It has been way too long since I updated this site…I apologize!  I was distracted from all writing as I began to prepare for a speaking engagement with a women’s retreat.  It took over all parts of my brain it seems, leaving no room for any other writing.  I thought many times of updating, but it seemed my brain could not hold the thoughts long enough to sit down and do it.  I apologize and will make every effort from here on out to be more consistent in my postings.  The retreat, by the way, went very well and since I now have it completed, will be something I will begin to offer to other women’s groups as we start 2009. So contact me if you think your group might be interested!

I am now working on another presentation for Dirk and I to give in January.  It is for a bereaved parent workshop in Atlanta with a wonderful organization called Cure (www.curechildrenscancer.org).  This will be a whole new arena for us to speak, but something we have unfortunately, plenty to talk about.  I made the connection with this organization through “Unfinished Love.”  The executive director read about our story and contacted me to talk more about it.  She is an amazing lady with quite a story herself.  I am very excited to get to meet their entire staff in January.  They have provided so much to families dealing with pediatric cancer in the Atlanta area as well as funding some important research for kids with cancer as well. 

As the title to this post indicates, our foundation is in the midst of our Christmas fundraiser - Stockings of Hope.  This is the information we distributed that explains this project.

How true is this quote in your mind?  Before our journey through brain tumor h#@% and back I don’t know if I would have thought of success in this way.  Back then success was all about climbing the corporate ladder and accumulating stuff!  What a lesson we have learned!  Imagine how excited I was to find out this beautiful nugget of wisdom is being taught to a group of kids at Durant High School. 

Dirk and I were approached a few months ago by a friend of a friend who had heard our testimony at the Crossing Church (http://www.crossingonline.org/llywd week one).  Coach Jeff told us about a “little” project he and a fellow coach had started with his basketball team last year trying to teach them about success and what it does and does not mean.  He asked to help out our foundation, Giving Hope Through Faith, by raising enough funds to cover the expenses of one family ($1,500). 

A few weeks ago, the two coaches, Jeff Shotwell and Trent Tice, invited us to join them at a Success 101 meeting to explain the fundraiser to the kids.  As I sat and listened to Jeff and Trent teach not only their basketball players, but the cheerleaders and soccer team about the true meaning of success I wanted to put on my cheerleader outfit and do a cheer of praise!  Explaining how easy it is to think success is all about what you achieve for yourself, they shared how they had learned through their own experiences how untrue that was - that type of achievement is elusive and filled with pitfalls for those who pursue it.  They emphasized how true success is defined by the quality of relationships you have in your life and how you use your abilities to help others that are less fortunate.  Their words mirrored the quote above to a “T”! 

Hearing them explain how having a nice gym, eight county issued basketballs and their uniforms were all they “needed” for their team.  Having warm ups, new shoes, etc were things they might “want” but they certainly didn’t feel they warranted using any of the proceeds from their fundraiser for our foundation - they would give us 100% of the proceeds because they knew the families we help needed food, supplies and gas much more than they needed extras for their teams.  Amazing!

Imagine my surprise last Sunday when Dirk tapped me on the shoulder and pulled a wad of cash four inches thick from his pocket!  The Success 101 kids had already raised over $1,000 for us and had to order more backpacks to sell in their fundraiser!!  There are so many sad, disappointing stories circulating about the loss of values in the kids today - this blows all those stories away.  Mark one up for the good guys.  There are a bunch of true HEROES walking the halls of Durant High School.  Zach must be thrilled to see his Be A Hero wristbands around all their wrists as they learn what true success means in their lives.  Thank you Coach Jeff and Trent…and thank you to all the kids for working so hard to help out so many.  You all are shining brightly to those around you!

“Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who turn many to righteousness will shine like stars forever.” Daniel 12:3

Living to shine,

Sherry

Remember to join us for the book signing at Books-A-Million this Sunday from 2:00-4:00 pm at the Brandon Town Center Mall.  Anyone attending the book club discussion tomorrow night it will start at 6:00 and end at 8:00.

