What Is Your Purpose?

What is your purpose? Have you ever thought about what YOUR purpose in life is? I have. We had an awesome message in church today that brought this question up. There was a little video that was shown interviewing people out in the city. The interviewer would ask several people what their purpose was. Some of the people did not have an answer and some did. Some of the answers were to have fun, be there for their family and friends, party it up, live every day in the present, plan for their financial future, etc. Some of these answers are still nice answers. We do need to be kind and courteous and love one another as Christ has loved us.

One question in church was-"what do the people in the video have in common with the man who shot the people in Tucson several weeks ago"? The answer: They don't have a purpose for their life!

God has chosen for Himself a "people" who will live to glorify and enjoy Him, as they live to tell the world who He is!

Genesis 12, 15, 17

Some people might go to church just to go, some might go to worship their heavenly Father, some might think that there are a bunch of hypocrites in church and that might keep them from going. What is the "True Church"? The true church are those that have put their trust in God as their personal Saviour.

I want to live every day to its fullest, be there for my family and friends, show love to one another and hopefully plan for a better future. BUT, the ultimate reason we have purpose is that we have a Christ who gave us the gift of salvation. We have a choice to make. I have made that choice when I was 18 years old. I had some great friends show me the way to a better life. A richer and fuller life. There is not a great life than that with our Heavenly Father. I am so thankful for these friends of mine that helped me. Now, because of them and their purpose in life is why I will be spending eternity in heaven instead of burning in Hell. How many of you have made the choice to have Christ in your life? Are you living life with the purpose to fulfill what God wants you to do or has planned for you? What kind of talent or talents, gifts has God given you to share with others?

The basic purpose in life is to accept Christ as your personal Saviour and to live life according to the way that Christ would want you to live.

So my friends, I wish you the best in life and may you have a life of knowing that someday you will have eternity in heaven with our lovingly Father. Let the Spirit of God work in you fulfilling His purpose IN us and THROUGH us.

De Quervain's Tenosynovitis

This is the picture of the left hand. My pain is in my Right hand.

So, I went to the doctor because my hand was not getting better. There is a constant pain at the base of my thumb which is towards the wrist. The pain goes up and will be really painful when I over use it. Sometimes that just consist of doing things around the house.

Now I will give you a lesson as to what this really is.

De Quervain's Tenosynovitis is a painful condition affecting the tendons located on the thumb side of your wrist. A tendon is a strong band of tissue that attaches muscle to bone. A sheath, or covering, surrounds the tendons that go to your thumb. Tenosynovitis is an irritation of this sheath.

How does this occur you might ask?

Usually occurs from overusing your thumb or wrist, especially in activities that move your thumb directly away from your wrist such as skiing or hammering. And No, I have not been hammering the kids! LOL

How do I get this to get better you might ask?

Sometimes they put a splint on it. The Doctor did not see that I really needed one yet. So, I have to ice it for 20-30 minutes every 3-4 hours until the pain goes away. Wow! I think my hand might be frozen and then for sure I won't feel any pain. Just cold! LOL

After ice, massage the area for 5-10 minutes several times a day.

Take an anti-inflammatory med.

Last resort is to get cortisone injection.

When can I get back to normal activity?

As soon as my wrist recovers. If attempt too soon, this will create permanent damage.

Zoiks!!!!

Guess I better behave.

Think I might be going to the drug store to get my a splint so I don't overuse or twist and turn it when not suppose to.

On another note-I hate the fact that I have Type 2 Diabetes. So, I have to really behave now. I hate buying tons of fruit because it can be so expensive. But, to be healthy I have to pay the price. Not sure if I can eat fruit three times a day and veggies three times a day. But, I do know that I can try. I am such a carb eater that it isn't funny. I don't eat a lot of sweets, but those carbs sure do turn into sugar eventually. Sucks! Anyway, I told my husband today--who loves carbs, pastas, etc, that he and the rest of the family is going to have to go on this journey with me. Not saying we can't have that stuff once in a while, but it is good to eat differently anyway. Maybe I can find some fun and Yummy recipes.

I am lucky that I can take a pill and not have insulin. So that is a bonus. I wonder if I will ever be free from this? Going to try. It does not help that family had Diabetes. My Grandpa Odette had Diabetes 1 so he had to take insulin. That was not fun for him. Was not fun watching his legs blister up either. God rest his soul.

So, what do I have to do now? I have to make an eye apt. Have to get that checked every year. Eat healthier and exercise. I have not been one to just lay around, but this will push me to get to my cardio stuff. Now that I am not working, I have more time so I don't have any excuses.

Enjoy your day!

Happy Birthday to Two 13 year olds!

