16 and 1/2 years ago ... A Great Blast from the Past!

Dave is cleaning closets and cupboards today upstairs
and he came across a pack of pictures in the television armoire in our bedroom.

What a delightful set of memories ... this is from family trip that we took in May 1991
to cousin Jeni's high school graduation in Alamogordo.
Ryan and Drew were so young, and so cute, and so precious, and so fun.
So enough words ~ here we go with the pix!

This first set of pictures is from the Royal Gorge area ...
We walked across the bridge, took the little train, and fed the deer ...

This is Humpty Dumpty ...
I can't recall if was off the back of this sculpture that Ryan fell or a different one on a different trip,
but in either event, he sure was a happy camper up so high...
We stopped at Blue Mesa of the Gunnison - my 3 guys were in absolute heaven
being able to throw as many rocks as far as they wanted for as long as they could...
they had a rockin' ball...
We crossed over into New Mexico...
And stopped at the Children's Museum in Santa Fe (or was it Albuquerque?) ...
And the boys played in a wading pool that Aunt Cris bought for the boys
(they should thank me for the other pictures that I did not post here :) ...
Jeni's graduation! With our family ...

Uncle Dennis and Aunt Cris celebrate their 2nd graduate ...

Char & Grandpa came from San Diego, too ...
And then we headed back home after a great trip ... Hasta La Vista baby!!

Merry Christmas !!!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours !!!

Our family picture was taken on a great family trip to Penn State ...

Dave and Sherrie ... We continue to immerse ourselves in the love of God, family & friends ... it's precious growing older together and continuing this amazing journey of creation and discovery. Our days are filled with work and laughter, love and challenge, growth and stability. We have been camping and boating in the summer and skiing now that the mountains are blanketed in snow. Having adult children is a new joy and having young children a great blessing. We love our 'hood and hanging with our neighbors. Serving others brings us purpose, laughs, and delight. Our strive is for balance, to love lots, and be good role models for those around. We're far from perfect, and because of Jesus we relish knowing that's okay:) This picture was taken this Spring in our backyard by one of the students in our Wednesday night teen youth group that we love to host. I also serve on the Global Board of International Bible Society-Send the Light, the Advisory Council of Grace Counseling Center, various leadership positions at Grace Chapel, and have just rotated off of China Partner's board after 7 years of service.

Ryan ... After two months in Kenya serving the Lord and his people in the slum and bush, Ryan returned for his sophomore year at the University of Colorado to live in the Annex Christian-ministry house. He and his darling Kelli have been dating 4 years now (can that really be true!?) and we love having lunch with them each week in Boulder. We also enjoyed having Kelli with us for a couple of great trips this summer (Lake McConaughy & Lake Powell). Ryan is working at Tokyo Joe's in the kitchen and has been invited to serve as a resident assistant at the house next semester (free rent - woo hoo!). After thinking engineering, engineering, engineering for quite some time, he's now exploring a major in astrophysics while Kelli is majoring in accounting. Ping-pong and football are Ryan's pleasures at the moment and I don't think I've ever seen him as truly happy as he's been this past semester. This picture was taken at DIA when Ryan returned home from Africa in August :)

Drew ... Our 2007 graduate enjoyed a great summer of work and fun and started this Fall at Metropolitan State College with a major in Business Management. Drew was blessed again with another promotion (Technology Specialist) at Office Max and has done a great job balancing work and school, although he found that he greatly missed the social connections with his high school friends as they scattered for college. He and his precious Brittany have been dating 2 years and Brit is attending the University of Denver with a pre-med emphasis. It's a great joy when their schedules allow them to join us for camping and snowboarding. Drew is moving downtown to campus this next month and I found myself tearing up the other day as I was pondering our second one flying from the nest, but yet we are so excited as he takes this next step in his journey. With his natural people skills, quick mind, and willingness to help, Drew was recently invited to start a training program with Citigroup's financial services division which he is looking forward to beginning next month. It will be a great adventure seeing where it may lead.

