An Open Letter to My Beloved Raiders...

Dear Raider Football Team -

Wooooooooooooo! Congratulations on another win, men! 14-0 is unprecedented in Appomattox and a milestone that few other teams ever reach. Be proud. Suit up. And let's do it ONE MORE TIME!

As an Appomattox native, football fan and former Raider (maybe lifetime instead of former...after all, once a Raider, always a Raider) I can speak for us all when I say that we are so proud of your accomplishments - on and off of the field. You've shown us incredible feats of athleticism and more importantly, how faith and perseverance can overcome insurmountable obstacles (shout out to a 4^th quarter comeback vs. Richlands!). You've shown us that coming together as a team can accomplish great things. Then you taught us how to come together as a community. God is using your lives to heal broken hearts, mend broken spirits and uplift broken people in your community. For that, we are eternally grateful.

I'm positive that you didn't set out to be healers of your community. After all, you were not immune to the troubles being faced. But very quietly and very reverently you took that pain - yours, ours, everyone's - and quite literally, tackled it on the field. You are being blessed in your lives for being a blessing in others. You give your game to God and he is undoubtedly working through you each day and each week.

Therefore, you have become the Sons of Appomattox. Each one of you is now a part of us. Someone you may never know will hear your name in years to come and remember you. You will be thought of fondly in this town... probably for the rest of your lives. No matter where you go and no matter what you do, you will always be the boys of fall that put a broken town back together. That title doesn't yield you a championship ring, but something much greater than that.

So thank you Raiders. From the bottom of my heart that pumps the Blue and Grey through my veins. *Obligatory cliché alert* - no matter the outcome this weekend, you are winners to us! Seriously.

Cheryl
Class of 2000

Where is the love?

My humble ramblings this Wednesday afternoon...

Most of us got up this morning... maybe drank a cup of coffee... grumbled about having to go to work again... got in our cars and arrived at our respective jobs. Most of us will go home after our 8+ hours and do it all over again tomorrow.

Two of us will not.

A local reporter and her camera man were gunned down in Moneta during a mundane story on economic development in Smith Mountain Lake. The interviewee shot in the back. Very likely shot by a former coworker from a local news station. The alleged gunman apparently shot himself also and remains in critical condition.

It is with a heavy heart that I'm writing this. So many thoughts colliding in my simple mind. How and why a tragedy like this one would happen so close to home - or even at all!

The one thought that keeps coming to the forefront of my mind is this: we - as a collective group of HUMANS - regardless of race, religion, creed, background, whatever - have got to show love to one another. LOVING your neighbor does not mean the neighbor that is geographically closest to you, the neighbor that you like, the neighbor that looks like you, thinks like you or the neighbor that serves the same God. It means everybody. It means the people that you are thinking you will never even like - you are CALLED to love. This also includes the shooter.

But then again, in my 30-ish years on this earth, I have come to understand that people have different definitions of love altogether. If you don't know what LOVE really means (1 Corinthians 13 is a good place to start, y'all) - perhaps you can start with KINDNESS. And if you don't know what kindness is - then come see me one Sunday morning. I've got a great place we can go.

I get it though - there are times when my actions do not display love. Quite the opposite of love, in fact. I get grouchy. People get on my nerves and seemingly make my life more difficult. But then two people lose their lives and suddenly life is put into perspective.

A lovely woman at my church says when someone pops into your head for no good reason, it's the Holy Spirit nudging you to reach out. Call them. Stop by. Hug someone - anyone! Have you ever tried to fight anger with anger? Gets your nowhere. Have you ever tried to fight anger with love? Whole different ballgame.

Nobody gets out of this life alive. And the world isn't going to change if you don't. Love won't solve all of our problems... but it's a good place to start.

God Made Girls

Happy International Women's Day! Have you heard RaeLynn's song 'God Made Girls'? It's kind of my favorite. It's playing on repeat right now while I type. Just...FYI.