Today I went to tape a small segment related to the book with Spirit FM 90.5 (www.spiritfm905.com).  The morning show hosts, Carlos and Abby were kind enough to have me share some thoughts on Zach’s story and the book.  They said they would probably air the interview tomorrow (9/18) during the 8:00 am hour - so listen if you are near a radio (or online)!!

A couple of weeks ago, Michelle Bearden, of WFLA 8 and The Tampa Tribune stopped by and interviewed Dirk and I about the journey we have taken the last three years.  She touched on both the Foundation and the book so it will be interesting to see where she takes the story.  She said the TV portion will air on either Friday, Sept 19 or Sept 26 during the 5:30 news.  Her segment usually comes on close to 5:50 pm.  Which ever day the TV segment airs, the story in the Trib will run the day after.  Michelle and her camera man were wonderful and we are so appreciative they took the time to share our story.

On Thursday, Sept 25, I will be at Joffrey’s Coffee shop (once again) to answer questions related to the book with a book club.  I am really looking forward to hearing the questions and sharing some of my thoughts with these ladies.

On Sunday, Sept. 28th, Books-A-Million will be hosting a book signing event for me at the Brandon Mall location from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.  Make sure to stop by if you are out shopping.  I will be signing books that have been purchased on-line or purchased at their store and they have a supply of books available for purchase in the store (finally a bookstore with my books)!  Tell all your friends to come by and help me to make this a successful day for BAM bookstore!

Finally, I will be traveling to Indiana in November to speak at a retreat being held at the First Christian Church in Spencer.  The retreat is called “The Treasures in Surrender” and will be held from 9:00 to 3:00 on November 15th at the Christian Life Center.  The cost is $15.00 with lunch being served.  Everyone is welcome to attend!

So you can see - things have been busy with the book marketing.  Dirk and I are also very willing to share our testimony with churches so if you can put in a good word to your pastor, please do and let me know so I can contact them with some information. 

Check back in soon…I plan to start writing some devotionals to share on this site. 

All for His Glory!

Sherry

Nine years…that is a longer time than Zach had on this earth. How can that be? The reason it was time for this destruction was the dreaded home owner’s association police discovered our secret after nine years -we had never asked permission to place this playset in our backyard - the crime of all crimes! According to our neighborhood rules and regulations not only can the structure not be seen from the front of the house, BUT it also cannot be seen by our neighbors - something I can tell after nine years they have had trouble dealing with…NOT.  Our options - take down the playset or plant very tall bushes around it to take away the eyesore from our neighbor’s view.

We knew the day would eventually come the playset would be taken down, but I guess we would have preferred to pick the time ourselves. So, not wanting to become known as deed restriction violators, we marched to the back yard under Hurricane Gustav overcast, cloudy skies, armed with hammers, sledgehammers and saws to begin the destruction. 

I could not help but replay the day Dirk proudly completed building this playset - Zach, (almost two) and Lexi (almost five) could hardly contain their excitement as they climbed the ladder to the play house, slid down the slide and sat in the swings ready to be pushed to the moon! The hours we spent sitting in the sand box with neighborhood friends and taking turns swinging high enough to touch the tree leaves were priceless. 

I climbed into the play house for one last look around. Seeing all the kids names…seeing Zach’s name I thought of the last time he came out to play. It was after many months of treatment, he was weak and very skinny, but wanted to join the kids on the swings. I remember being so excited seeing him reach his left had up and grab the chain as I started to push him since he did not often use his left hand after his tumor diagnosis. The tears stung my eyes as I climbed down with a heavy heart.

