaths...sadlly my Aunt Bin died of brain cancer and a local man of 26 years died when his car got tangled up in a tree.

What the kids and I have been up to:

I have just sent out letters to the two colleges that my daughter applied and was accepted at asking for additional sources of scholarships, etc. I can't believe how much colleges are per year! The two that my daughter is interested in are $40,000 and $50,000! She is a bright girl and we have been awarded apparently generous scholarships, but they still leave at least half of the tuition, etc. to be paid for by us...that is like a mortgage payment after four years of college with inflation figured in...and we have five more children to go! We have told her that she is going to end up being responsible for most of the debt. We have asked her to keep that in mind when she is deciding where she wants to go.

I know that all money is God's money and if he leads her to go to a specific college, then that is where he wants His money to go. I will trust in Him.

Just went shopping with my daughter tonight and she picked out her prom dress. I am so happy that she is going with a nice young man. She had a great friend go with her last year, but this year I think she is falling in love. :) I can't explain how good it makes me feel to see her with a boy from a wonderful Christian family. His family was there for us when Caleb died and actually allowed my in laws to stay at their place overnight when the services were taking place. On the first day of school, which happened to be the day after Caleb's funeral the mom, of the boy who is going with my daughter to the prom, called me up and got all of the lists that the school provided with all of the supplies that my children needed. She and her husband showed up on our doorstep a few hours later with half of the "Staples" store. They have been a blessing.

My oldest son is the stage manager for the production GREASE this weekend. He is doing a great job and I see his "dad" coming out in him more and more lately. He is really showing his leadership abilities and that is wonderful. He is getting the respect he needs from the people that are on the crew and the job is getting done beautifully. I can't wait to see the production.

My second son is excelling in school and is happy to report that next year when he enters high school he has all honors classes. He volunteers at the local library two nights a week and keeps challenging us with difficult trivia questions that he thinks up himself. He is the fact man who knows a lot of information about many things.

My third son is also excelling at school and is extremely motivated regarding schoolwork...at least while he is in school...at home all he wants to do is read (see earlier post :) He has taken up the winter sport of floor hockey at the middle school and loves it. They won their first game today---YEAH!

My fourth son is a such a joy (as they all are really). He is younger though (8 years old) and still loves and gives hugs freely. Still waves to me from the school bus and tell me how much he loves me and how much God loves me :) Still wants me (and I do) to go into school and sit with him at lunch and go out on the playground with him for recess.

My fifth son Caleb is enjoying the Heavenly Realm...love you buddy! Can't wait to see you again!

My second daughter is doing beautifully at five months of age. She is babbling a lot and drooling up a storm. She is starting to be able to entertain herself for a few minutes by playing with her toys...even picking them up. She is large for her age at 16.4 pounds when she was four months old. She is in the 95% for weight and 95% for height and 75% for head size lol!

Trennia asked at "Still Serving Him Through the Storm" blog about whether or not others have said things to you that are hurtful if you have lost a child.

Things have been said...and some to me, that aren't well thought out by the person saying them. I know that anyone is capable of saying things that unintentionally hurt the receiver of the comment, even if the person saying it has lost a child. I think that sometimes people try to minimize the loss of the child by what they say...sometimes to try and protect their feelings or the feelings of the person who has lost a child or to bring the focus back on them if they are prideful.

I have always been able to forgive the people for saying things that have hurt me. I don't think that anything that has been said to me was ever to intentionally hurt me. I remember when I first lost Caleb...and even still now 1 1/2 years later...people look at me in the grocery store and seem to avoid me. They don't know what to say. I don't blame them. I don't know what I would say/do in that situation.

I know that I put my foot in my mouth way too many times. I am so sorry for anything that I've said to people that has hurt them and I am sorry to others who have had hurtful things said to them.

When you are grieving you are so much more vulnerable to comments. You are emotionally fragile and things tend to be magnified....at least I know they are for me. My brain is still in a fog and it is 19 months after Caleb died. I don't even know what month it is most of the time. I don't know when it will get better, but I know that I can rest in God and He is my refuge and my strength and my strongtower. "My God is bigger because I need him more"as told by...Joni Tada Erikson I've never been closer to God...and have never needed him more.

I love reading all of your blogs and although I haven't been commenting a whole lot, please keep them coming. I enjoy finding out about your families and your trials too.

Love to all of you,

With love and hope,

Cheryl

Three Years Ago...

Caleb was born.

I have had a difficult week. It has been sprinkled with tears of the memories of my cute little mischievous boy and the truth that he is no longer with us.

Miss you so much little one. **tears** I'm glad that I didn't know at the time that you would only have one birthday. You have made such a difference in our lives. We love you and know that we will see you again in Heaven.

