Thanksgiving (An Uncharacteristically Serious Post)

We are fast approaching the time of year when the United States has ordained that its citizens take some time off to be thankful. Fundamentalists and non-fundies alike are blowing up the Internet with lists of things for which we can be grateful and (oftentimes) covert condemnation of those who don’t look quite thankful enough.

Yet, thankfulness cannot ever be the product of mere command. Some days there would seem to be very little in the way of glad tidings for which we can express our thanks. Some days we just don’t feel very much like being thankful for what we have or can do in the face of what we do not have or cannot do.

“Giving thanks always and for everything” writes the Apostle Paul. But there are some sayings in Scripture that are hard to bear. Thankful for years spend “wasted”? Thankful for being abandoned by friends and family? Thankful for abuse and loneliness and poverty and deception and trauma? It seems so unlikely, so farfetched, so inhumane to even suggest that such at thing is possible.

But I must confess that in my life there have been moments of time when heaven and earth have briefly met and I can see with eyes undimmed by the pain of all the things that have come before when I can be thankful even for these bitter things that have come and gone. Because I believe that there is nothing that can come into my life but that it has been allowed by a gracious Heavenly Father who can take even the wrath of ungodly men and bring good from it. Pain has enriched the glory of grace. Condemnation has increased a love of mercy. Heartache brings with it an increased depth and breadth and height of the ability to love and weep and care for others. For to be thankful is not to claim to have enjoyed what has happened but rather to acknowledge that we are now the better for having endured it.

And so in the spirit of this season, I thank God for allowing my life as it has been thus far. For those who have loved me and befriended me as well as those who have hated and ill-used me. Many have intended evil but I have faith that God has meant it for good. And there is always grace.

I would hasten also to thank all of you as well for your graciousness and your kindness and your encouragement as we’ve shared this time here. Nobody knows what fresh trials or blessings or frustrations or wonderful surprises may be in store for us over the next days but I trust that when it is over we will be able to say together that our Heavenly Father has done all things well.

Enjoy the season. Hug your loved ones. Eat, drink, and be merry. We’ll talk again soon.

121 thoughts on “Thanksgiving (An Uncharacteristically Serious Post)”

  1. Let’s thank Darrell! November 18 is Darrell Appreciation Day!

    Stuff Fundies Like is an exceptional blog: part humor, part therapy, all high-quality content. I know we all appreciate Darrell’s time, effort and expert technical skills in creating and managing this community. Darrell and his wife have a new baby arriving soon, which will probably take up a lot of their time, and we can’t be sure how long he will be able to keep running his blog. We thought this would be a great occasion to let him know how much we’ve appreciated everything he does here! Let him know what SFL has meant to you.

    Send your note/letter through: http://www.stufffundieslike.com/suggestion-box/
    (Or however you typically contact Darrell.)

    Sending money:
    Hey, this is really about thanking Darrell personally and telling him what you appreciate about the work he does on SFL, not a call for money. For many of us, there just isn’t extra money to go around right now, and we tend to think personal letters are more meaningful. However, if you feel an overwhelming urge to send something monetary, you can donate through the blog: http://www.stufffundieslike.com/ Scroll down to Donate a Buck! above Tags, right of the posts.

    Thank you for taking part in Darrell Appreciation Day,
    Pastor’s Wife and Naomi
    pastorswifesfl@gmail.com and naomi05na@gmail.com

    PS- Message/email Naomi if you want to send a card/note through the mail between now and Christmas. I can put printed emails and snail mail in a package and pass it along! (I’ve sent confirmations to everyone whose letter I received. If you sent something but haven’t received a confirmation or asked me about it yet, please let me know!)

    1. You are very kind, Naomi.

      I’m going to put on a funny hat in honor of the day. (if I can find one).

    2. I, too, needed this reminder today. My family has been working through some difficulties, and while my soul is confident knowing my benevolent Savior is in control, I have neglected to thank God for the peace of His presence.