Around our house we have two boys that have birthdays close to each other. Mitch is in January and Shawn in in May. Two Thirteen year old kids in the house after May. Look out when they both start driving at the same time. I think I need to get a job!

Our friends, The Parrish Family have a nice, sweet young lady that is now 13 too. Her name is Kara. Mitch's Birthday is the day before Kara's. We like to have supper together and go out bowling afterwards to celebrate Mitch and Kara's Birthday. Here are a few pictures of our fun night. Mitch and his bowl of dirt cake.
Kara and her bowl of dirt cake.
Went bowling and had a lot of fun.
This is Mitch and Shawn.

Here we have, Brittnay, Kara, Amanda and Mason.
Here is Brittnay, Amanda and Kara.
I am really not sure about the young lady in the middle. Looks a little crazy to me. LOL

I cannot believe how quick the years go by. At first you want them to talk, then walk, etc and now you want them to be still and listen. LOL
Nah, they are great kids. These next years will go by so fast and I am sure that we will treasure every year.

Memory lane with the Family

I am going to go down memory lane for a little bit.

I have to find more pictures from some family members. As I do not have very many from the past and sure would like to have some copy's of some. These pictures were from my childhood.

My cousin Andy

This is Laurie.

This is Jonna.

The above three kids belong to my Auntie Jan (my Mom's sister) and Uncle John

This is Sheila and Grandma Myrt
We like to call Grandma Myrt--Grandma Myrtle the Turtle when she was still with us here on earth. This is John


This is Tina Ree
The above three kids belong to Mom's brother Phil. I don't remember Sheila's Mom's name. John and Tina's Mom is Chris or we called her Aunt Tina.

This family is Mom's sister Carol or we like to call her Aunt Sis.

Grandma Myrt, Kim, Uncle Bob, Chris, Mike, Leslie, Aunt Sis

This is a picture of me!

Yep that is me!

Was cute then, what happened? LOL

I will try to find some more old pictures to share. I only have a few of what my Dad gave to me.

Shelly's Winter Photoshoot Jan 10, 2011

Sadie and I went out for a walk around our yard and I was enjoying taking pictures as she was enjoying sniffing around and playing in the snow. By my previous post you noticed some pictures that I had taken yesterday too. The hoarfrost was amazing. Sure does make everything look different. After taking pictures around the house, I decided to head out to Grand Haven Michigan to get some photo shots out on the lake shore of Lake Michigan.

This is the ice building up on the shoreline. You see this right when you get out to the pier.

The above picture is of ice build up on the lighthouse at the end of the pier.

When you are walking out to the pier this is the little light on the North side of the pier when you enter the channel.

This tree seems very lonely. Even though there are many branches to keep it company, it still stands alone. Actually, this is not far from the beach house/restroom. I thought the tree was pretty. Sometimes I feel alone, but then there are so many people in my life that are important and make things all better. Just like that tree. The trunk is the strong part--could be God, the tree grows and has many branches. God put these branches in our lives. He made it so we had many paths to take and many people to cross our paths. Thanks be to God for all He has provided.
This is a beautiful duck. There were several out on the lake. This one was in the channel with a few other ducks.

On the boardwalk out to the pier you notice this building that hold boats--I believe.

Check out that ice build up on it! Isn't that awesome!

Again a picture of the little light on the N side. I thought I would be tricky and take this picture through a life ring. The life rings are located all along the pier to use when someone is in need of help or in danger. Once you pull the ring off, a little blue light will light up and will call our wonderful USCG (United States Coast Guard--as we like to call Coasties!)

It is not good when they have to go out to save someone, but we are all grateful that they are ready and available when someone needs them. It is amazing watching them in action too.

The ice looked like broken glass!
The sound of this crashing against the other ice pieces was a neat sound.

Well, I made it out to the end of the pier with careful footsteps. There was a lot of ice built up on the pier and with just a dusting of snow cover. At times there were chunks of ice or really big ice balls. So, just have to maneuver slowly and cautiously. Then the next things that you would see is what I am about to show you.
The above picture has the amazing big rock boulders at the West edge of the pier.
This ice build up is on the lighthouse itself. It attached itself to the railing and made such beautiful formations.

This is the Grand Haven, MI Lighthouse.

This is what you see when you make it all the way to the end. It is a nice walk out to this spot. When the lake is calm, like it was yesterday, it is a very pretty site. On windy and high wave occasions, it is most likely that you will not get to the end unless you want to get soaked. The waves crash against this area so hard at times.

This is the view that the lighthouse always gets to see. How beautiful!

Kinda like going to the ocean except for a few things. Not salt water is one. We are privileged to view this and look so far that it seems like there is not an ending. Like it goes on forever!

