Tag Archives: Thanksgiving

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I Was Pregnant: The Reason Why I Blogged Irregularly After August 2021…

Hello World,

Back in September, I posted this editor’s note at the beginning of my blog post Is Gospel Singer Kelly Price Missing Or Not? Lawyer Says ‘No’ While Sister Says ‘Yes’ Plus Secret Marriage Details…See below…

Let me start with the obvious: I know your girl has been gone a minute…like over a month. I’m not going to go into a long explanation, but I will say that I’m going through a life change that warrants a rearranging of sorts. This life change does include getting back into blogging, but it may or may not be regular depending on a host of factors. But I do hope you can rock with me nevertheless…And at the right time, I will share more my dear readers…I promise…

Well, the right time has come: In the beginning of August 2021, I learned I was pregnant after years of undergoing fertility treatment. At the end of August 2021, I learned that I was pregnant with twins which was crazy because that was not a part of the plan…at least my plan…!! And on “Twos”day,  February 22, 2022, I gave birth to my identical twin girls Michaela, 4 pounds 2 ounces, and Mattison, 3 pounds 14 ounces, at 4:42 and 4:44 p.m. at 33 weeks plus three days pregnant. In fact, had my pregnancy continued to full term, I would given birth to the twins on Friday, April 8 so it’s fitting that I chose today to tell y’all what’s been going on with me and why I’ve been neglecting my humble corner of Al Gore’s Internet…

I tried blogging regularly, but each time I tried, I just didn’t have the energy to sustain my efforts which perplexed me because I’ve been  blogging since September 2008, when I wrote my first blog post…However, last week, it occurred to me why I just didn’t have the energy for it: All of my creative energies were devoted to creating my twins…And a lot of energy was required as I endured morning sickness which truly happened any time of the day, and as my pregnancy progressed, it was even triggered by showering. Yes, I allowed myself to get a bit funky to avoid being in the shower. LOL! I had food aversions and cravings. There were headaches. And a general feeling of malaise most of the time. Lower back pain some of the time. Heartburn from the pit of hell. (I learned that heartburn means that hair is being created. My girls have to thank me one day for being born with plenty of hair!) Many nights I had to sleep sitting up so the acid reflux wouldn’t be as bad. Lots of swelling, particularly from the waist down — so much so that  I was only able to wear one pair of my shoes, sneakers, and by wear, I mean jamming my feet into them and leaving the laces pretty much undone. And by January, my blood pressure started fluctuating. By February, those blood pressure fluctuations turned into severe preeclampsia and there was concern about my platelet levels. And that led to an emergency C-section on the perfect day to have twins!!

Let me take a moment to shout out the entire Labor & Delivery Team at Piedmont Hospital Atlanta where I gave birth to my twins girls. In fact, it was ladies night (really ladies afternoon) as not one man except for Handsome Hubby from my Ob-Gyn, to my anesthesiologist, to the nurses (and there were at least 15 or so women there as each baby was assigned a team) was in the room where my main doc, who also has my same name although spelled Jacqui, delivered the twins. Additionally, as it was a high-risk pregnancy due to my age (48) and the fact that I was pregnant with twins, I have to thank Georgia Perinatal Consultants because their care also contributed to the healthy delivery of the M&M twins (our nickname for the girls).

My mother told me that once I would delivered by twins, I would forget all that I went through in order to give birth to them. My mother is right about most things, but I didn’t forget. However, I will say this: It was worth it. My handsome hubby and I ABSOLUTELY ADORE our twin girls. Right now, my handsome hubby and I are feeding them every three hours so we sleep when we can which is not a lot, but we are enjoying getting to know our twins especially since they spent three weeks in the NICU before they were released! Since they are preemies, according to our pediatrician’s advice, we are slowly introducing them to the outside world. And since you are my dear readers, I am introducing you to the M&M Twins. See a few pics from our journey below…

Just a few days before we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary, we discovered we were pregnant! This is us hiking on the grounds of Montaluce Winery & Restaurant in Dahlonega, Georgia where we celebrated our anniversary. I’m working on getting back into those shorts now. While I can slide them up my hips, I cannot zip them up yet, but in time, I hope to do so 🙂

By Thanksgiving, I looked pregnant and I felt it was the right time to announce my pregnancy…Praise God from whom all blessings flow…

My favorite photo from my maternity shoot in February. It’s amazing what hair and makeup and a darn good photographer will do…Thanks to my hair stylist Venet Charles, my makeup artist Ashley Means and James Hill Photography!!! I had no idea that just a couple of weeks or so later, I would be giving birth although I absolutely felt ready to pop at that moment…

The M&M Twins stayed here during the first week on this earth. Those are their two beds. They were eventually elevated to their own private room as they progressed…

This is Handsome Hubby holding them for the first time…I hated seeing them hooked up to various monitors, but such is the path of preemies…

We took this picture of them shortly after they arrived home…No wires!!! Praise God!!!