Trey ... is growing and growing, having surpassed his momma in height this past couple of months! He is finding 8th grade easy (too easy in our opinion :) and is enjoying the company of his brothers and his many friends. At home, he loves on his puppy Haley and enjoys computer games; watching DVD television series with his parents; and lots of airsoft, trampolines, bikes, ping pong, and basketball with friends. Away from home he enjoys the opportunities to roller blade, camp, boat, tube, and snowboard with family and friends. He's a hard worker and a natural at many things. This summer he served the Lord on a mission trip to Alamosa, Colorado and he's looking forward to graduating in May from the Junior High to the High School youth group. Still a lover of climbing, this picture was taken on Aunt Cris & Uncle Charlie's golf course in New Mexico on a very cool tree sculpture on the 7th hole.

Sean ... What a joy our littlest goofball is. Sean is in the midst of 5th grade and working hard and diligently at his many successes in school. It's hard to capture in words his sense of humor, but hardly a day goes by when something that pops out of his mouth doesn't put Dave and I in belly-rolls. Sean's greatest joys in life are family and friends ~ and after homework, rarely a day goes by that is not filled with lots of time and activity with both. He has a knack of leading with love and demonstrates respect and care for others. He's a great skateboarder, snowboarder, and water skier ... but better than all of that is how he lights up the place with fun and vitality.

Our Prayer for Your Family is..
For the 2007 Christmas Season to
Fill Your Home with Joy,.......
Your Heart with Love, and.......
Your Life with Laughter!........

Warm Hugs and Great Cheer,.........
Dave, Sherrie, Ryan, Drew, Trey & Sean

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." ... Luke 2:9-12 (niv)

Go figure, of all the people ...

I've scheduled and avoided a few mammograms since hitting the big 4-0, but this Fall in my Wednesday morning bible study, Nancy in our small group took on the cause of women getting in for their mammos ~ THINK PINK. This is because when she had her mammo in February, it was followed by lumpectomies, chemo, radiation and tamoxifen treatments due to breast cancer, and for pete's sake, she's younger than me!

So ... with the love and encouragement of Nancy and the other gals in my small group, I made an appointment with Dr Primary Care Physician just to talk about my fears of getting a mammo and what other options I might have. Fears you say? Sherrie afraid? What's that about? Well, as I explained to my doctor, since the multi-year chest injury and pain I suffered from running up a mountainside when Drew got stranded in a pickle in the Fall of 2000 (a long, whole-other, God-saved-Drew-and-Dave story), I'm quite fearful of having my non-boobs squeezed resulting in damage to my chest wall. And since I don't have breasts, why should I worry about breast cancer anyway? When Dr PCP gave the obligatory response that even men get breast cancer, I shared with her that was not a convincing reason for me since I have seen plenty of men with breasts larger than mine (go ahead admit it, you have, too ;) In any event, I discovered that no, there are no other effective screening tools; yes, I must go through with it; and yes, she would be happy to prescribe a pill to help with the pain and anxiety as long as I had a driver.

And thus on December 18th, the gals from my small group joined me for a trip to Kaiser for my first mammography, followed by a luscious Christmas brunch at our home. We had a blast and Nancy was right, having something to look forward to afterward made the ordeal much better. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures with my friends Nancy, Julie, Lori & Emily and our lovely meal that day (that regret is what triggered my post about 1000 words!) but we sure did have a special time together.

Fast forward to December 24th, Christmas Eve, the phone rings and it's Dee from the call center. "Sherrie, I am calling to schedule another mammography with additional views. Our first available appointment is January 9th can you make it?" Just my luck, huh? I respond, "Sure... and Dee, can you tell me why I need to come back in?" She replied, "No, I just have this note to call and schedule." I found myself in disbelief that a call like this with no answers or insight would be made on Christmas Eve. "Please have the radiologist call me, thanks, and Merry Christmas" is all I can muster aloud.

A moment ago Dr Radiologist called me in reply to my request. He said 10% of gals get called back in after their first mammos for additional views and for me it is due to calcifications in my right breast. He does not have a particularly high suspicion of cancer and thinks it is most likely that there is a stable group of calcifications that they will just monitor over time - but because it's my first mammo, they need to take some additional views to make sure that it doesn't look like anything else. I've found myself particularly un-worried about this being anything serious (what's the worse to expect, a mastectomy? would I even notice? I mean really?) but I do find the whole process curious. Go figure, of all the people to get a call back, it would be me. Graciously, Dr. PCP has already called in another valium tab for the 2nd squeezing.