This is a "must-watch" for anyone going through a trial that seems overwhelming at times: http://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/holiness_00_national/a-bruised-reed/

It is Joni Eareckson Tada. You will be inspired.

Eagerly awaiting Heaven...Love you! Mommy

My Cork Board

This may not look like much to someone else, but to me, it is a huge part of my world...my (immediate) family on my cork board in front of where I sit at the computer. I am so happy to have finally organized it and placed the pictures of my family on it. Everytime I look at it now I am reminded of them and I will pray for each of them. I thank God for each of them and pray to God that we all will be together in Heaven some day.

Caleb's birthday (my son who is in Heaven) is on Friday and I have a lot on my mind these days. My Aunt, who shares the same birthday as my husband and I is dying of brain cancer and as of yesterday they gave her two weeks to live. She is my mom's only sister and although she is fifteen years older than my mom, they are best friends.

James 5:16b
The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Please keep my in your prayers as Caleb's birthday approaches. It is such a sad time for me.

---------------------------------------------------

God is wonderful in how he orchestrates things. Caleb's birthday is shortly after February school vacation and his birthday into Heaven is during school's summer vacation. If my children weren't around I think that I would be curled up in a fetal position on the couch. It is probably a really good thing that I am surrounded by children during these difficult and dark times.

I had minor surgery a week and a half ago on my eyelids to remove some cysts that developed over the last year and a half. I also twisted my foot last week to the point that shortly after it happened I crawled around on my hands and knees for the rest of the night...even crawling up/down the stairs! I was laughing so hard...it was either laugh or cry.

My oldest son said to me (because my baby had her four month check up the following day), "What is the pediatrician going to think...you have two black eyes and you are going to be limping?". What a mess I was. I actually told the doctor about my surgery at the end of the baby's checkup and I think that he was relieved that I explained about my eyes. I can just imagine what he was thinking!

I am hoping to continue to feel motivated. I need to lose some weight and hope that the weather gets warmer soon. Maybe the baby will enjoy walks in the spring :)

My love to all of you and your families,
With hope,
Cheryl

RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME

Thank you Trennia (http://stillservinghimthroughthestorm.blogspot.com) for these questions and here are my answers:

1. How old will you be in five years? 47 years old


2. Who did you spend at least two hours with today? My husband and six living children


3. How tall are you? 5 feet 3 inches tall


4. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks? I look forward to getting a lot of college paperwork and scholarship applications, etc. out of the way. My oldest daughter, my first born, will be leaving for college in August.

5. What’s the last movie you saw at the theater? Ink Heart. It was free at the movie theater this past summer.

6. Who was the last person you called? The last person that I called was my mother to find out about my Aunt Bin who has brain cancer.

7. Who was the last person to call you? The last person to call me was my friend Sherry...my friend who never made it to the hospital and ended up having her second baby at home, when I was there with her and her husband in 1994.

8. What was the last text message you received? The last text message I received was from my daughter saying that she was going to a basketball game.

9. Who was the last person to leave you a voicemail? The last person to leave me a voicemail was my friend Sherry (see question #7)

10. Do you prefer to call or text? I like both...

11. What were you doing at 12am last night? I was crawling into bed at 12 last night.

12. Are your parents married/separated/divorced? My parents and my husband's parents are still married to each other.

13. When is the last time you saw your mom? I saw my parents and my husband's parents on Monday of this week.

14. What color are your eyes? brown

15. What time did you wake up today? I woke up around 7:00, I believe.

16. What are you wearing right now? Maternity pants (still--ugh--can't fit into my regular ones!) and a red shirt with slippers :)

17. What is your favorite Christmas song? I love most of the Christian Christmas songs...don't have a favorite that I can think of.

18. Where is your favorite place to be? My favorite place to be would be with my husband and children.

19. Where is your least favorite place to be? I agree with Trennia...where there is conflict.

20. Where would you go if you could go anywhere? I can't wait to go to Heaven, but here on earth I'd have to say the ocean.

21. Where do you think you’ll be in 10 years? At the age of 52 my youngest will be in 4th grade I believe and my oldest will be 28. I will hopefully have some married children and possibly some grandbabies :)

22. Do you tan or burn? I burn!

23. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child? Something outside was lurking.

24. What was the last thing that really made you laugh? Hearing my four month old baby belly laugh...priceless!

25. How many TVs do you have in your house? five--yikes! We do limit tv though...no tv at all during the week and limited on weekends. We have a lot of older tvs for the kids to play electronics on the weekends...although that time is limited too.

26. How big is your bed? Our bed is Queen sized.

27. Do you have a laptop or desktop computer? I have a desktop computer. My husband just bought me a lighted up keyboard that has silent keys--LOVE IT!!!!