This is just a few days ago on April 1. I imagined they had the below conversation…

Mattison: Sister, what you think about slap-gate?
Michaela: Zzzzzzzz
Hello April 👋…The deadline for slap-gate discussions has now passed…😁😆🤣… #MandMTwinsChronicles

Handsome Hubby and I feel as if we entered into our personal Promised Land…

So…regarding blogging…I’m back…I’m literally brimming with creative energy now that my body is my own again…However, for the time being, my time is not my own (these twins and their feedings own it)…so dear readers…I’m asking and praying that again you will still rock with me as I try to get on my regular blogging schedule (Sundays and Wednesdays and sometimes more and sometimes less) because I LOVE blogging the cross section of faith, relationships and pop culture!!!

And so there you have it…The Reason Why I Blogged Irregularly After August 2021…

Ain’t God Good?! Won’t He Do It?!

This Bible verse comes to mind this morning as I blog:

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,  to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

And if you please, please pray for the twins…

Any thoughts?

 

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Thousands Wait in Line to Receive Free Thanksgiving Meals from Media Mogul Tyler Perry…

Hello World,

By now, you may have heard that hometown hero (my hometown of the A that is) Tyler Perry gave away some 5,000 free meals on Sunday. Below is the story from PEOPLE magazine:

On Sunday, the star opened up his Atlanta movie studio, Tyler Perry Studios, for four hours to feed 5,000 families with a combination of food boxes and gift cards for local supermarket chain Kroger.

Perry, 51, personally funded the event, called TPS Giving, and studio employees donated their time to volunteer and hand out all of the goods.

“Tyler was heartbroken seeing people all over the country stand in line for food so he decided he wanted to give back to his community in Atlanta,” a source close to Perry tells PEOPLE. “Hopefully this encourages others who are able to, to give back during the holiday season in a year that has been difficult for many.”

Read the rest HERE.

I’m always amazed by Tyler Perry’s generosity, but what drew my attention to this story more than his good deed was that so many people are in need AND what they were willing to do to be blessed by him. Apparently, several people showed up as his studio hours before the event started. Obviously, times are really hard for people right now.

But he is not the only one who is in the giving mood here in the A! Earlier today, Atlanta entrepreneurs Jason Lobdell,  Alix Burton, Marcus Barney, Neo Davis and Jonathan Gooch took over the registers at a local Kroger store and paid for roughly $40,000 in groceries! Below is the story from 11 Alive:

Customers at one metro Atlanta Kroger had a surprise gift in store when they arrived at the checkout counters.

“One hundred and seventy eight dollars in groceries,” said one customer on cell phone video.

“We had women literally crying saying thank you so we know how much it means,” Jason Lobdell said.

That was just some of the reaction customers gave after receiving free groceries. A band of entrepreneur brothers decided to bless as many people as they could at the Kroger on Wesley Chapel in Decatur. His friends, Alix Burton, Marcus Barney, Neo Davis and Jonathan Gooch went on Instagram live saying, “We’re doing a full shutdown we’re spending about 30 grand to take care of the entire market.”

Jason Lobdell said at first they were going to hand out gift cards but that was taking too long so they went with plan b. Read the rest HERE.

As outstanding as these acts of generosity are, you don’t have to be wealthy to give some of what you have away. You and I may not able to give free meals to 5,000 people or take over the registers at a local grocery store for a couple of hours, but God can still use to bless somebody in some way…

What say you?

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all…

Any thoughts?

 

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Seven Reasons I’m Thankful in 2020…My Pandemic Praise!!!

 

Hello World,

With Thanksgiving coming up this week, this post is inspired by a post I saw on Facebook some weeks ago when the person who posted wrote that despite all that has unfolded in this devastating year, there are still some things to be thankful for in 2020. And the person encouraged everyone to comment on how they’ve still been blessed despite it all. I was among those who posted. I only shared one thing on that post, but I have seven to share with you, my dear readers.

