On Blazing Trails and Leaving Evidence
Hey y'all, I'm in a full out run of preparation. I'll be leaving for Guatemala this coming Monday, part of a Compassion Int'l mission trip. Amidst all the packing and double checking of the packing, I've turned my kitchen into an assembly line to put good food in the freezer for my beloved farmer to enjoy while I'm away. It's what you do when you were raised by a good Southern
Should the authorities come calling, here’s the backstory…
My youngest grandchild, known as Weston the Wonder Boy, turned three a while back. He sleeps in a big boy bed at his own house but I’ve still been putting him down in the baby bed when he naps here. It wasn’t a conscious effort to baby him as much as one of those habitual things you do because you haven’t thought to switch gears.
Take it to Jesus
One evening, during the lovely chaos of this past Christmas season, I found my firstborn grandchild sitting alone with tears running down her precious little face. When my grands cry, my heart melts. I have identified this as one of the laws of motion that Sir Newton overlooked. The poor man could only come up with three? Please. I have tons. Like, a grandchild’s body that
Extra! Extra! Read All About It
Hey y'all! I've got a ton of things to talk to y'all about. So much so, that I'm about to burst. My newest "baby", my storytelling cookbook, Hungry is a Mighty Fine Sauce, published by Barbour Publishing, hits shelves in tomorrow morning, Saturday, Oct. 1st! At this point, I feel a whole lot like my man when the crops are maturing and he is anxious to put a combine in
Remembering Mike Blakeney
Dear All Things Southern friends, I prepared your newsletter tonight with a sore and tender heart. So much so that I almost didn't send it at all. To be honest, it would've been easier not to do this. And yet, I decided I had to because I wanted you to know about the passing of a great friend of this community, Terry Michael Blakeney, Sr.,
He Gives More Grace
It’s been weeks since my daughter dropped a huge ceramic dish on her right foot, nearly severing the tendon of her big toe. The painful accident led to an emergency room visit with four-year-old Connor in tow, who was quite put out the entire time because she inadvertently left his afternoon popcorn in the microwave. For shame. The trip included multiple stiches and shots to
About this election? Breathe
How long has it been since you looked up? No, not from your smart phone, but that, too. When was the last time you tilted your sweet tired stressed head back and looked straight up into the endless expanse of the sky above us? If you can go outside and do that now, please do. I'll wait. If you’re driving, or you couldn't do it right
Who are you wearing?
Ah…the interesting universe of Hollywood and the mega rich. There are many things celebrities do, say, and wear that I find off putting, to say the least. But there are other things about their world that strike me as strange, or funny. Or both. For the sake of today’s discussion, I’d like to explore their red carpet moments and the odd habit they-- and the
Be Imitators of God as Beloved Children
Weston the Wonder Boy is our youngest grandchild and in some ways he seems determined to catch the fabulous four that are just ahead of him. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Weston’s growing up and changing even faster than his siblings and his cousins, and that’s saying something. Of course, it’s more likely my grandmother perspective speaking, seeing as how it appears likely
God Wants to Give You the Blessing of Perspective
I hesitate to broach the following conversation because every time I mention how much I dislike spiders my Facebook wall gets flooded with images of the little monsters, compliments of people who call me friends. And yet they enjoy harassing me. What is that? You’d think I’d skirt the subject entirely, and I would— if Father God would keep his spiders out of my state,