      Darrel, thank you for manning this station on the Underground Railroad out of Fundy-ism.

      Also, congrats on the upcoming birth of your little one. Having babies has always coincided with spiritual growth for me as I have constant object lessons depicting God’s tenderness with His children.

      1. Thanks for picking on the new kid, George! This was not supposed to be a response to Naomi. 😳

    3. Ok Naomi, I just donated some hard earned American $ to the cause…all the rest of you do likewise. This ********* ain’t free. πŸ™‚

    1. I give up. I’m taking my first and going home.

      Darrell – The last line seems to hint that you will not be around for awhile. I don’t recall seeing your request for time off form on my desk. πŸ˜†
      Besides, remember what happened last time you left us alone?

      1. Our baby is showing up in 10 days so posting here may get a little sketchy for the next couple of weeks.

        I’ll try to get at least a few things up but no promises.

        1. Ooooh! I am just now checking in, so i am making it Darrell Appreciation evening and into the wee smalls! A new baby!! I am so excited for all of you! Many blessings to you and yours, and I can never adequately express the incredible help, value, and just plain fun this site is in my life! You are an incredible person, Darrell, and I thank God for you, so often, and again on your special day!! πŸ˜€

  2. I think I would have been first but I was commenting on George’s attack on Strangely Warmed in the last thread. LOL LOL I am SO immature!!! πŸ˜† πŸ˜†

    1. I would imagine that the men on the poster two threads ago would say we all are. Just one more thing for them to be mistaken in.

    2. Wait, i got hysterical over that same post. I thought we had agreed that we became friends BECAUSE we were immature! And don’t hand me that crap about we were teenagers then, and now we are in our early fifties! I plan to be immature my entire life.

      1. I’m starting a magazine called “Modern Immaturity.” The title was inspired by the AARP magazine, “Modern Maturity” (they tastelessly changed the name to “AARP Magazine” a few years ago), but mine is for people who are old, but still not mature. My generation, in other words.

        1. I feel that I can safely speak for Sims as well as myself when I say that the two of us would love to be contributors any time you need an article on oh, say, “Giggling Through The Message on Song of Solomon At Church” or even “Snickering at the Mispronunciation of Old Testament Hebrew Place Names.”

        2. I sat next to a man in church a while back who kept farting. I absolutely could NOT stop laughing. It was painful in so many ways. Can I be in your magazine?

        3. *Muttley snicker*
          floating air biscuits in church brings back an old memory.

          Back in the day before padded pews and carpeting, back before central air conditioning, when we just left the windows up and waved our Funeral fans with the pictures of Jesus carrying a Lamb, the Last Supper, or the two children crossing the old bridge being watched over by and Angel, I remember a Sunday evening service one summer.
          Dougie was the kid who was ADHD before anyone even knew there was such a thing as ADHD. Could not sit still. Well, it was summer and in the late 60’s early, early 70’s short pants for guys were… well …short. Now, Duggie was sliding back and forth on the pew and fidgetting about. I don’t remember the sermon, the topic or anything other than the pastor had just paused to let his point sink in and it got quiet. About that time Dougie slid across the pew again except this time instead of his shorts sliding across the hardwood pew… the back side of his chubby little thigh made contact. 😯 Perception is as important as substance It rattled the windows.
          There was no recovery from that, and we were let out early that evening.
          Ah, good times.

        4. First of all, 10 points to Don for reminding me of how funny the Muttley snicker is.

          Secondly, Don, I picture you as about 40 yrs. old at the most. How can these things be, I ask myself, as I read that you went to church in the days of funeral parlor fans with the chubby children, the angel and the bridge?

          Lastly, farts are just funny, and they are even funnier in church. Poor Dougie. Hope he has managed to live it down. πŸ˜‰

        5. Almost 50. And as for Dougie… he wore it as a badge of honor. πŸ˜€ It’s a shame he died so young. In his 30’s. When I think of him I remember that summer Sunday so many years ago and I smile.

