November is upon us again, which would usually mean a trip to Alabama to see my grandmother Carlean. My grandmother and I have always had a special relationship. If you missed last November’s Turkeys and Banjos post, you can read it here.

She turned 89 a little while ago, sailing through the birthday in good health. This would be short-lived, however, as she came down with a serious infection that landed her in the hospital about a month later.

I’m sad to say that Carlean left us on Friday. She passed away in the same placid, peaceful state as the leaves fluttering from the nearby trees. She was my last remaining grandparent.

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I know, I know. By now you’re probably really tired of these words. You’ve no doubt seen the headlines by now for the “What’s Your Excuse?” fit mom, Maria Kang, posing over her three small children.

There was an instant outcry across the country, especially from moms calling Kang everything from an inspiration to a poser and a bully.

(A bully? Really? For posting a photo of herself?)

There is real bullying in the world, and I’m not sure if posting a generic photo online deserves to send people into “victim” mode.

Kang claims the photo was meant to motivate and inspire others. Harassed moms claim it was deliberately insulting and smug.

The fact is, there is probably truth on both sides. Continue reading…

In all of Christendom, perhaps nothing is a as simple or as complex as faith. There is a vast amount of belief and purpose summed up in that one tiny word.

I used to think I knew a lot about faith – after all, I had faith, and it had been a familiar concept throughout my childhood. I met people who didn’t have faith…and that taught me a lot about faith too.

And yet for all I thought I knew about faith, events of the past year or two have taught me an important lesson. In fact, somewhere along the last 10 years, faith became a spiritual gift of mine (according to my spiritual gifts test…if you believe those type of things). Continue reading…

If you’re like me, a trip to the mailbox most days includes the occasional invite to an engagement party, wedding or baby shower.

I have a question for you – when such an invitation arrives in your mailbox, do you immediately start thinking of reasons you can go, or scan the invitation for details looking for excuses not to go?

I’m writing this because I think it’s one of the unspoken social tragedies of our generation – the failure of the RSVP and dwindling attendance at weddings, showers and other milestone moments.

I’ve heard the stories over and over again – the bride and groom who reserved a nice chapel only to have 2/3 of the church empty. The roommate trying to plan a baby shower for a friend, only to have four of the 30 people invited RSVP by the deadline. The wife trying to plan a surprise 40^th birthday party for her husband who had 6 of the 10 guests bail out the day of because “something came up,” leaving a hot dinner and no one to eat it.

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As one raised in the South, it’s high time we had a post on the art of y’all.

First and foremost, y’all is an actual word. If you don’t recognize this, you’d better stop reading now.

No one knows for sure when y’all first originated. It was probably not around to welcome the pilgrims on the Mayflower, but somehow had crept into common use by the Civil War. When shots were first fired at Fort Sumter, I’m pretty sure someone said, “Lookout, y’all!”

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This blog is brought to you from the white sands of Gulf Shores, Alabama. Be very jealous.

I haven’t posted much in June, and the simple reason for that is, I’ve been on vacation, and it’s hard to blog from the beach.

Not that there is any shortage of things to write about…
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