I've been sitting on an idea for a blog post for a few weeks - but I don't think it was until this morning that it was laid on my heart exactly what I wanted to say. That - and I was informed this afternoon that I am WELL overdue for another post (ahem...Kelly) - so here goes.

The message laid on my heart this morning started at church. My mind began to wander about 2/3 of the way through the service (my bad, God) and I looked to my left. Sitting on the same pew was my mother Marietta and my right-hand girl Emma. It was made very clear to me (no doubt by the Man upstairs) just how important women have been in my life - and not just any women. STRONG WOMEN. My mama for starters. She's instilled in me the ways to be fiercely independent, but kind and thoughtful. Her mother before her - who was able to make you feel loved, but still not take any crap (for example...when she owned the store and someone tried to rob her. Wrong woman, robber. Wrong. Woman.) My aunts, great aunts, cousins, friends, a trainer (whom I love 23.5 hours a day), a select few coworkers and supervisors - a collection of STRONG WOMEN that I feed off of and have been an influence in my life. It wasn't until recently that I saw the benefit of surrounding myself with amazing women - and silently recognizing those that may need a little influencing themselves.

However, looking at my Mama on the other end of the pew - I began thinking about the little lady in the middle... and it occurred to me what a giant responsibility I have to be an example of a strong woman for her - and the rest of the little girls (and some big girls) around me.

What am I wearing? What am I posting on social media? What kind of music am I listening to? What words am I saying when I'm mad? What do I spend my money on? How am I taking care of my body? How am I treating people? How am I allowing people to treat me? What am I doing on Saturday nights? And more importantly, what am I doing on Sunday mornings?

Kinda hit me hard. The responsibility is huge...even in the moments when you think it isn't. So, in keeping with the purpose of this blog - I want to make a change. I want to BE the change that I want to see in the little girls around me. I want to be aware of how my life is influencing them... just like the lives of other women have influenced me. I want my life to preach a sermon of sorts - to tell young girls that you can literally do whatever you want to do. You can wear glitter and play in the mud. You can dance like nobody's business on Saturday night and praise Jesus on Sunday morning. You can be as comfortable in cleats as you are in high heels. You can make a lot of money and shop at Goodwill. You can be a stay at home gypsy and give into the whims of your wanderlust. You can have roots - and you can have wings. The world is your oyster! You are a pearl! Be a contradiction - it makes you more interesting!

I've decided that it's high time for me to be the positive influence and do my part to develop OUR girls into STRONG WOMEN instead of being the warning sign of what not to be.

So here's to strong women: may we know them may we be them and may we raise them.

Get Your Life Together!

I've been on a roll the last few weeks, y'all! I've been cooking (learning how to roast veggies, using garlic on everything, prepping my meals ahead of time for the whole week), reading the Bible (I'm currently finishing up day 63 and am slated to FINALLY finish the reading plan on February 21), reading regular books (I've finished 3 so far The Wedding, The Giver, and The Great Gatsby) and I've been drinking some really amazing meal replacement shakes (shameless plug...I'm doing ViSalus and I'm down 7 pounds as of my last weigh in! Holla atcha girl if you'd like some more info.) I've said it about 10 times just today - but 2015 is going to be MY YEAR!

But even with all of my progress, I still found myself saying over and over 'Cheryl - get your life together!' Something just wasn't jiving in my life. I'm making a lot of progress on my goals - what else was I missing? Where was this discontent coming from? With tax season and long hours of work looming in the not-so-distant future, I was really digging deep to figure it out.

Then my brother David came home last weekend. This is where the story begins... I washed the bedding in the spare room and swept up a little, but nothing major. I mean, he's my brother - do I really need to make it shine like the top of the Chrysler building for him? Then again, I am that girl that needs about three days notice before company arrives became my house is disaster zone. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm a habitual project beginner, but not a project finisher. Projects like painting furniture, painting walls or even cleaning just never found their way to completion. I find myself often explaining away and excusing the mess to the brave few that happen to stop by unannounced... but at what point do I just flat out admit that I'm slovenly borderline hoarder? And at what point do I admit just how much my messy house was holding me back in other parts of my life?