This is so cool! I am so glad that I was able to make it out there.

Another bonus, nobody was in the picture except for what I wanted in the picture.

OH WAIT!!!

WHO IS THAT?

OH, THAT IS ME!!!! LOL

I set my camera up on an ice ball and walked carefully over to get in the picture. Good thing I had it set on Ten seconds. HA HA HA HA

This is the light on the way back from the house!

Hope you all enjoyed a look at my pictures and me rambling on. It was such a nice day, that I had to take advantage of taking some photos!

Hoarfrost

Ever hear of Hoarfrost?

It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled below the dew point of the adjacent air as well as below the freezing point of water.
There are not many opportunities to take pictures of this because it only happens once in a while. So, The last two days it has been pretty out in the morning with all this frost.
I heard from my husband Tom that our weather man that he listens to and reads his blog, stated that this was hoarfrost and all should get out and take pictures. My husband was pretty impressed with the pictures. Thanks Honey!

All of these picutures were taken in my yard or from my driveway. I have more but only selected a few to share. I am happy with how they all turned out.

SMILE -- GOD LOVES YOU!!!!

Snow, snow, and more snow!

This was Thursday during the day. Today we are suppose to get a good amount of snow. I have only seen a few flakes falling at times today. Kinda like yesterday, where it would snow really hard, then let up, snow lightly and then snow really hard again. We must have got around 4 inches of snow yesterday.

Last night I was able to hook up three sleds to my quad and pull the kids up and down the driveway trying to tip them over. All four kids had so much fun. I did too! There were times when I was laughing so hard!

It was fun to try and spill the kid on the third (last) sled. That one has the most fun! I make them go back and forth/side to side and then we went through the yard and tried to hit the high bank of the garden area. The garden area in the summer was not a garden but a turn around and "make donuts" for the quads. So, there was a pretty high bank from the dirt being pushed up from doing that all summer. The kids were like 'yeah' then 'oh no' then 'wow-that was fun'.


It is hard to get a close up of a snow flake. The snow was coming down so fast when I tried. As you can see there were a few big flakes. Some of my friends my think I am a big flake. LOL

This is Sadie and Calie sharing Sadie's bed. Or should I say mainly Calie's bed. Sadie will always let Calie take over. It is cute watching. Sadie will be on the bed already and Calie does this thing with her feet to make the spot comfy. Then she lays down. They are such good friends!

In the winter Sadie does not like to be out in the snow and cold very much. She would rather be inside. Unless, we are outside too. For example, when I ride my quad, she likes to chase me and bark along the side at times. She thinks it is a game. I am the only one she does this with. So, last night when I pulled the kids on the sleds with my quad, she would run up and down along the side like she was a big part of all the fun too. We have a pretty long driveway and good size yard, but, she kept right up. Then later that night, she did crash out!

Looking forward to see how much snow we might get today. As it looks right now, not very prosperous!

She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy!

Winter finally arrived here in Allendale.

Tom is out plowing with the tractor that my Dad gave to us. As you can see Tom loves it and it does a great job!
One of these days I will try to work it!

The beautiful tree! We cleared out trees around this birch tree so I could enjoy it better. Tom's Dad came to help clear out around it.
Just a little bit of snow!

Looks so pretty the way it lays on the trees.

The sun is out today and the sky is blue. I think I should go out and go for a walk and take some more pictures. See what I can find that is interesting.

A GLANCE BACK AT 2010

Taking a glance back at 2010 can be very interesting. I just thought that I would like to share with you some highlights of my last year. These photos are not in any particular order. Just wanted to touch on the highlights.

First off, I have had quite the interesting year! In March, I no longer work at the Day Center that I enjoyed working at. There were issues with a certain employee that did not know to leave well enough alone. That is why I decided to not work there any longer as it was making me uptight I guess you could say. I was really stressed. I loved the job, just not one particular person. I decided to leave to make it better for me. I am glad I did and so is my husband. LOL He noticed right away how different that I was after I quit.

Getting use to being at home full time is quite the chore! More ways than one. LOL I have always worked all my adult life and to me it is hard not to have the social life that I had while working and it gave me something to chat about and feel like that I was really worth something and meant something to people.

Not working as also gave me a lot of opportunities to take that I would not have been able to while working full time. I was able to go to Millersburg, OH and meet my Sister Gina (from WV) out there so we could have the first Sister weekend. We had a really good time going through the cheese factory and site seeing and who knows what else. It was a lot of fun and I will always remember that.

