BRRRRRR!!!

Right now it is freezing rain and 30 degrees outside with a wind chill of 23! Marty is in a jr high tournament at Umpire, Carson started in a pitching clinic tonight and Gracen is gone to mom's to spend the night. I'm home on the couch in my flannel pj's under a blanket freezing!!!

I've been on facebook tonight reading this "25 things about me" list that people are passing around right now. You write 25 things about yourself and post it, that's it. It's been really interesting reading what people have written in their lists. People I have gone to college and high school with have gone through so many things over the last 10 years since I've seen them. Some of them have been through infertility treatment as we did, some have lost babies, some have traveled all over the world, some have written about their first dates and first experiences growing up. Really amazing how many things can happen in just a few short years in your life and really shape the person that you are today. One of my friends from college posted the following that really touched me...."11. We have 3 children.... but we also have 4 babies in heaven. One is a baby girl named Karis (phonemic variation of Charis... greek for "Grace"). She would have been born in a couple of weeks. It might be weird to some for me to mention this, but I think (and usually cry) about my babies every day, which is a part of who I am and a part of how God is refining me right now." I love how she put that...God is refining me right now, because that is what is happening to all of us as we go through our lives. I don't believe that God "causes" bad things to happen to us in our lives, but in His omnipotence He takes those tragedies in our lives and uses them to "refine" us into the person He wants us to be if we allow Him to do so.

My 25 things list is below..it was late and I struggled to come up with 25 but I did! :)

1. I went to 3 different elementary schools in 3 different towns in 4th grade and 6 elementary schools total from kindergarten through 6th grade. Then fortunately I moved back to DeQueen during 6th grade and graduated from there. I think it might be why I can "talk to a stump" as my sister-in-law says.

2.Probably because I moved so often in my early years, I do not handle change very well at all in respect to moving. I cried for like a week when we moved across town and bought our current house..which I love, but it took adjusting to the change. I'm all good now!

3. Marty and I talked about getting married on our I believe it was 3rd date. We went out for the first time on New Year's Eve, got engaged on Spring Break and married on July 26th. It will be 13 years in July.

4. I read cereal boxes, random pamphlets on tables at lunch...anything just to be reading.

5. My 9 year-old twins are the result of IVF. After 1 year of trying to get pregnant on our own, followed by about 18 months of fertility treatment, I went in for a surgery to investigate why we weren't getting pregnant and woke up to find out they had removed my fallopian tubes and my only option was IVF. In Dec. 1998, we had 3 embryos transferred and at 7 weeks found out I was pregnant with twins! I delivered boy/girl twins in Aug. 1999, exactly 1 year after the surgery to remove my tubes.

6. My entire life has seemed to revolve around a basketball game. My younger years were centered around watching my uncle coach at Wickes and my older cousins play there. Then my brother began playing and we followed him around playing at camps and tournaments. I cheered throughout school so regardless of my lack of bball talent, I was still going to games. Then I got married my sophomore year of college, which would've been my brother's last year of high school bball, to none other than a basketball coach. I'm surprised I don't dream about it.

7. I like to research things. My friends ask me to look up stuff for them. Reviews on products, vacation spots they are going to, books, movies, I just enjoy those kind of projects..especially planning trips! Now, research for a class..forget it!

8. I eat cereal about 5 times a week for a meal..sometimes breakfast, sometimes dinner when we have a ballgame...but I rarely eat 1 kind of cereal in my bowl. I mix 2 kinds, sometimes 3. I know...weird!

9. I love to "drive-around." By that I mean, to just get in my car when I feel like it and drive around the roads outside of town, down usually some of the same roads I drive every time, sometimes listening to music, sometimes not, sometimes because I need to think, I'm mad, upset, or stressed but sometimes just for no reason at all.

10. Starting a ladies Sunday School class at my church has been life changing for me. The class has taken on a life of it's own in a way and God is using our class to reach women who never felt a part of anything at church or participated very much. By teaching this class, there is no room for slacking so it has forced me head first into where I needed to be in my studying and the rewards have been huge.

11. There aren't many vegetables that I like raw...I eat almost everything cooked, but very few raw veggies. I'm good with lettuce raw and that's about it. Got to cook the rest.

12. I don't drink tea or coffee. I wish I could acquire a taste for both..but so far NO.

13. I rarely wear a coat..it has to be really cold and then only if I'm going to be outside extensively.

14. If I don't have to go back out anywhere after I get home from school at 3:30ish..I will put on my flannel pajamas when I walk in the door. Marty calls it my uniform in the winter! I have a summer version, too. Ha!

15. I call my mom on the way to work every day. I have about a 12 minute drive and I talk to her for most of it. We talk about what was on the Today Show that we both watch while we are getting ready for work, our plans for the day, etc.

16. I pray that I will instill more confidence in Gracen than I had growing up. I struggle in balancing constructive criticism in a loving, motherly way and building confidence..it is such a delicate balance and she is at that age...9 years old. I pray I will do it right.

17. We have a rule at our house...no tv on while we are eating. It might be Sonic, but it's dinner time.

18. During basketball season, I often go an entire week without "cooking" a meal at home. We eat at home, but we grab some cereal before a game, eat at the game or everyone is coming and going at different times due to practice/piano, etc so we all eat something different. On the flip side, some weeks I'll cook every night so hopefully it all averages out! :)

19. Music inspires me. I often play songs for my Sunday School class before we start that meant something to me that week. I listen to all kinds too..except rap, heavy metal, etc.

20. I talk to my dogs like they are people and my kids make fun of me for it.

21. I love Lifetime movies...I DVR them in my bedroom so a couple times a year on a lazy Saturday I can watch 4 in a row!

22. I like to stay up late but yet I don't like to sleep late..haven't mastered this yet.

23. I'm the worst backpack checker ever! I work at a school yet forget to check my own kids' backpacks!

24. These last two were the same concept as the last 2 on Kandi's who I copied this "list" from but they sooo apply to me, too....I need time alone. I'm very social when I'm with groups. I love going on outings and trips with friends and spending time with my family BUT I need time at home with no one here. Time to decompress. I need a little solitude.

25. My goal for 2009 is to be more eternally focused. I ditto this! I want to be a better wife, mother, daughter, friend, all the roles I lead in the capacity that God desires for me to lead them.

God bless,
Sherri