All these thoughts chased themselves through my mind as Lexi began to swing the slegehammer against each board and they fell, one by one to the damp, muddy ground. I snapped pictures of all the pieces of board that Zach had etched his name or initials on…not wanting to let them go, but knowing holding on to them would really make no difference. It would not bring him back to me or hold the memories any tighter in my mind. We worked all afternoon tearing down a playset that could have easily stood ten more years. Occasionally it would rain, but we kept going. Dirk asked if I thought the rain might be Zach telling us he was sad we were tearing the playset down. I said no, hoping he was off doing something unbelievably exciting instead of watching our sad destruction progress. 

Finally, we succeeded in our mission - after one skinned finger for Lexi and a busted blood vessel in Dirk’s hand - the playset was now a meaningless pile of boards. I wonder if the laughter of nine years will echo from them as they lay in a trash pile somewhere? If it does, I know Zach’s will be the loudest…he was always the best belly laugher of the bunch. Oh, how I miss him…Nine years should not be longer than a lifetime.

Herman and Sharron were very gracious hosts and asked many detailed questions about the book.  They instantly were taken in by the pictures of Zach I shared with them and were so kind in allowing us to visit.  Hopefully, I will be able to get the interview posted to this site some time in the near future if you are not able to see it.  It is scheduled to air on Monday, August 25th either at 10 am or 5 pm - set your DVR’s if you can’t watch in person! 

Another big event coming up is the Cure Kids Cancer Challenge (see www.fastercure.org) on September 13th!  This is the second year for this event and is a way to help raise funds for research exclusively for pediatric cancer.  Unfortunately, there is not much funding allocated to childhood cancer because 13,000 kids being diagnosed per year is not enough to make it economically feasible for most research companies.  That is where the Pediatric Cancer Foundation steps in - they are dedicated to raising funds to finding cures for these kids.  So if you are a runner, walker or just passionate about helping kids with cancer sign up for this event.  Remember September is National Childhood Cancer awareness month - do something to make others know there is much work to be done for these kids!

Forever in His love,

Sherry

Each year at this conference they have an event called the “New Release Party” where all the new authors gather in one large room with 150 copies of their books and hundreds of retail buyers flood in to receive a free copy to evaluate and possibly carry in their store.  As I sat and signed book after book and shared just a small piece of Zach’s story with each person, the author next to me asked each person where they were from.  As I listened I realized Zach’s story was going to be travelling around the world!  There were people attending from England, Nigeria, Kenya as well as all over the US and Canada!!  It was amazing to think and imagine all the different hands this story will fall into!  My prayer is that it will fall into those hands that need it most and the ripples from the Zach Impact will continue to spread as more and more people read the story. 

The other thing I learned from attending this conference was that shelf space in retail stores is very limited and the only way my book will make it on to those shelves is by demand.  If enough people ask, the bigger stores will have it on hand, otherwise, it will be listed in their online store, but more than likely will not be on their shelves.  So spread the word and keep putting those reviews on Amazon (THANKS to all those brave ones who have done this already!).  It really makes a difference and will help entice others in reading the story.

Overall, this show was very enlightening in helping me to understand the “world of book selling.”  I am so thankful that I have been given this opportunity to share Zach’s story.  It is comforting to know his memory will be preserved for years to come and all the lessons that came from his short eight year journey with us will be used to help others and most importantly to glorify our amazing God. 

As always, thanks for visiting this site and walking this journey with us.  Your messages and e-mails of encouragement mean so much to me and continue to touch my heart every day.

