Celebrating UGA, DST, Kim & Lola…Blest Be the Tie That Binds…

Hello World, 001

I love that familiar hymn “Blest Be the Tie that Binds.” While a tie may seem restrictive, a tie can actually be wonderful thing that keeps us together when the rigors of life can easily separate…

One of the ties that binds me is the tie that I have to the University of Georgia, my blessed alma mater…Although the University of Georgia wasn’t my first choice when I was applying to colleges, going to and graduating from the University of Georgia has proven to be a blessing to me over and over again…

One of the ways that I reconnect to my beloved alma mater is attending homecoming…I don’t always get to attend but when I do, I am reminded of the four years it took to make a Georgia Bulldawg (I said, ‘It’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog!)

At the University of Georgia, I was blessed to pledge the best and most illustrious sorority in the world Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. What makes a sorority is the sisters that you meet and bond with hopefully for the rest of your life…I am forever tied to Delta Sigma Theta, and it was wonderful to reconnect with them yesterday on the campus where we started as girls, became sisters and left as women..Unfortunately, two of beloved sorority sisters, my line sisters to be specific, are no longer with us due to breast cancer (Please remember that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.), and we celebrated our ties to them…our dear Kim & Lola…Take a look at some of the memories I made yesterday at the University of Georgia…Go Dogs!!!

001

Celebrating Kim & Lola & Honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month…

005A better view with my line sister and me…

008More line sisters…

016Explaining about breast cancer awareness…

025Still spreading the word…

008One thing about Zeta Psi Deltas…we love to take line pics šŸ™‚

014 Exhibit B…

023One of my favorite Delta “Big Sisters”

twoDeuces!!!

026Many of us met our future husbands at Georgia and created more Georgia Bulldogs šŸ™‚

002Perhaps future Georgia bulldogs?

021Doesn’t she look like a future Georgia bulldog?

020If you didn’t meet your future spouse at UGA, you definitely met great friends…

017Everyone, including my hubby, loves the Georgia bulldogs!

032Red and Black in Technicolor…

034Of course, I had to get a pic of me too…

031At the end of the day, we collected hundreds on behalf of breast cancer research…Please consider doing the same…

Any thoughts?

Making Your Divine Appointment…

Hello World,

Delta Authors on Tour...

Delta Authors on Tour…

Yesterday was a whirlwind of a day…I had gotten up around 5:30 a.m. to pray and write and then I mapped out the rest of day…I had planned to go the Delta Authors on TourĀ event for a couple of hours and then get on with my Saturday washing clothes, grocery shopping, etc. – basically the mundane stuff…

In my mind, I was grumbling about the various things I needed to get done – the fun stuff and not-so-fun stuff…I LOVE to write, but writing this first novel has been a challenging feat for me for several reasons…For the sake of brevity, I will only name two…Reason #1…Up until the last year or so, I haven’t read a novel in some years…I’m a non-fiction afficionado…In fact, even though I’ve been a part of a book club that has read novels for roughly 16 years, I have read very few of them (I’m grateful they allow me to come back to meetings šŸ™‚ ) Reason #2…Since I’m trained as a journalist, I can whip up a competent article or two or three if threatened in a few hours…But writing chapters and for hundreds of pages is a marathon I’ve never run before…

The not-so-fun stuff was obviously my household chores…Sometimes my week is so hectic, I have to relegate mundane chores to the weekend…and the last thing I want to do on a weekend is wash clothes, plan meals, clean, etc. When I was single, I could ignore all of the not-so-fun stuff and let things pile up including dishes, clothes, dust bunnies, etc. But now that someone is living with me, I no longer have that luxury…(although my husband would probably argue that I still allow myself that luxury…)

Sorors Dr. Fran Breakfield & L.D. Wells...

Sorors Dr. Francene Breakfield & L.D. Wells…

So yesterday, I had all of that planned as I charged into Greenbriar Mall where the Delta Authors on Tour event was held. My plan was to stay there for two hours tops…I was there to support two of my collegiate chapter sorors L.D. Wells and Dr. Francene Breakfield and then meet newly minted Soror Suzan Johnson Cook, who is not only a former pastor and current author, she also served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom…But when I was told Soror Johnson Cook wouldn’t be there until 3 p.m., I realized that my day would unfold as planned…

Me & Soror, Dr., Ambassador & More Suzan Johnson Cook...

Me & Soror, Dr., Ambassador & More Suzan Johnson Cook…

How many of you know that “in their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps?” (Proverbs 16:9)

What I understand now is that I had a divine appointment to be there and not just for two hours but for the WHOLE day…I got there early about 11 ish in the morning and didn’t make it home until roughly the same time last night…

Me & Soror Victoria Christopher Murray...

Me & Soror Victoria Christopher Murray…

While I was there I met Soror Suzan Johnson Cook whose book “A New Dating Attitude” made me know that I know that I know that I truly know my husband was and is God’s best for me…But that wasn’t the only reason I was there…I reconnected with authors I’ve met before such as Victoria Christopher Murray and met authors I’ve never met before such as Angela Ray, Dr.

From left to right, Dr. Martha Ward Plowden, L.D. Wells, Brenda Jackson, Dr. Fran Breakfield

From left to right, Dr. Martha Ward Plowden, L.D. Wells, Brenda Jackson, Dr. Fran Breakfield

Majorie L. Kimbrough, Dr. Martha Ward Plowden, Ruth P. Watson, Stephanie Perry Moore and Brenda Jackson…In fact, I hobnobbed with the Delta Authors on Tour so much I was invited to go to dinner with them that evening at The Pecan restaurant in downtown College Park…New York Times Best-Selling Author Brenda Jackson, who I’m ashamed I’ve never heard of before yesterday, has written over 100 books!!! (Y’all know she has been blessed by God, all gifts do come from Him…)

Stephanie Perry Moore and one of her adorable young fans...

