I have a husband, three grown children and two grandchildren whom I love dearly.

I've spent most of my life reaching out to help the poor in one way or another. For the last 12 years I've been working with the homeless in Madison, WI and in 2002 began working with the poor in Andhra Pradesh, India.

I believe the poor are in the center of God's heart and He weeps with them. He's given us the freedom of choice to love or to hate or to just ignore the people and world around us. It is my heart to help each one find the love He is pouring out to us and to find the beauty of who they were created to be.

I grew up in Michigan, lived 20 years in Idaho (beautiful mountains!) and now live in Madison, WI, but much of my heart is in India. God has given me many wonderful brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren in Andhra Pradesh. I'm called "Sherry Maama", Grandma Sherry, and it is with joy I receive that title. I wonder at how God has made me to love them so much it breaks my heart, and what a wonder that they love and accept me also.

Here in Madison I'm frustrated with a city govenment that simply wants homeless people to disappear, to make it look good, to make the yuppie constituants comfortable. We have homeless families, homeless people who work full time but cannot afford housing; homeless people that have severe medical problems and are not able to receive any treatment. This should not be so in our country!

Some friends and I joined together here in Madison to open a day center for the homeless. The city shut us down saying that the church building we were in was not zoned properly to allow the Christians in the church to reach out to the homeless. They don't want us bringing the poor into our churches, they don't want us feeding the poor on the streets -- they are afraid that the homeless are bad for business and bad for family life. They forget the homeless are people and families themselves. It makes me angry!

In India we have begun two preschools for the poor children to prepare them with what they need to know to enter a government school. We also feed them eggs and milk, the only protein they get in their diets, which for many are simply rice and chili spice or salt. Their uneducated parents cannot prepare them for school. I'm praying for funds to re-open our two preschools, currently on break until we can fund them again. $150 a month funds a preschool for 25 children.

We are currently helping to care for some orphans from the tsunami three years ago. They lost their entire families, homes, clothes, everything. We're in the process of building our first home for God's Agape Families that He is bringing together. We'll be placing one widow with 5 children to create a new family in the love of Christ. It is our goal to build a house for each of these families and they will be family for one another for the rest of their lives. As the children get older they are to care for the widow when she needs help. They will not be put out on the street at age 18, but will live as other families live, each going out on their own as they are ready.

We are just beginning to put together a sponsorship program and could use some help in this.

We also have been given a great opportunity to be a part of bringing clean water to India. A friend has developed a probiotic that will clean wells and treat water making it safe to drink and healthy. We hope to get this rolling in 2008.

Personally, I'll be going into a time of sabbatical; a sabbatical for writing and painting and other art forms, starting in March 2008. It will be a time for me to reconnect with God on a personal level without the demands of ministry getting in the way. It will be a time of rest and refreshing and healing and getting physically well again. I've poured my life out and need some poured back in.

It has been a very hard and a very good 12 years here in Madison.

Moses (I'd like to know how he put up with the people), Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Nikola Tesla, Amy Carmichael, Joan of Arc, Mother Teresa....but I'm a little late for meeting them.

These days, I'd like to meet President Carter, President G.W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Dali Lama, ....

Today, God so loves the world that he sends you and I to be Jesus love shared among them. -- my version of Mother Teresa's words

I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. Phil. 4:13

Prayer fastens the soul to God. - Julian of Norwich

Care more than others think wise.
Risk more than others think safe.
Dream more than others think practical.
Expect more than others think possible.
----Howard Schultz, CEO Starbucks

The difference between what we do, and what we are capable of doing, would suffice to solve most of the world's problems. -- Gandhi

Joy is not a matter of what's happening around you, but inside you. -- Steve Miller

Some men see things as they are and say, "Why?" I dream things that never were, and say, "Why not?" -- George Bernard Shaw

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Christianity is not an obligation-driven living. It is a relationship with Jesus that , in turn, affects how you relate with others.
----Dr. Les Carter

Most of us spend so much time thinking about what we should do that we don't put enough thought into who we want to be.
----Dr. Les Carter

Grew up in Michigan, moved to Idaho via Arizona. Went to Illinois for college and now live in Madison, WI.

I've seen most of the USA except the Eastern coast and Alaska and Hawaii.

I've been on mission trips to Venezuela and India. I've spent some time on the Navajo Reservation near Farmington, NM and loved it. I've been into Canada to Toronto and to Niagra Falls (beautiful power).

I love to travel, but my body complains, especially on those long flights to India.

English, rusty French, a little Spanish and even less Telugu.

I want to learn Telugu thoroughly. Any volunteers?