Then once summer came along, I was able to go out to WV to help my Dad move. He was getting rid of his old place and wanted to just rent somewhere so that would give him more freedom to do whatever he wanted. Mainly what he wants to do is ride his Harley. He loves that! While I was out there, I was able to help get his rental house ready to move in. We plastered, stucko'd (not sure how to spell that-lol), cleaned, painted.

Then I met my family up in Pennsylvania as we were going to go camping with the Burgdorfer clan. We had a really nice time there and was able to do a lot of site seeing, camping, just good quality family time. Then after that, headed back down to WV to see my Dad and Sister and her family. This time we were able to help Dad move his belongings to the new place. Tom did that as I had a little more painting to finish up. We had a nice time helping Dad move. We had our camper out there so we were able to just stay in that. Had it parked at my Sister's house.

Came back home and then a week or two later, Tom and I went back out by ourselves as we had to haul back the tractor that my Dad gave to us. Tom is so excited about that. You know, once we got it there has not been a lot of snow for him to actually use it. Kinda funny!

Then a couple more weeks went by and I took two boys out with me to spend some time out there and just vacation. While I was out there, after one week, found out via facebook that my Mom passed away. Was kinda shocked about how all that happened. Then my Sister and my nephew came back with the two boys and I. Then had to make arrangements for all of that. Quite stressful. I was really happy to have a couple friends show up to the memorial service that I was not expecting at all. That meant the world to me! After all of that was settled headed back out to WV to finish our vacation and we had to bring the camper back.

Maybe I will write a little something at some of the pictures to highlight the rest of the year.
All in all, it has been a really good year for me.

This is Faith and I ringing in the year of 2010.

We made fondue!

Crazy in your hats!

Wendy gave me a shout out on Facebook to say she was coming over my way for a visit and wanted to stop in. That made me happy. I have not seen Wendy and the girls since 2003 when Randy passed away. It was great to see her and laugh with her again.

Tom is in the middle and Jordan on the left and Mike on the right (when you look at the pic). Tom always have fun going quading with his Coasties. Mike and Jordan moved away this year due to it was time to transfer with their jobs in the USCG.

Sandy and I

We go WAY back! We were friends in HS as I have posted before. It was so nice to reconnect with her this year and the family.

Buds forever!

This was Christmas 2009

The reason I am posting this is because it was the last Christmas that my Mom was able to spend Christmas with us. I miss her!

Mom is the one with her hand by her mouth. Left side!

The next couple pictures will be in honor of my Mom.

In this picture my Mom is the one in Blue and blue jeans.

Here is the order it goes from left to right.

Aunt Sis (Carol), Mom (Kathy), Grandma Myrt (their Mom), Uncle Phil and Auntie Janny!
This is my Mom in the red and my Dad (Terry Lehr) and he is holding me. The girl below is my cousin Sheila. Why is it that when I look at these while I am posting it brings a tear to my eye? Oh well, Life is good!

This is the Pennsylvania family.

We had a lot of fun camping out there and spending time with everyone.

This is Shawn with the fish that he caught while camping in PA.

This is Tom

He made waders out of garbage bags so he would not get wet while fixing the pool. Yeah, you do what ya have to to make it work--no matter how redneck it is. LOL

We had a small hole in our pool and Tom had to patch it because we did not want to pay for another liner when that one was only used once as it was.

Matt and Amanda

I love them both very much!

Renee and Cameron

Renee and I met back in 1997 and I am so thankful for and treasure our friendship.This is the whole gang!

When I go up to Cadillac (Caddy) to visit friends and family this is one of the bunches that I see.

We have lots of fun!

This is my Dad

He is awesome!

I made one more trip to WV to see him in November as I got a call from my sister that he did not feel good. So, I ventured out to WV to be with my Dad. He had to have a pacemaker/defibrillator put in. He is doing really well now. I am so glad that I made that trip. I was able to spend some extra quality time with him.

This is me!

While I was in WV~~I was able to go and take some pictures and just have some good quiet time to myself. Everyone needs that once in a while.

Had a great Halloween!

Tom surprised me with tickets to go see my favorite group!

Lady Antebellum
I like to take pictures and this is how beautiful Fall was at our house.

Amand and one of the baby chicks this year.

We like to raise chickens! Thinking about a pig next year!

Took the kids to Fallasburg Park in Lowell to get their pictures taken.

Me, Sandy, and Stacey

Big year of reconnections this year!

So Happy!

Mason playing football for the first time.
Mitch playing soccer on the 7th grade team.
Windy Grand Haven

WE had a great quading trip as a family.

Looking forward to many more times of that.

Well, that is a look back at my year! I am hoping that all of you have a wonderful New Year! I hope and pray that 2011 will be a wonderful year for you!