        6. Oh, poor Dougie! πŸ™ I hope he is glad you smile when you think of him. That is a great memory!

  3. *LIKE*…… Thanks for not policing this site… there are so many different views and opinions represented here…we know you don’t agree with everyone…but you let us “post away”…and it’s a nice place to come. Laughter is the best medicine I know for what we’ve all been through. A heartfelt thank you to you… HAPPY THANKSGIVING…and CONGRATULATIONS!!!

  4. Darrell, thanks for another insightful post. It’s the most poetic and beautiful thing I’ve read in a very long time. With the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday in mind, please know on behalf of all your readers that we’re thankful for you.

    Oh, and congratulations to you and your wife!

  5. “But I must confess that in my life there have been moments of time when heaven and earth have briefly met and I can see with eyes undimmed by the pain of all the things that have come before when I can be thankful even for these bitter things that have come and gone. Because I believe that there is nothing that can come into my life but that it has been allowed by a gracious Heavenly Father who can take even the wrath of ungodly men and bring good from it. Pain has enriched the glory of grace. Condemnation has increased a love of mercy. Heartache brings with it an increased depth and breadth and height of the ability to love and weep and care for others. For to be thankful is not to claim to have enjoyed what has happened but rather to acknowledge that we are now the better for having endured it.”

    For this. Thank you.
    God Bless us everyone.

  6. By the way, that photo is about the cutest Thanksgiving picture I’ve seen in a long time. I think I see little Darrell there next to the man carving the turkey.
    (Well, symbolically, at least.)

  7. Darrell, you’re not supposed to make me cry! I was just thinking yesterday along these lines. My parents forbid me from entering a four-year university until I was 25 and basically told them I was going. It always made me angry that I was a “late bloomer” surrounded by 18 year olds. But I met my husband at that school. He had JUST turned 21. If I had attended any sooner, I never would have noticed him. He has been the single best thing in my life. I have never felt more safe or pursued or loved. He’s everything I didn’t have for the first 25 years of my life. God meant for good what my parents did in hate. I hardly remember the days before my freedom, and before my husband. I’m thankful for not only my second birth in Christ, but my third. Leaving the IFB and starting my life over with my husband.

    1. If you had started college at 18, he would have been 14 or 15. You wouldn’t have even met him till your senior year, if at all (to say nothing of the legality and social acceptability of the relationship!) God’s timing and grace is in everything, no matter how dire we may see it at first (something I need to remind myself of every day). Congratulations to you both!

  8. Darrell–
    Thanks for the reminder of God’s mercies and grace. It amazes me how God works through so many different people. Even as a counselor who is supposed to have the right words, it is easy to forget the One Word who is always there. Thanks for the site and for introducing me to so many people with the same background and baggage.

    To all my unseen SFL friends (and my brother “Les” who introduced me to the site),–HAPPY THANKSGIVING

    To the Dows–Best wishes and Godspeed on the new arrival. You are in my prayers.

  9. Thank you for writing this. You cannot have known it but I really needed to read this today. I have been really down about everything that has happened and I appreciate the reminder that it all has a purpose.
    I have had to reread the fourth paragraph several times. God has been so good to me! Leaving the IFB has been very hard but it has taught me so much about Him. Thanks again.

  10. Thanks Darrell for this site. Even though I didn’t grow to an uber fundy church (was GARBC), it helps to know there are others out there. Thanks for the laughs, the place to vent, and being able to see what the Church is really about.

    Prayers for you and your family on the upcoming delivery. Pray that all goes well, and may this be the start of a wonderfully full quiver (sorry I couldn’t resist)

    1. Darrell and Mrs. Darrell already have an arrow in their quiver, so to speak, but this will be a (please God) healthy addition to the arsenal.

