Football

So, did anybody see what happened on t.v. last night? As in football? As in Super Bowl Football? Well, I may or may not have skipped some of the game. I did try to watch some of the half time show. But ya’ll, Katy Perry. I just can’t. I can’t get past the kissed the girl & I liked it song. I did pull my 11 year old out from in front of the t.v. when Ms. Perry started belting that one out. I would say in the least, she probably has hundreds of songs in her arsenal to sing. But she chose the kissing the girl song to sing last night. Sorry (not sorry). It just aggravates me. If she were here, my Mama Boyce would say, “She needs them legs striped.” Meaning in northeast MS language she needs taken out behind the woodshed. Which means, oh well, she just needs to stop it.

Malcolm Butler – New England Patriots Super Bowl 2015

Anyway, let’s talk about Malcolm Butler. Did you see him make the winning play? Malcolm. Butler. Won. The. Super. Bowl. Now, let’s talk about where ol’ Malcolm is from. West Alabama? No, that’s where he went to college. New England? No, that’s who he plays for.

Did I hear someone faintly say, MISSISSIPPI??

As in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Really? Mississippi? My Mississippi? The one that has the lowest education rating in the nation? The one that has the highest obesity rate in the country? The one that you never hear anything nice about. Yea, that Mississippi. The one that gave birth to Elvis Presley. Well, not really. His mama did, but you know what I mean. The one where the famous author John Grisham is from. The one where other great authors like Eudora Welty, William Faulkner & Tennessee Williams lived & worked. The same Mississippi, in which I have been asked, if we have indoor toliets & running water.

The one where Eli & Peyton Manning came from. The one that is home to the John Stennis Space Center (NASA’s Center of Excellence for rocket propulsion testing isn’t in Houston, or even Florida. It’s Stennis Space Center in South Mississippi.)

I’m not trying to chase a rabbit here. I am just trying to make the point that even though Mississippi gets a bad rap, somehow, somewhere we have done some things really right. So for all you skeptics out there, the guy that won the Super Bowl for the New England Patriots was from the wonderful, fantastic, beautiful, & marvelous state of Mississippi. (I must apologize to all of my English teachers for that really long sentence there. When I get excited, I forget that periods are free & I can use them anytime.) You may be saying how could that be that he’s from Mississippi? Well, it just can. (That’s my best explanation right now.)

Nazareth from the South

There was a time when someone questioned the place where Jesus was from. He was from Nazareth. According to www.bible-history.com, in Jesus’s time Nazareth had an evil reputation .It has generally been attributed to the Galileans’ lack of culture and rude dialect. There was a man named Nathanael, who asked a question about Jesus.

“Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” John 1:46

Nathanael was himself a Galilean. He may have said that because Nazareth was such a common term of contempt among the more “righteous” Jews in Judea. Thank goodness one of the disciples, Philip, was there to say,

“Come see.”

I am happy to say Christ’s being from Nazareth has not had too bad of an effect on His message. I would think He put Nazareth on the map. There may have been some questionable things going on in Nazareth, however, evidently, obviously, there were some really right things going on too. Am I comparing Malcolm Butler to Jesus? Well, maybe sorta. Sometimes it’s as easy as looking for the good instead of the bad. The cream always rises to the top. So did Jesus & so did Malcolm. Before you stereo-type me or Malcolm from being from Mississippi, remember, everybody has to come from somewhere. By the grace of God, we were born & raised in one of the best places on earth.

Thank you for stopping by to visit with me today. You are most welcome to come by any time. As for me, I have to be going, because I should be washing clothes.

If you want to read more about how Mississippi is awesome sauce & the cat’s pajama’s, you can go here.

To read more lovely poetry about our wonderful state by the talented Patricia Neely-Dorsey click here.

Photo credits:

Yahoo! Sports, http://www.patricianeelydorsey.com, http://www.prayfit.com, http://www.mississippibelieveit.com, blacksportsonline

I Thessalonians 5:18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

As everyone knows, that does not live under a rock, this Thursday is Thanksgiving. I have always liked Thanksgiving for many reasons. Here are a few:

1. I get to see my family that I love. Especially the ones from out of town. I am turning into my Mamaw. If it’s a holiday or Sunday dinner, my loved ones are required to be at my house. And if not, I just won’t ever understand what else could be so important that you could not have your feet under my table for that time. I just love them that much.

2. Thanksgiving is leisure time. Not like that other holiday that is coming up next month. Thanksgiving is cooking & eating & visiting. You are really not required to do anything except cook, eat, & visit. That’s easy. Oh & watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade & football games. Plus, we enjoy a little Just Dance, on the Wii, at our house as well. Miss Neenee’s usual response when I play is,

“Mama quit. You are embarrassing yourself.”

3. We eat our way through the whole holiday. I begin by hosting Thanksgiving breakfast. We fill our bellies full of biscuits, Mama’s breakfast casserole, quiche, homemade Danish, bacon, sausage, & various & asundry jellies, preserves, & whatever else I can come up with. Then, once that’s over, we go for the meal with the star of the show- the smoked turkey. There’s dressing(not stuffing), cranberry sauce, beans, corn, salads, shells & cheese, casseroles, rolls, so much I can’t name it all. And desserts that will make you want to slap yo’ mama & draw back at your daddy. **On a side note, speaking of which, my Daddy has already proclaimed his Thanksgiving day plans are to eat breakfast at my house, then, go back to one of the bedrooms & sleep until we wake him up for dinner. ** I love a well thought out plan.

4. Me & my sweetie get to cook together. It just all comes full circle. We love to eat. So, cooking together makes it just that much more fun.

5. No stressing out. I have my menu made weeks in advance. I get my groceries bought up. We plan when we are cooking what. We execute our plan. If anything goes amiss, it’s ok. It’s all family. They don’t care. Not like Christmas. My hair will be falling out before Christmas Eve. Seriously. It happens every year. You don’t have to worry about presents on Thanksgiving or making sure everything is just right. I leave that for next month.

So you see, I try my best, to celebrate Thanksgiving the way it should be. Being thankful for what the Lord has so graciously blessed us with. I read an article that has suggested showing gratitude is a lot more healthier for us than not being thankful- even for the everyday things. You can read 20 Mind Blowing things about Gratitude here. I do want to mention Bro. Brad preached an excellent sermon on Sunday- pinpointing being thankful. He said he had read a story about a preacher that was always thankful. He said one of the negative Nancy’s of the congregation came in thinking there was no way the preacher would find anything to be thankful for that day. It was nasty outside. Raining, wind blowing, terrible weather. When the preacher got up to pray, he said,

“Thank you, Lord, that not all days are like this.”

What a wonderful attitude of gratitude. There is always something to be thankful for. The blanket on our bed, that keeps us warm a night. The roof over our heads. Hot water. Shoes. Our sight. Things that oftentimes we take for granted. We as a society are so funny. Because you know what the day after Thanksgiving is- Black Friday.

Sad, but true.

I am glad you stopped by to visit with me today. I so hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Like every year, I will be so happy to be surrounded by friends & family. However, will be missing my Mama, too. She loved a celebration. No matter what it was for. Happy Thanksgiving, ya’ll!! Until next time I will be going because I should be washing clothes.

photo credits: someecards.com, tilhecomes.org, thanksgiving scripture