(Family Features) Don’t let turkey and ham have all the fun this holiday season. After all, you know your guests are likely to have plates piled high with all their favorite festive side dishes.
(Culinary.net) Make room in the oven this Thanksgiving with a Spatchcock Smoked Turkey recipe that stays moist and tender. By relying on the smoker rather than a traditional baked bird, you can keep the oven freed up for savory sides and delectable desserts.
“Do you have grandchildren?” I asked with a kind and lilting voice, after being introduced to my newest cousin (by marriage) when we gathered in Alabama for Thanksgiving.
Ashley Hicks is a runner and co-founder of the group Black Girls RUN!, a group whose mission is to encourage all people (but especially black females) to make fitness and healthy living a priority. For Ashley Hicks, as for many runners, there is a spiritual and meditative aspect to running. She tells the story about preparing for her second marathon and in the process of buying some new running shoes telling the person who was helping her at the store that she wasn’t really excited about the race and just wanted to get through it. He told her to remember that “the blessing is outside of your comfort zone.” For anyone who has ever done any long-distance running, or any physical activity that took you past the limits of your comfort zone, you know how true this is. You must go beyond your comfort zone to get your second wind, and this is just as true for mental and spiritual efforts as it is for physical ones. God’s saving grace is more apt to come after the dark night of the soul. We simply aren’t likely to recognize God’s grace in the everyday routine, even though it’s always there. If you’re feeling a bit lackluster and blasé about life, or some aspect of it, press on until you hit that point where it starts to get uncomfortable, and remember that the blessing comes somewhere past that point.– Christopher Simon “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
(StatePoint) As local communities throughout the southeast region of the United States coped with the damage caused by recent hurricanes, National Guard, Coast Guard and additional active-duty service members rescued people and pets, cleared roads, and distributed needed supplies. These service members not only left their loved ones behind to tackle stressful disaster response missions, but many were also members of impacted communities, making their response efforts all the more challenging.
Ifound myself making yet another trip by a familiar church sign which reminds us all, “Let your lives be filled with thanks and giving.” Each time I pass, that sign serves as a good reminder of what’s important.