Since 1993
Sherry's Main Message
Sherry is a mother, daughter, sister and friend. She loves reading, enjoys writing, spending time with friends, playing the piano, and watching TV. Her most fulfilling role has been that of mother to her daughter, Cristina. She had the honor of walking her husband, Bill, Home on February 14, 2011. Sherry was born, raised and continues to live in the Northern Virginia region. She is active in her local church. She is employed full-time in the HR industry.
Her Bible life chapter is Psalm 34. Sherry leans on the promises God gives us in scripture and knows He has great plans for her and is excited to see the daily plan for her life in Him unfold.
Sherry has been abundantly Blessed throughout her life and was privileged to be born into a Christian family who showed the love of Christ in her home throughout her childhood and into her adult life. She has a beautiful, accomplished older sister who is happily married to a wonderful Christian man and they have two beautiful adult daughters.
She hasn’t always taken the high road, and tends to learn the hard way, so to speak. Once out of college with a sparkly Bachelor of Science degree in Leisure and Recreation Services, she was Blessed to find a job in her field of study. She met her first husband while working in her first “real” job. They were married for three years and had a beautiful daughter in December of 1996. In 2001, Sherry was legally divorced and became a single mother to a three year old and with the help and support of family and friends set out to start over and Glorify God with her new family dynamic. She devoted all of her energy to being the best mom she could be.
In January of 2003, a friend from church, who was also a bail bondsperson, called and asked Sherry to pray for a church family member’s brother who was in jail in a pretty bad way. Their Pastor was trying to gain access and because this guy was in so much trouble, it was hard-going. She put the phone down and prayed for this un-named guy and his family and their Pastor. She prayed that this guy knew the love of Christ and that he had experienced love to the point that he could believe that Christ could love him no matter what he had done. At the same time, Sherry was becoming fast friends with a wonderful lady in her church who was a wonderful spiritual mentor. Her children were around the same age of Sherry's daughter and her husband was very kind.
In March of 2003, her friend – Eileen – introduced Sherry to her brother – Bill. He was shy and so was Sherry (and she wasn’t looking for a man in her life). A few days later at a monthly Ladies Fellowship meeting, Eileen came up to Sherry and asked her in confidence if she would be willing to be a pen pal to her brother, Bill. Eileen said he needed a spiritual mentor and friend and she felt Sherry would be a good choice. Eileen said her brother was going away for six months to get help for an addiction and that he would not be able to communicate by phone or computer and would Sherry be willing to write. Sherry said that if he wrote to her, she would pray over the letter and return the correspondence as long as she felt the Lord leading her to. So began Sherry's six month friendship with Eileen's brother Bill.
Sherry learned through their communication that Bill was a convicted felon (for breaking and entering) and had been in serious trouble from the time he was 10 years old. He was addicted to crack cocaine and had been trying to beat it for years. His addiction led him to break in and steal to get money to buy drugs. He was so ashamed and just wanted help. There was something about him that was honorable – that defied his written resume. So they continued to write and became very close platonic friends.
At the end of the six month program, Bill returned to Virginia and moved into the basement of his sister’s home. He rode a bicycle to work and made $8.00 an hour. He was definitely not boyfriend material. In September 2003, his sister and her family had a cookout and Sherry and her daughter were invited to it. Bill had such a sweet way with his nieces and nephew and with Sherry's daughter too. Very quickly, they realized they were in love.
As they grew in their love, Bill shared with Sherry about the night he decided to turn himself into the police in an attempt to get help. He was in the local jail and their Pastor was trying to get visitation to see him and was having a hard time getting in. Bill shared with Sherry that as he sat in the jail cell, he began to pray that the Lord would allow him to have a normal life. He wanted a wife, children, a home, a truck, a job, bills, etc. and he wanted to feel loved and to know that Christ held him in His hand. At that moment, Sherry realized that Bill was the unnamed person she had prayed for those many months before. The Lord had been working on bringing them together.
They were married on April 29, 2006 and it was the beginning of the happiest time of Sherry's life thus far. On January 1, 2007, Bill came down with severe flu-like symptoms and that began their 18 month journey to a diagnosis of myleodyplasia syndrome – a rare blood cancer. From that diagnosis, they participated in a clinical trial that failed. Bill almost died three times from severe skin infections (MRSA).
In November 2010, the doctors felt that Bill was moving quickly into an incurable leukemia. They were told that his chance of dying from this progression was 100% and that if we attempted a bone marrow transplant, there was a 40% he would be saved. After much prayer, research, and support from family, Bill determined to go to Duke Hospital in Durham, North Carolina to attempt a bone marrow transplant.
He received a cord blood transplant on January 14, 2011. He was 42 years old and strong in body, mind and spirit. Because of the type of transplant, we were told that it might take 21 days for the cord blood to engraft. This was very difficult because in order to introduce the cord blood into Bill, they had to remove his immune system. 21 days without an immune system is a lot of days where things can go wrong. The first few days were ok and they had very high hopes. As the days wore on and no signs of engrafting were showing, Bill became weaker and weaker and without an immune system, he began to contract several infections (bacterial, fungal, viral, etc.). He also contracted graft versus host disease in his skin and GI tract.
On February 14, 2011, the Lord called Bill Home. His earthly ministry was completed and Sherry was devastated to learn that the Lord was not only asking her to sacrifice someone she loved with all her heart, but that He was asking her to continue on without Bill and to Glorify God in her remaining days here. Unthinkable at the time, but in the years since his home-going, Sherry has taken it one step at a time. She has again started over with Christ showing her His will for her life.
Sherry started writing for aNew Season ministries in 2013. She felt called away from that ministry, but feels God is still providing her with words. With this in mind, she decided to start this website.
