Talent Show

At church over the last few weeks, the kids have been learning about their talents and gifts. Each parent was asked to share what they believe are their child's gifts. The kids decided to finish off this time of learning by having a talent show. Below are some pictures and a video of Damaris singing. The sweet young lady who has been teaching the kids this past month ended the talent show by giving each of the kids a frame with Saint Theresa's prayer inside (the kids then got to decorate the frames). Here is what the prayer says:
May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that
has been given to you....
May you be content knowing you are a child of God....
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day...


to my husband Russell,


to my dad Gary,


to my brother-in-law J.R.,


and to my father-in-law Turner.

Turning Points

Our friend Scott wrote a very interesting blog entry earlier this week. He's been reading a book called "List Your Self: Listmaking as the Way to Self-Discovery: A Provocative, Probing and Personal Expedition Into Your Mind, Heart, and Soul”. The list he shared in his blog entry is the biggest turning points in his life. I thought I would make my list to share with yall.

The Biggest Turning Points in My Life

1983 - when I made my decision to become a follower of Christ

1997 - when I married the love of my life, Russell

1998 - when our first child, Jordan Taylor, was born into heaven because of miscarriage

1999 - when our princess girl, Damaris, was born

2001 - when our child, Micah Jayden, was born into heaven because of miscarriage; also the year that I finally finished my Bachelor's degree

2003 - when we had our precious girl, Kerioth, live with us for such a short time, we had planned to adopt her, but things did not work out the way we had planned

2004 - when our child, Noah Avrey, was born into heaven because of miscarriage

2005 - when we realized just how much many Christians truly hate and despise other Christians to the point of telling numerous lies about our family & trying to destroy our family

2007 - when we moved to Abilene for Russ to get his M.Div. degree, I had no desire to return to school, but God has other ideas, it was this year that He called me to chaplaincy as a life vocation

2008 - when I was finally able to forgive someone who had hurt me so badly that the situation almost destroyed me

2009 - when our church family here in Abilene affirmed my call to ministry by ordaining me as a minister; still ahead this year is graduating with my Master of Divinity degree & begin my clinical residency as a hospital chaplain

What about you? What are your turning points? If you share, let me know here on my blog so I can come read your list.

Bullet Point Sunday

Another week come and gone. The days are flying by!

Almost halfway through our 2nd to last class of our M.Div. degrees. 53 days until we're done with school! And 61 days until moving day!

Speaking of moving day, Damaris and I spent a lot of time in our storage room this week. We finished cleaning it out and organized the stuff left in there. Goodwill came for pickup number 3 this week. Russ got me an inexpensive scanner & I have started scanning in boxes of old pictures we have. Some of them are truly hilarious. Damaris didn't believe me when I told her who some people in the pics were. LOL! You can take a peek at some of the pics I've scanned it at our Picasa site. I'll be adding more as I have time to scan them.

I tweaked my shoulder and wrist moving boxes this week. Not all that pleasant when I need to be typing papers and such for school. I've had to take a knitting break because the motion of knitting just aggravates my shoulder and wrist more.

Damaris was invited to participate in a summer reading camp that starts tomorrow. It's just down the street from where we live so that makes it nice. It's 4 mornings a week for 3 weeks. She's really looking forward to it.

My poor computer Sookie crashed this week. Spent an entire day reformatting it. UGH! Damaris' also needs to be reformatted but I have to replace the DVD drive on it first. A friend is trying to find me a good price on one so I can get that done. It's a good thing I can deal with most of our computer problems.

Damaris is nudging me to get some stuff done so I'll end this blog post for now. Have a blessed week yall!

Bullet Point Sunday

Just enjoyed a yummy concoction of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), kidney beans, corn, & feta cheese. Amazing! Still going strong with the vegetarian eating.

Got a bad 24 hour stomach bug earlier in the week. Not a pleasant situation. Felt pretty weak and thus haven't been able to ride my bike. Hoping to get back on track with that starting tomorrow.