The answer to my Chrysler building question is a definite no. However, during his short visit in my home, David cleaned, helped me take a sad little Christmas tree down and put it away, did my dishes (with Mr. Clean all-purpose cleaner, but this beggar will not be caught choosing!) and helped me sweep mounds of cat litter and other disgusting-ness. It meant so much to have some help for a few days after years of maintaining a home by myself! But then he left and I just knew my house would just go back to the gross state it had been. That is, until I posted a funny (yet un-related) picture on Facebook of a tshirt that said 'I'm not single. I have a cat.' HI-larious, right?! And so fitting! Before long, my phone dinged with a notification - a comment from David, which is nothing new, but it said (and I quote) "...and a couple of things in the corner that could be either more cats of just giant balls of cat hair." And immediately, I felt embarrassed. HOW could he say that out loud...on Facebook? Didn't he know how many people would read that?! I hovered over the delete button - I couldn't just leave that comment there for the world to see! But then it hit me. Like a ton of bricks inside a Mack truck. I was so sensitive about this comment because it was so true. My life was not together because my house was not together. How simple, but yet, so profound. To me, at least.

I went to bed that Friday night with more determination than I'd felt in a long time. I was going to get some rest...I was going to sleep in... I was going to get up in the morning and enjoy a cup or two of coffee... and then I was going to put on my working clothes and GET MY LIFE TOGETHER. And that, I did. Or at least I started to.

Saturday morning, I somehow persuaded a 12 year old to help me clean - with only the promise of a ten dolla bill and a Starbucks gift card as incentive. She was all too happy to join me and was more help than I probably deserved. I still have a little ways to go before I can accept uninvited guests, but in one short day the two of us got enough done to pick up momentum. And sometimes a little momentum is all you need.

So, to make a short story long, the next time you find yourself offended by someone or something, really dig deep to figure out why you're even offended in the first place. It's possible that it's something inside of you that you're avoiding. And if you address it and get real with yourself (or have a brother to punch you in the gut with your truth), you may find out that it's that very thing that offends you that's holding you back from getting YO life together.

Resolve in 2015

Here we are, another year! There's a sense of deja vu since last year started the same was as this one. Single, no kids, half painted/half-organized house, mostly living paycheck to paycheck because money burns a hole in my pocket. I'm a work in progress in so many aspects. My life is in a constant state of disarray. I have a bad habit of starting things and not finishing them. This applies to projects, relationships, books... and definitely resolutions. I have such high expectations for others - but apparently none for myself. How can I expect for others to meet them if I'm not? It's time for a change...a change of epic proportions.

So...here we are, another year. Will this be the year that I meet my own expectations? Let's hope and pray so. I have a new car and a new FitBit... so let's get crackin' with other new changes!

My long list of 2015 goals and resolutions:

♡Finish painting the rooms in my house!
♡Complete the Bible in 90 Days reading plan (that I started 600-some odd days ago. I'd say I'm a little behind.)
♡Send one handwritten note per week to someone vis USPS (a lost art, if you ask me.)
♡Read more books (my goal is 100 - track them on the GoodReads app!)
♡Drink more water (goal: 1 gallon a day! Using the Water Your Body app to track!)
♡Make better food choices - eat less processed foods - cook more!
♡Get serious about my gym time. I spend a lot of money on a trainer and I'm not using her like I should!
♡Organize my time more effectively. (Step 1 - use my expensive planner to 100% capability.)
♡Use my real camera more often. I love taking pictures but they're all on my phone. (The Lord may be at work on this one since one of the cameras on my phone broke and the other one is barely hanging on...)
♡Last, but certainly not least - prepare more for my Sunday School lessons. I'm guilty of glancing over the lesson book 15 minutes before class begins and winging it. And my kids deserve better.

So, there we have it. My list of things to do. No excuses. Hopefully I can effectively manage my time and blog about my progress. Or will this become one more thing that I do halfway? Stay tuned!