Thanking God for His Love,

Sherry 

The blessings that have come from this outreach have been priceless.  I cannot tell you how wonderful it feels to walk in the post office with a bulging bag of foundation packages each month knowing in a day or two, each package will reach the hands of a family looking for some much needed smiles and relief from the drudgery that comes with the unending treatment schedules they face.  Today, though, is one of those very hard days.  Because we decided to remain connected to the cancer world, we also continue to see the devastation that comes when all options have been exhausted.  Too many of our families have had to say goodbye to a loved one way too soon.  Today I learned two of our families are standing in this unimaginable place.  Two sweet children, were freed of their tired broken physical bodies.  One family said goodbye to a sweet daughter, Lily, who had been battling a brain tumor.  She left behind a half sister who is in a battle with her own brain tumor, two brothers, parents and many loved ones.  The other family said goodbye to a very brave boy, Jimmy, (www.caringbridge.org/visit/jimmyreichert) who has battled leukemia for over three years.  Jimmy left two sisters, parents and many others he inspired with his spirit.  Seeing his smile and reading of his strong determination made me think of Zach.  I am guessing Zach was surely waiting for both of these beautiful souls with a big smile and some sort of ball in hand as they celebrated their reward of being forever free of the cancer that had been such a difficult challenge here on earth.  Today is a hard day…

I had planned to share all that we experienced at the ICRS show, but I will save that for another day.  Please pray for these families.  Their hearts are broken and the road ahead of them long as they learn to live without their sweet heroes.

Sending prayers of peace and comfort to all,

Sherry

July 10th…a day I can’t help but think of as our last day of naive living.  A day when pediatric cancer was not a word in our every day vocabulary.  A day when, what feels like, a big part of our destiny had not been revealed to us yet.  This day three years ago we were going to church, shopping for some new clothes for the kids and I was starting to really freak out about Zach.  He stumbled when I picked him up from church and I immediately became suspiscious that it had to be related to his left arm weakness.  My fears continued to spiral out of control as I realized he was no longer able to ride his bike and his facial expressions were not symetrical.  I look back on all this now and wonder how I could have been so naive to not even suspect a brain tumor…the thought NEVER entered my mind.  I guess it was a way to try and desperately cling to the naive world that made up our existence then.  A world I never realized could disappear so completely and quickly. 

Now fast forward to July 10th three years later - I still look longingly back at that naive world we once had - but I have found it is possible to live undefeated in this crazy broken world - through the grace of God.  I say it over and over again, I am afraid to think of where I would be if I did not have this hope and assurance in my life!  The scripture above from Matthew took on special meaning to me after Zach left for heaven.  I always wondered what “treasures in heaven” truly meant.  It is clear what treasures on earth means - we see many examples of these paraded in front of our face every day.  We live in a world filled with such extreme extravagance we become numb to it.  But what does a treasure in heaven look like?  As I pondered this I realized I already had one very big treasure in heaven along with a big piece of my heart - Zach.  Then it became clear to me what our true treasures in heaven must be - all those we hold dear to our hearts!  I know I certainly want to spend eternity with all those I love.  And so I continue sharing God’s message in hopes it will help assure that we will all be together forever!  What bigger treasure could we need?? 

The book signing at Joffrey’s yesterday was wonderful!  It was such a relaxing environment to have a chance to speak with many friends and share some thoughts about the book.  I am really looking forward to the signing this evening.  Lexi and I will be starting things up at 4:00 and be hanging out until 7:00.  So if you haven’t had a chance to pick up a book - come on by!!  Joffrey’s serves great coffee, snacks and sandwiches - a good excuse to get out of cooking dinner!

Sending love to all,

Sherry

The book signing we had at The Crossing Church last weekend was great!  After working out a few kinks with our credit card machine, Lexi and Dirk managed the sales, while I signed the books.  I was not prepared for the outpouring of so many hearts as many of the people buying the book had faced or was facing difficult trials in their own lives.  Just a reminder of how very broken this world we live in can be - and how so much hope can be found in surrendering to God. 

For those of you in the Brandon area that would like to have your copy of Unfinished Love signed, I will be having another signing event this week at Joffrey’s Coffee & Ice Cream Cafe.  Joffrey’s is located in Plaza Bella at 1048 Bloomingdale Ave (corner of Bloomingdale and Bell Shoals).  I will be there on Wednesday morning from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. and again on Thursday evening from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.  If you do not have a copy of the book yet, I will have some with me to sell as well.  I truly look forward to sharing with anyone who can make it by!