Packing is pretty much on stand still since school has started back. Damaris did help me finish up ripping all our cd's this week. Hopefully we can go sell them used this week to recoup the cost of the external hard drive & hopefully a bit extra. She also helped me go through our faux-pantry this week & we're making our weekly meal plans to try to use up as much of the dried goods/canned goods stuff so we don't have to move it. I need to take pictures of some furniture pieces & rugs we have that we're getting rid of so I can get them posted on Craigslist & the garage sale group of Freecycle.

Damaris' last day of school was Thursday. We're adjusting to her being back home with us all day. I love it, but it is an adjustment. She'll be participating in some activities at Friendship House & I think she'll go spend a week with my parents as well before we move.

I'm going to try to do a little bit of knitting & watch some tv before I'm back to schoolwork tomorrow. Have a blessed week friends!

My Autobiography

I'd like to be blogging to share the podcast link for the sermon I preached a couple of weeks ago, but it's also not yet available.

I could blog a review of Christy Nockels' new album "Life Light Up" (which if you haven't bought it yet, go now, it's well worth your money), but I'm being lazy and haven't written up a full review of it yet.

But, I do want to blog something (I'm avoiding homework!), so I'm going to
stealborrow this from Crystal and share my autobiography in list format.

My Autobiography

Where did you take your Facebook profile picture?
sitting in the very recliner I'm sitting in right this second

What exactly are you wearing right now?
khaki colored shorts, a pink tank top, & a white bandanna in my hair

What is your current problem?
avoiding schoolwork, worrying about money

What makes you happy most?
my hubby & my daughter

What song are you listening to at the moment?
the aforementioned new album by Christy Nockels

Ever sang in front of a large audience?
so many times I cannot even count them

Do you still watch kiddy movies or kiddy TV shows?
not really unless I'm watching a movie with Damaris that she picks

Do you speak any languages?
sometimes I say English good, but not all the time :-)

Has anyone you’ve been really close with passed away?
yes, many people

What’s something that really annoys you?
people who go back on their word

Chapter 1:
===============
1. Middle name: Cherie

2. Nicknames: C.C.

3. Current location: Abilene, Texas

4. Eye color: Blue

Chapter 2:
===============
1. Do you live with your parent(s)? not for 14 years now

2. Do you get along with your parent(s)? most of the time, more with my mom than my dad

3. Are your parents married/separated/divorced? Married.

4. Do you have any Siblings? a sister & 3 brothers-in-law

Chapter 3: Favorites
===============
1. Ice Cream: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

2. Season: Autumn

3. Shampoo/conditioner: usually something for colored hair, but not always

Chapter 4: Do You..
===============
1. Dance in the shower? nope

2. Do you write on your hand? not recently

3. Call people back? yep

4. Believe in love? Absolutely

6. Any bad habits? negative self-talk

Chapter 5: Have You..
===============
1. Broken a bone: yep, my wrist, a finger, several toes

2. Sprained stuff: we would be here all day if I told you everything I've ever sprained (I own my own pair of crutches if that tells you anything)

3. Had physical therapy: yep, see question 2

4. Gotten stitches: not that I recall

5. Taken painkillers: most definitely

6. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling: nope

7. Been stung by a bee: not that I recall

8. Thrown up at the dentist: No

9. Sworn in front of your parents: only one time that I can recall

10. Had detention: no

Chapter 6: Who/What was the last
===============
1. Movie(s): in the theater, I couldn't even tell you; at home, an old 1940's movie that I can't remember the name of

2. Person to text you: my mother-in-law

3. Person you called: my mom

4. Person you hugged: Damaris

5. Person you tackled: not sure I've ever tackled anyone

6. Person you talked to on AIM/iChat: Russ

7. Thing you touched: my pink computer mouse

8. Thing you ate: reduced fat vanilla wafers

9. Thing you drank: water

10. Thing you said: apologized to Russ for annoying him

Chapter 7: Future
===============
1. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? the mom of a teenager! (ack), married for 17 years, hopefully working as a hospital chaplain

2. Where do you hope to live? Colorado

3. Do you want to be famous? not really

Alrighty, if you
want to be lazyjoin in on the fun, post this & then comment so I can come check your autobiography out.