  11. I appreciate the time that Darrell puts into this site… YOU ARE APPRECIATED!

    I am thankful for Darrell’s time to find these things; I am thankful for the community here that I’ve started to become part of (er, of which I’m starting to become a part, if you don’t want to end the sentence with a preposition).

    My journey is ongoing; I’m passionately interested in the Scriptures, and want very much to be pleasing to Him who loved me.

    Darrell Appreciation Day: good idea… initial letters spell “DAD”, which is what he’s about to become for the 2nd time.

  12. In the immortal words of Clarence the angel:
    “Remember, Darrell: no man is a failure who has friends.”

    You are a wealthy man in that regard my friend, a wealthy man indeed.

    A Toast. To Darrell, our benevolent dictator. Live long and prosper!

    1. Live long and prosper, Darrell, and thanks.

      Joy to you and yours, especially the one about to arrive.

  13. <3 TY D!

    I am really thankful for this site. SFL and the people I've connected with as a result have been unexpected joys this past year in my journey out of fundamentalism. I am truly grateful for both the snark and serious alike that this blog and forum generates every day. There have been many bad days from this past year, but it's often an inane forum post that cracks me up for the first time all day, or gives me something to think about it to help me move on with my life. I have participated in many different online communities, written papers about them, presented research about them in conferences, and worked with brands to build them. However, there is nothing else quite like SFL on the web and it really is a special and heart-warming place.

  14. Nice post!

    “Yet, thankfulness cannot ever be the product of mere command. Some days there would seem to be very little in the way of glad tidings for which we can express our thanks. Some days we just don’t feel very much like being thankful for what we have or can do in the face of what we do not have or cannot do.”

    How true…

  15. Awesome, moving post. Great work as always, Darrell.

    I’ve saved this bit from St. Thomas Aquinas and try often to remind myself of it: “We must love them both, those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth and both have helped us in the finding of it.”

  16. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. None of the religious infighting overtones, fake war-on, or commercialization of Christmas. None of the creepiness and sugar-scorched children of Halloween. None of the fireworks injuries of July 4th or New Years. Just family, friends, food, and being thankful. Come on over, y’all, and bring a dish.

    Thank you Darrell, and congratulations on your upcoming arrival. I hope all goes well. And really, since you’ll not be sleeping any time soon, you should have plenty of time to post. 😈

    I’ve never agreed that “that which does not kill you makes you stronger”. I’ve always thought that which does not kill you can still hurt like hell. But I agree that all the things we experience shape us and make us who we are today. Darrell, you are a gifted man, and my life for one would be a little emptier without this blog.

  17. I am thankful for my friends, online and offline, who have helped me discover what I can truly be in Christ–not what some pastor or evangelist would have me be.

    I am thankful for my enemies and the hard times I have had, because they have given me strength and resolve.

    I am thankful for all the good things in my life, because they remind me that God does not intend for us to suffer.

    Most of all, I am thankful for a loving and supporting wife who is always there for me (even if she doesn’t ‘get’ me sometimes) and two wonderful children who show me how to laugh every day.

    Happy Thanksgiving everyone (and congratulations, Darrell!)

  18. Thank you for this profound post, and thank you for this site. Blessings and congratulations to you and your wife!

  19. Congrats to you and your wife on the soon arrival of your new little one.

    Thank you, your efforts here to maintain this site is greatly appreciated by all of us who find healing from spiritual abuse. A community of freinds who can relate and understand what we all have in common produces genuine compassion to one another, that is real honest love and support that is found here because of you. Thank you.

  20. Thank you, Darrell, for setting up this blog and sharing with us the wisdom you (and others) have found along the way.

    Congrats on the arrival of your little one! πŸ˜€

  21. I am skipping all “serious” posts in the future as it’s emabarrassing to be all choked up and have to return to real life . . . I’ve been thinking along these lines, too, thankful that the things that happened (and nothing truly awful happened, like so many have had to deal with) led me to here, to this. I can spend hours wondering WHY things were not different but I know that any little change of events and I wouldn’t have met my husband at the right time. “God Bless the broken road” and all of that. I still have trouble dealing with it at times but in good moments am able to be thankful for the past.