1. Although I still wear contacts during the day and glasses at night, as of this year, I have been restored to 20/20 vision! In fact, I wrote a post about it earlier this year. Below is an excerpt of Seven Scriptures to Provide Insight to the Coronavirus Crisis (ODE to 20/20 Vision)

By now you must know that any vision board someone created for 2020 has been totally wrecked. I haven’t had 20/20 vision since before I was in the third grade when I started wearing glasses, but I was among those who decreed and declared that 2020 would be my Year of Perfect Vision. When this Coronavirus Crisis started a month ago or so, I thought my resolution to have 20/20 vision was misguided. But a month later, I see the Good Shepherd is faithful and guiding me (and all y’all)  into perfect vision after all — even if it wasn’t what I thought I saw at the dawn of this New Year. As my hubby shared with me, I do believe individually we will have personal insights, and that there are some collective insights that all of us will share. Read the rest HERE. 

2. Precious family members have been spared of the worst of COVID-19!!! Although I’ve had family members who have suffered from COVID-19 with one even being hospitalized for several days, no family members that I’m aware of, even my elders, have been casualties of coronavirus. This is a sickness you don’t want to experience even if death is not the end result, but I thank God He has seen fit to spare the lives of my family as of now.

3. My hubby and I have continued to work. Many people have lost their jobs due to COVID-19, but thankfully, my husband and I still have the financial resources to take care of our two-person household. My husband works in healthcare so you would automatically think that designation translates into job security, but many people in healthcare have seen their income adversely affected. For example, I only recently saw the dentist a few weeks ago after having rescheduled an earlier appointment. From what I’ve read, many are still putting off seeing doctors for appointments unrelated to coronavirus for fear they will be exposed while at the doctor’s office.

4. Although I have lost a vital-in-more-way-than-one income opportunity, I have pivoted. Y’all Jamaicans have more than job and I’m no exception. I’ve been teaching group fitness classes twice a week at L.A. Fitness for more than a decade. It was one of my side hustles. But that ended in March. Although I can go back if I like, I don’t feel comfortable at a gym right now. I don’t know about you, but I’m huffing and puffing at the gym as a rule. There is no way that I see avoiding an airborne illness at the gym. That being said, although I miss my class, I’ve been able to keep up my workouts at home and in a nearby park. It’s not the same, but it will do. Most of all, I thank God for the continued health and strength that I enjoy that enables me to workout!

5. I’ve been able to continue to promote the release of my debut novel  Destination Wedding.  I was just getting into the groove of promoting Destination Wedding when the world shut down. (Have you bought your copy?) Thankfully, as my novel was released in December 2019, I was able to have a book release party at Auburn Avenue Research Library, host a book signing at a local bookstore (Nubian Bookstore) and attend a book club meeting where Destination Wedding was featured before the pandemic was announced. But with the pandemic announcement, many of the events that I was planning had to be reworked or cancelled altogether so I was worried about how I would promote Destination Wedding going forward. Although I still believe that the pandemic had a negative impact on some of my promotion efforts, one benefit of the pandemic was that I was able to meet with several book clubs via Zoom. I’m not sure if I would have been able to do so otherwise. Additionally, I was able to participate in other online events that I may have not have had access to otherwise.

6. I sold my first home during a pandemic! Y’all, when I was 28 years old and a brand new reporter for a small newspaper, God blessed me to buy a townhome although I was making practically $10 a paycheck! I experienced many single girl shenanigans and grew up as a grown woman there. But as I haven’t lived there in a few years now as a married woman, I was grateful to God to be able to pay the mortgage month after month while no longer wanting that debt. At the beginning of the year, I met a realtor Dionne Sanford,  of EXP Realty, who also renovates properties. She told me that if I spent money on renovation, I would get that money back and more in sales. I didn’t want to spend the money and when the pandemic hit, I wondered how I would recoup it since real estate agents including my agent weren’t showing properties in person. But God did as He always does: Showed Up and Showed Out. I sold the property to a young lady who reminded me of myself when I first received the keys to my first adult home. See my pictures from that day above!

7. The Jehovah’s Witnesses have stopped coming by. I apologize to anyone who may be offended, but hubby and I will never be Jehovah’s Witnesses. And even though we have told them this in so many words and have not answered the door sometimes, they have continued to come by our house for some reason. But since this pandemic hit, we haven’t seen them at all…LOL…But I have received two letters from them I must say. I will give them this: they are persistent…

And I have other reasons to be thankful in 2020, but I will stop now to ask you:

What are you thankful for in 2020? Leave a comment and let me know!!!

Any thoughts?