28. What color are your sheets? I think that they are light blue flannel with snowmen on them :)

29. How many pillows do you sleep with? I sleep with three pillows.

30. What is your favorite season? My favorite season is Autumn.

31. What do you like about Autumn? I love our New England foliage.

32. What do you like about winter? I love the way everything looks with a fresh coat of snow.

Passing of Time

I realized that this month marks 17 months since Caleb died. He was 17 months old when he died. He will now have been in Heaven longer than he was breathing here on earth. How can it be?

Idols

I'm not talking about American Idol...I'm talking about my children's idols---BOOKS!

Did you ever hear a mother tell her children that their books were becomming idols? I did this afternoon. Sounds crazy, yes?! Two of my boys (aged 15 and 11) are reading the same series and each have their own books from that series from two different libraries (public and school). They are competing to see who can read the fastest and are constantly fighting about the books and to the point that they are getting into fights about them on the bus (poking not hitting--yet).

They could care less about anything other than their books. The house could be burning down and they wouldn't care (probably a slight exaggeration). Oh well, I know...things could be worse, but believe me, until you've walked in my shoes, you will never understand :0

Scrapbooking Dreams

I often think about scrapbooking, about what I should crop, what events I should be journaling, about what pictures I should be using, about the fact that my daughter is going to be graduating this year and I always planned to have her album done as a gift for her graduation (but it has a loooooooong way to go), about all the baby pictures I'm taking that are going to need to be placed in an album...

And then I remember that my life doesn't have time for my scrapbooking hobby right now. I have a baby to be nurtured and that time is so short and sweet, that I need to enjoy my baby now before she is all grown up. The pictures aren't going anywhere and I know, soon enough I will be able to crop again...but for now I will pause for a bit.

Do any of my blogging friends out there scrapbook? Any pages that are special to you that you would enjoy sharing? I will try and think of some pages that I would like to share with you and make a post about them.

I'm also trying to do a small managable job of trying to decorate the cork board that hangs above my desk. I actually use a couple of file cabinets and a desktop that my husband made for me to place on top of them as a desk. I never really thought about it, but I spend enough of my "moments in between" at my desk and thought it would be wonderful if my board would reflect "me". I will also try and post a picture of that when I'm done. It might be 2014 before it actually happens, but I'm hoping it will be sooner :)

With love and hope,
Cheryl

January Thoughts and Things

It has been a while since I've blogged so I thought that I would reconnect with everyone.

A friend from church, who is like a grandmother to my children (my parents and in-laws all live about 2 hours away from us) made a gorgeous quilt for little Elisabeth. I thought I would share it with all of you. I can't imagine how long it took her to make it. My friend recently lost her husband...today is actually the 1st anniversary of the death of her husband. She has been such a blessing to me and my family.

Caleb only experienced one winter...he was born in February of 2007 so he never really experienced that winter and he died in August of 2008 so I thought that I would post a couple of pictures of him looking out the window at his daddy snowblowing our sidewalk. I never knew that he would never get the chance to help his daddy clear the driveway or the sidewalk.

What I wouldn't do to have those fingerprints still on my windows.

I used to work with a girl from my hometown over 20 years ago. We have been friends ever since. She moved away to Florida about 20 years ago and I moved here about 15 years ago. She had never seen my home until she visited me on Monday. What a blessing her visit was. Her daughter died at the age of 29 years old from cancer last year.

Although I would never wish the death of a child on anyone, I am thankful that we can support each other in our struggles. She is a strong Christian, which is always a wonderful gift, but even more importantly when your world as you know it comes tumbling down around you.

I received a cute poem from a griefshare email group I belong to and I thought I'd share it with you. It can pertain to most any trial.

Lessons From an Oyster
Author - Unknown

There once was an oyster
Whose story I tell,
Who found that some sand
Had got into his shell.
It was only a grain,
but it gave him great pain.
For oysters have feelings
Although they're so plain.
Now, did he berate
the harsh workings of fate (although I really don't believe in fate)
That had brought him
To such a deplorable state?
Did he curse at the government,
Cry for election,
And claim that the sea should
Have given him protection?
'No,' he said to himself
As he lay on a shell,
Since I cannot remove it,
I shall try to improve it.
Now the years have rolled around,
As the years always do,
And he came to his ultimate
Destiny ­ stew.
And the small grain of sand
That had bothered him so
Was a beautiful pearl
All richly aglow.
Now the tale has a moral,
for isn't it grand
What an oyster can do
With a morsel of sand?
What couldn't we do
If we'd only begin
With some of the things
That get under our skin.

My mom just told me that she donated money to a charity that repairs children's mouths in poor countries that have cleft pallets. She and my father donated enough for the doctor's to repair one child's "SMILE". I am so touched by that. They did it in memory of Caleb. Good things do come out of horrible situations. I just have to remember to focus on the good.

My love to you and your families,

With love and hope and hugs,

Cheryl