Appreciating your prayers and love,
.............Sherrie

Love, True Love ...

Mark 12:28-31 ~ The Greatest Commandment
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

1 John 4:7-21 ~ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. …God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. … We love because he first loved us. If we say we love God yet hate a brother or sister, we are liars. For if we do not love a fellow believer, whom we have seen, we cannot love God, whom we have not seen. And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love one another.

1 John 3:1a ~ See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (msg) ~ If I speak … but don't love, I'm nothing. If I have faith … but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give … and go to the stake … but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. Love … takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, and keeps going to the end. Love never dies. We have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Colossians 2:2-3 ~ My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Galatians 5:13-14 ~ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

1 Timothy 1:5 & 19 (msg) ~ The whole point of what we're urging is simply love--love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. There are some, you know, who by relaxing their grip and thinking anything goes have made a thorough mess of their faith.

Jude 1:20-21 (msg) ~ But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God's love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life!

John 15:9-17 ~ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because servants do not know their master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.

1 Corinthians 7:17a (msg) ~ And don't be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God's place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there.

2 John 1:1-6 ~ To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth— because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, will be with us in truth and love. It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

John 13:34-35 ~ "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Romans 13.8 ~ Love one another

John 15.12 ~ Love one another

John 15.17 ~ Love one another

1 Thessalonians 4.9 ~ Love one another

1 John 3.23 ~ Love one another

1 John 4.7 ~ Love one another

Hebrews 10:24-25 (amp) ~ And let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities, not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching.

Colossians 3:12-14 ~ Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Romans 15:2 ~ We should all please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.

Luke 10:29 and 36-37 ~ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus said: "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Ephesians 5:1-2 (msg) ~ Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

1 Thessalonians 3:12 (msg) ~ May the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you just as it does from us to you.

Fire Rainbow ...

http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/firerainbow.asp

More than a thousand words ...

it makes me sad when i forget to take pictures or i'm not forward enough to take pictures or i'm not diligent enough to take pictures ... it honestly feels like i am going to "lose" a part of my life and/or my family's life with the loss of those memories in photos. boo hoo!

Barefoot Tramps!

There is something about boys that is just very "different" ...

Watch this short video clip - you'll see what I mean!

I've always admired their fearlessness
to engage in lots of fun activities :)

In a similar vein, this next picture is of
Trey jumping off a perfectly good rock at Lake Powell
(along with all of his brothers) a couple of years ago...

Embrace the journey, with its twists, valleys, deserts, and sufferings ...

Written from my heart for myself and those with whom I share life ...

We should embrace the journey, with its twists, valleys, deserts, and sufferings ...
Because these are the things that make the sweet things, very sweet indeed.

Without the dark, there is no light.
Without the misery, there is no gratitude.
Without the challenge, there is no lesson.
Without the despair, there is no relief.
Without the choice, there is no true love.

There is no room in an authentic life for the mask (or veil) of "All is well."
Our pain, suffering, and sorrows are the events that scream of reality and living.
They're the things that truly alert us to our blessed lives,
they're the process which allows us to develop hearts of true thanksgiving.

There is beauty in our entire journey, even as we walk through the shadows...
May we embrace and share our struggles as we grow together with those around us.
Amen.

But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory,
are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18

10 calories per pound per day

I read today (in Prevention) that our body uses a certain number
of calories per pound per day (cpd) ...

10 cpd if you are fairly inactive or have a slow metabolism;
13 cpd if you are moderately active; and
15 cpd if you are highly active.
The article noted that to lose or maintain weight, we compute our ideal weight
times the appropriate cpd for our activity/metabolism,
then eat that number of calories per day.
As we know, our metabolism is impacted by activity, aging, & genetics.

Ahhh, the explanation as to why I feel I can only nibble like a bird,
this is a very, very low number of calories!
(aging + my low pulse, blood pressure, and temperature = very slow metabolism)
Happy pecking ~ gotta run munch on my veggies :)