The Way

To say that I have been remiss in blogging for basically the last two years is . . . well, in a word, accurate. You would think that with the "home time" due to the onset of Covid in early 2020,  I would have found (made) more time to sit, reflect, pontificate, put down in words the "goings on of the Turners." I didn't. But . . . here we are in the week leading up to Christmas in 2022 and alas, I find myself sitting down, reflecting, pontificating (in my head) and putting down in words the recent (ish) goings on of the Turners. Sit back, grab a cup of your favorite beverage and be ready to be amazed! At least, hopefully entertained !  For the uninformed, we moved to Rome, GA in June of 2020 after living in Nashville for 30plus years! We left many friends with little to no fanfare because most things were still shut down due to Covid. That was a weird end to our time in Nashville in many ways. I took a role a WinShape and get to work alongside a team of incredib...

This week, Sondra and I have been blessed to host her cousins and their friends at our home. Noel and Janet are successful "farmers" (livestock and Christmas trees) and their friends, Julian and Nikki (whom we have not met before) are self-employed remodelers (that is my term for what Julian explained) who are all from New Zealand. They are traveling the States visiting Janet and Noel's daughter and son-in-law in NYC and then making their way back to Houston via train and rental car. They were gracious enough to add us into their itinerary and stayed with us two nights. AND IT WAS A BLAST! On the way back from dinner on Monday evening, the boys and I were driving down a country road close to our house when all of sudden, Julian says, "What is that?" I asked for some clarity as to what "that" meant and he said those little shining lights that keep going on and off.  I looked up and said, "Oh, those are lightning bugs or fireflies." They w...

This phrase, "Take Me to the Edge" is a theme for a new campaign at our church, Hermitage Hills. I know that it is a phrase in a worship song sung by some group that our pastor heard a few months ago but I don't know the full story behind it but Poly gave us a short explanation in his message on 2/5. This phrase, "Take Me to the Edge" is an interesting one to me. Aristotle says, "the mind never thinks without a picture", so the picture I get in my head is an experience that happened almost a year ago when I bungee jumped in New Zealand. It was a cool morning but sunny and beautiful and I was nervous on the ride over to Kawarau Bridge , the home of the original bungee jump. I was trying to play it cool in the van, but I was shaking and not because it was all that cold in the van. I was nervous and even somewhat afraid. (If you know me well, you know that heights are not my forte.) Shelbi, Mark, Wilson and I had already paid for the bungee jump ahead ...

Here it is January 13th (Friday the 13th for all of you superstitious folk) and I am finally getting around to another blog entry. It was a great holiday break and I really have no excuse for not blogging, I just didn't. Sometimes I feel like writing and at other times, I don't. It was a season of good times but no writing. This past year, for those of you who have kept up, has been a good year for the Turners. We enjoyed a family trip to New Zealand with our kids in March (we shared a bunch of pics of that trip). Shelbi and Mark are still in Rome, GA and are doing great. Shelbi took on a new assignment at work as a trainer for new nurses; continuing education for nurses; and got her Masters. Mark still runs WinShape ;-), well at least the operations part of the boys' camp. Morgan and Wil made a move to Jackson, TN where Wil is pursuing a nursing degree via fast track and Morgan is an enrollment counselor for Union University. They are doing great and we are blessed to...

Milford Sound, South Island, New Zealand Ugh! Has it really been almost four months since I posted, I am going to do a better job of blogging more lately. Uh, well . . . I guess that makes me a liar. And I hate being caught in a lie. I really am longing for the day when I am not afraid of getting caught in a lie, but just give up lying or trying to make myself look a little better than I really am. So . . .  what's been happening since early February? That's a whole season and a half ago! If any of you keep up with me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook then you know that in early March Sondra, me, Shelbi, Mark, Morgan and Wilson made our way to New Zealand. We all arrived there separately (by couples that is) and the kids met up at the airport in Auckland and began their trek towards Taupo, while Sondra and I pretty much headed to Taupo directly so I could get acclimated and situated for Ironman New Zealand. We met up with our friends Dave and Kimberly (Dave was also do...

Today my mother-in-law, Joyce (Trail) Holmes, turns 80. She has relayed to us that she was born about 3am after her mother and father arrived at the hospital on their motorbike. Because it was so early in the morning, they pushed the motorbike away from the neighbor homes before starting it so they would not awaken any unnecessarily that early in the morning. Joyce was born in New Zealand and the best I can recollect, she was born in Wanganui which is about a 3-4 hour drive north of Wellington. I know that she has 3 sisters; Nola, who lives in Atlanta; Rose, who lives in New Zealand; and Betty, who is lives in Guatemala. There was a brother, Jack, who died in an accident when he was pretty young. She married a boy named Bernard (Bernie) Holmes who ended up bringing her to the US via Canada. I have to admit that seeing home movies a few years ago of their move to North America via ship with a stop in Hawaii showed a much less developed Honolulu. It was pretty awesome to see. ...