    Darrell, thank you for the time you put into making this a place to laugh and heal. God Bless you and your family.

  22. There’s nothing I can add in thanks that hasn’t already been said, but I truly am thankful for this site and to Darrell for running it and contributing all the work for it. It is so nice to know that I am not alone. This site is definitely a courage booster! πŸ™‚

  23. I’m not American and have never eaten turkey in my life (and never intend to, either!) and pumpkin pie just sounds WEIRD but I’m very, very thankful both for this site and for finding it right when I needed it.

    Isn’t God good?

    1. He sure is, and i have enjoyed your posts, tiarali! I implore you, if you are ever in my neck of the woods, please allow me to serve you at leat the pie! I will skip the turkey, in case you are a vegetarian, but pumpkin pie at our house is nummies. πŸ˜‰

        1. Ours is not the typical pumpkin pie, PB, honest. Because i hated it, too. Think more of a pumpkin cheesecake. Then there is pumpkin roll.

        1. Turkey is just a larger relation of the chicken. A lot of what you can do to a whole chicken you can do to a turkey and vice versa (though I’ll have to admit, there’s a whole lot more meat on a turkey drumstick!). :mrgreen:

    2. Pumpkin pie is actually great, as are pumpkin cake, pumpkin pudding, pumpkin soup, pumpkin curry, pumpkin empaΓ±adas, pumpkin cheesecake, and pumpkin pancakes. I even feed pumpkin to my fish (the herbivorous ones).

    3. You don’t know what you’re missing out on!:smile: On your new year’s resolution list (insert πŸ™„ ) you need to put down: “I will at least try turkey and pumpkin pie this year.” Try turkey sandwiches with Mayo! 😎

      1. Leftover turkey sandwiches should be eaten with cranberry relish as the only condiment. And I can find just as much scripture for that as a lot of other things I “learned” growing up, so it must be true!

        1. Though cranberry relish on turkey sandwiches is kinda meh compared to Mayo…and the Bible says so somewhere in the book of Hezeluyah. πŸ˜‰

        2. Had the best turkey sandwich this week. Turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, cranberry relish, cream cheese and pumpkin butter pressed between whole grain bread. My favorite restaurant makes it only at this time of year and I missed it last year, so my wonderful husband went put of his way to get it this year when they brought back on their menu for only one day. If you’re ever in the Orlando area try Yellow Dog Eats. I have no affiliation with them just the desire to keep them popular and open for many years to come so I can enjoy πŸ˜€

    4. So you won’t be celebrating Thanksgiving in your country? I am not sure but I think it’s only celebrated in the states and Canada and here in Canada it’s the first Monday of October rather than the last Thursday of November. But whether you take a day to celebrate or not, we always have much to be thankful for. Maybe in the spirit of the day you could fix whatever your own favorite meal is. And thank the Lord for His many blessings. He has been so good to us. :mrgreen:

  24. “Some days we just don’t feel very much like being thankful for what we have or can do in the face of what we do not have or cannot do.”

    I struggle with this. I’m thankful for a God Who redeems and restores, Who loves and forgives, Who knows we are weak and has compassion on us.

  25. Darrell will be able to post during the 3am feedings when it’s his turn! πŸ˜€ Congrats and thank you for this site that helped me finally leave, I’m so glad I did. πŸ˜€

  26. Thank you for giving me a place to go to where I feel supported and understood. Best wishes to you and your family.

  27. Thanks for creating and maintaining SFL, Darrell. I can’t begin to express how much I appreciate having a safe place to laugh, cry, or vent about the roller coster ride out of fundyland. The community here on the blog and in the forums is truly unique, to all my cyberfriends out there, thank you.