Stephanie Perry Moore and one of her adorable young fans…

The conversation at dinner encouraged me to continue in my divine appointment of being a wife (maybe mother someday…I know I’m 41 and the countdown has started…Mind yo business šŸ™‚ ) and an author with dreams so big only God can accomplish them through me…

As I and some of the author Delta Authors on Tour made our way back to our cars, little did we know that we had another divine appointment…We met a dynamic downtown College Park business owner that regaled us with story after story after story of her “mustard seed” faith and how she encourages people to not only dream but to WAKE UP!

Don't we look hungry? LOL...Me & Angela Ray...

Don’t we look hungry? LOL…Me & Angela Ray…

And I’m only giving you the “public personal” version of the divine appointments that I experienced yesterday because I’m still pondering everything and this is the Internet…lol…

So this morning, I’m awake and ready to continue to writing this novel that I hope to have “spit shined” and ready for perusal next month…Y’all keep me in prayer…

Won’t He Do It! Guess What? He Already Did!

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking Back: 2013 in Posts…

Hello World,

In just two days, we get to press the virtual reset button on our lives and begin anew…But before we plot our path into the future, it is always wise to see where we have traveled up until this point…One the ways that I reflect on my journey is to go through the posts on this blog month by month and consider the events of the year…so indulge me a bit as I highlight the best of After the Altar Call 2013….

2013 Emerging Writ E-Blast:Layout 1

January 2013I was one of two authors selected as an emerging writer for 2012 by Written Magazine!Ā Kim Green (author of ā€œHallucinationā€) and I read from our work as a part of Written Magazine’s ā€œWine & Wordsā€ at the historic Hammonds House Museum. It was a real blessing in more ways than one! In January 13, my beloved sorority celebrated its 100th birthday!

February 2013 – I recounted some of the the scandals that have shaken up the church, particularly the Atlanta church …From Bishop Eddie Long Accuser Centino Kemp To Release Tell-AllĀ Book to RHOA Kandi Burruss Releases Gospel Song ā€œStay Prayed Upā€ with Marvin SappĀ 

March 2013 – I revealed I am working on a novel in “The Next Big Thingā€¦aka My Next Book in Progressā€¦” I’m not quite finished with the rough draft, but my novel is shaping up to be a juicy page-turner (if I say so myself…at least prayerfully… šŸ™‚ )

April 2013 – By April, I was in full wedding planning mode and was stunned by the average cost of a wedding…An astounding $25,656, according to theweddingreport.com….so of course I wrote the post “The Wedding Industry Heist aka maybe I should go in the wedding planning business.”Ā  I was also saddened by the Boston Marathon bombing…Although I am a late bloomer to running, I have fallen in love with it and wrote “An Ode to Running (my tribute to the people affected by the Boston Marathon bombingā€¦).”

May 2013President Obama becomes an honorary “Morehouse Man,” delivering the commencement address to the 2013 to the graduating class of Morehouse College! It was the first time that a sitting president has ever addressed a spring commencement in the state! I was blessed to be to cover the event…

Brand new Morehouse Man President Obama!

Brand new Morehouse Man President Obama!

June 2013 – I expressed my disappointment that a wedding vendor “jacked” $600 from me, but thankfully, with the Lord’s wisdom and guidance, I was able to get my money back!

treyvonskittlesJuly 2013 – The day after George Zimmerman was allowed to go free in spite of killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, all I could do was be quiet and reflect in “Why the Trayvon Martin Murder Case Mattersā€¦Peace Be Still”ā€¦And while I am no psychologist, one has to wonder why George Zimmerman continues to get in trouble following the not-guilty verdict…Is his guilt prompting him to act out in ways that will get him locked up? I guess we will know in time…

wedding partyAugust 2013 – One of the best events in my life happened this month…I married my ace boon coon on August 10, and we traveled to Hawaii, the state of President Obama was born, for our honeymoon…Yep, it was the best month of the year…We also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his impassioned and ultimately prophetic ā€œI Have A Dreamā€ speech. 164

September 2013I joined the 4-0 club this month…I still cannot believe I am 40 years old…I remember when I turned 13…but those days are gone now…Hello Middle Age…LOL…Sadly, 50 years ago this month, members of the Ku Klux Klan, planted a bomb at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and killed four girls, Addie Mae Collins, 14; Denise McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14; and Cynthia Wesley, 14…

LolaBrownOctober 2013 – On Oct. 22, my friend and Delta line sister went home to be with the Lord…Although she is with her savior, the one who knows her and loves her best, and is now cancer-free, we miss her so…I had a dream about her last night…Please keep her family in your prayers…“The Light and the Life that was Lolaā€¦”

November 2013I was blessed to be able to speak to students at Milligan College and take a trip down memory lane with my parents who accompanied me on the trip…My father received one of his several degrees there in 1972, the year before I was born. In fact, when my parents arrived on Milliganā€™s campus they had just gotten married

The entrance of Milligan College...

The entrance of Milligan College…

months before in August 1971.

December 2013 – Every holiday season, it is hard not to lose ourselves in the Christmas commercialism, but thankfully, I am always able somehow to remind myself that Jesus is the real reason for the season in “Seven Scriptures to Remind Us that Jesus is the Real Reason for the Seasonā€¦(Repost)” I also celebrated my first Christmas with the hubby…we are still working on figuring out to celebrate holidays with two families…

Our first Christmas together tree ornament...I know it's corny but...

Our first Christmas together tree ornament…I know it’s corny but…

 

 

Any thoughts?