How Thanksgiving Came to the United States and Why

When elementary school teachers across our nation tell their students the origins of Thanksgiving, there are accounts of pilgrims and Indians, complete with black-buckled hats and feathered headdresses, talk of starving people and the wisdom of men like Squanto who taught the Mayflower pilgrims how to survive amid a challenging new world. And while none of these accounts are wrong, …

Will You Take the 30 Day What-You-Say Challenge?

Words are powerful. They can build up a life through language doused in love, or they can cut a life down like a scythe slicing through brittle grass. When I recently asked my oldest daughter what she loved most about her best friend at school, she replied, “I’ve never heard her say a bad word about anyone. She speaks the …

The Tale of Two Dances

“Daddy, wanna dance?” The mirror ball sprinkled light across the darkened room, washing the space in prisms of blue, red, green and purple. The father sighed and stuffed pressed the ‘end call’ button on his cellphone before shoving it back down in his pocket. He held up a finger. “One dance, Priscilla.” As the pumping beat of “Dance Like Your …

In High Cotton and a chat with Ane Mulligan!

I can’t wait to introduce you to a dear friend and fellow Southerner…my buddy Ane Mulligan! Ane is one of those special people who is bursting with sunshine. She has a brand new story out entitled In High Cotton and I invited her here to tell you all about it. (And she’s brought a yummy recipe with her.) So without …

The Redemption of Kip

“Runt.” “He’ll never live.” “He’s so scrawny.” I don’t know what I did wrong. I was born, I guess. While all my brothers and sisters were cute, wriggly little pups, I was the outcast. Never expected to do much. To be much. At the pet store, the chubby, groping fingers of girls and boys would rove over all of our …

Life Advice from a Civil War Woman

You’re living in trying times, my friend. Trust me, I have an inkling of the discomfort you bear. Instability and chaos on every side, opinions being flung about with startling force, political upheaval, food shortages, and financial distress. It’s difficult to sleep some nights, isn’t it? But take heart. I survived and so will you. By the grace of the …

When The World is Spiraling Out of Control…What Do We Do?

During this tumultuous season in our nation, its easy to raise our voices, to shout our opinions, our convictions, and our testimonies. In all honesty, I feel that social media can become a riot of its own…a mob of anger, name-calling, opportunities to be ‘seen’, and pointing fingers. Little of it is effective. Some of it causes the wounds to …