For those of you who have finished the book, a big way to help me out is to go rate the book and write a review on Amazon.  Your words might encourage a stranger to this story to select the book over another.  That is my challenge now, to spread the word to people who do not know Zach in hopes his impact can spread to them as well.

Hope everyone had a fantastic 4th!  We had quite the extravaganza fireworks display here last night!!

Surrounded by His love,

Sherry

Now that the month of June is almost over, it feels like we have settled into a summer routine.  Because Lexi swims six days a week in the morning, I get up early with Binx for our morning walk.  What I never realized until I started doing this was if I am out just before the sun breaks the horizon, the Cardinals have a concert!  It seems they have center stage for about 10 to 15 minutes because I can never hear any other birds singing during this concert from the Cardinals.  It is amazing and speaks to my heart whenever I hear it!

In case you did not know, I know the Cardinals song so well because Cardinals have become our sign that all is well with Zach.  A few weeks after he left for Heaven, I was working through some of my intense grief by digging a garden in his memory.  As I worked in it one evening, a vibrant red cardinal perched on a trellis in the garden and watched me intently for a number of minutes.  It took my breath away as I knew it had to be sign sent to comfort and assure me that Zach was doing great and was still surrounding us with his love.  Since that time Cardinals have shown up many times when my heart was desperate for assurance.  I have watched them carefully and learned their song.  They have become such a comfort to all of us. 

I now see Cardinals everywhere - when I am driving, when I am out walking, a couple come to visit a bird feeder about everyday just outside my office window.  I wonder - were they always there surrounding me with their assurance and I was just too busy or rushed to see them? 

I have also noticed on the early morning walks how I am treated to the most amazing art work in the sky every morning as the sun rises.  No two mornings patterns are the same and the colors that appear can be so deeply intense that I just have to stop and take it in for a few minutes.  Again, I know the sun has always rose every morning since I have been on this earth, why is it I am just discovering the unique beauty our amazing Creator paints for us every morning now? 

God is teaching me everyday how very present He is in my life.  Whether it be through a comforting sign of the Cardinals He sends, the amazing beauty of each and every sun rise or the intricate details in the tiniest of flowers, God is the creator of it all! I am learning His presence has always surrounded me, but I have to be willing to see it to appreciate how much He loves me and each one of us.  He had a plan with each and every creation on this earth and He has a plan for each and everyone of us!  We have to be willing to quiet all the destractions the world throws at us to listen to Him speaking to our hearts so that we can discover all that He is giving us every day! 

The book sales have been going amazingly well!  I have been signing books everyday for many wonderful friends and family members.  It has been a strange feeling to know many have climbed into my head and my heart and had a much more intimate look at the journey our family endured with Zach’s battle.  I never know quite what to expect when I see someone who has read the book.  I know it is a lot to absorb and digest - this was not an easy story for any of us to wrap our heads around.  I still have trouble thinking it all actually happened.

Thank you to everyone who has read the book and shared their thoughts on what they read.  I have to say I have shared some tears with more than one person as we talked things over about it.  My hope is the book will teach a little, and mostly change hearts to know God is always ready and willing to carry us through any trial we might face.  It is just up to us to let Him do this for us. 

The Crossing Church (www.crossingonline.org for directions) has been kind enough to have the first official Unfinished Love book signing event!!  It will be this weekend (June 28 & 29) before and after all of the services.  The services are on Saturday at 5 pm and 7 pm and Sunday at 9 am and 11 am.  Dirk, Lexi and I will be in the lobby at least 30 minutes before and after each service with a table full of books!  After that, I will see how much inventory I have left before I set up another local signing in the Valrico area.  If you would like to pick up a book before then please send me an email at sherry@sherrytucker.net and we can coordinate a time. 

I will also have a book signing in Indiana on August 3rd in Spencer for those of you in that area.  A family friend, Anita Kay, has a bookstore there and is making the arrangements for that event. 

Until next time I am…

Living in His Presence,

Sherry