Where to start?

Let's start at the very beginning... of my life.  [Smile.]  Last weekend my dad, mom and I traveled to Colquitt, Georgia to visit the little church where my parents began their ministry.  It's also where I was born and lived until I was 2.  Although it isn't often that I return, I love going back to Colquitt.  I have a real feeling of hometown pride for this place where I began my life.  

So give me a moment to brag a little... Colquitt is a small town of about 5ooo residents in deep south Georgia (just about in Florida).  If you're looking it up on a Georgia map its not in Colquitt County, look west in Miller County.  Colquitt, Georgia has only one red light, but it is still kinda a famous place in our part of the country.  It's the home of the Mayhaw festival and according to my parents the only place in the world where you can get authentic mayhaw jelly.  What's a mayhaw?  Its a berry found in the swamp.  Another claim to fame... Colquitt is the home of Swamp Gravy, the state play of Georgia.  Yeah, until my 8th grade Georgia Studies class I didn't realize states had state plays either, but they do.  I saw Swamp Gravy several years ago (I guess it was more like 10 years ago) and its not something you want to miss if you have a chance to see it.       

This time we returned for Homecoming.  My dad was the guest pastor.  (Side note:  It was the first time I've gotten to hear my dad since moving back home and I know I'm biased but I think he is great.  I love listening to him.)  Back to the service, what can I say?  It was really down home... complete with a gospel quartet dressed in red, white, and blue.  And of course the service concluded with a massive covered dish, a.k.a. pot luck for any Midwest readers out there.  I love church lady casseroles and homemade cakes and pies.   

  

The simple church where I was baptised.  

My first home. Can you see that little white shed to the left of the picture?  That was my dad's office, without air conditioning, but equipped with mimeograph machine to print the bulletins.

 

Family friends: Buckshot and Bonnie Sue with Mom and Dad.  Buckshot gave my dad a river baptism remembrance on their first Easter at the Cooks Union in a place on the Flint called Hell's Gate.  Daddy shared this story during his sermon and it seems that incident was for him an epiphany moment.  

Just, Margaret