  28. Thanks, Darrell. That’s one thing I’m still struggling with. I feel that fundyism stole what should have been the best years of my life from me, and I have a really hard time accepting that those years (and what could have been right now, had I made better use of those years) are just gone.

    When I was a teenager in $FUNDY_CHURCH, we had one of those BJU-ish drama skits one night. I think it was called “Give Me Your Dreams” or somesuch. This teenage girl had all these hopes and dreams (symbolized by glassware) that she cherished, but she didn’t “give them to God” or something and the debbil smashed them to pieces.

    Well, I DID give my hopes and dreams “to God” (actually to his self-appointed proxies. THEY shattered them. The things I wanted most out of life, fundamentalism tricked me out of and smashed.

    So now I’m 40, out of fundyism, and hoping, maybe, to salvage a few of those hopes and dreams from the debris and ashes of wasted decades. Maybe thankfulness will come, but I don’t think I’m quite there yet. Maybe closer than I was a year ago, though.

    1. Phil Ray, I can empathize with you. 17yrs I submitted myself to the Fundy movement. I worked coutless hours of some of the most productive yrs of my life. I take as a great lesson learned to help me NEVER be a man follower again. What’s past is past. It’s the future that’s important. I have insight now to protect my children and anyone else that come in contact with. I can give testimony to the danger, destruction & damage fundies can do to you & those around you.
      Stay the course, finish your race.

    2. Phil Ray, I also can empathize with your position. I was raised as a fundy and didn’t get out until my second child was born. I sometimes mourn the wasted years that were spent but God doesn’t see it that way. My heart was sincere in giving my dreams to Him and I believe that is why I was rescued out of that place. He has done so much work in me and on me and as bad as it was, HE was always there for me. I am thankful now mostly to be out of it, but also for some of the parts of it that made me who I am today. I am sensitive to the suffering of others, I am (usually) aware of manipulations and am extra careful in raising my kids not to do to them some of the things that were done to me. God can make beautiful things out of the worst parts of your life. It wasn’t wasted time. At 40 you still have a lot of good years left to glorify HIM. Grab what you can that was good out of it, and try not to look back too much. I am 53 and just beginning to get a handle on it.

      1. This is an excellent post, Sims. Phil Ray, I, too, sympathize with you! My own case was never as horrific; I was NOT raised in a fundy home, thank God, because it was dysfunctional ENOUGH! I did graduate from HAC, then teach four years in an IFB school (which was not, however, anywhere near as bizarre as HAC!), returned to teach at HAC, but married a man from there who helped me to see more clearly. We both eventually got out, before he passed away. When I look back on my time in those fundy years, I do not see them as wasted so much as I see them as learning experiences. I am praying right now that this will happen for you, too. I do understand that each of us had individual experiences, and I also know recovery time is an individual thing, too. I really believe there is complete healing and deliverance!

    3. That stupid skit was so typically fundy. Always with the guilt trips. You’re not allowed to enjoy anything. You’re always supposed to bless others. Well that’s all well and good but God gives us many things to enjoy ourselves.

      One thing I’m learning is to enjoy going to church because I WANT to go, not because I feel obligated to go, or because God will punish me if I don’t go. I don’t think of it as having to go, but wanting to go, there is a huge difference. I can now enjoy my Christianity, not just think of it as a load of stuff I have to do that I hate to do and feel guilty for hating it, but doing what I want to do because I enjoy it.

      My husband told me of a young man he was counseling. The young man was fundy of course, 19 years old. He had been offered a job as a security guard at $20.00 an hour which is great money for a 19 year old. And in this economy! But he was concerned, it might mean — gasp! — he may miss a few church services! He felt he couldn’t miss being in church “every time the doors were open.” Which in a lot of fundy churches is NOT just Sunday AM and PM, and Wednesday night, but all the special meetings, revivals and missions conferences, what have you. My husband tried to tell him that if he was making good money he could give more to the church and that secular occupations support the church. He could afford to miss a few services, but oh no! He was so full of the legalistic nonsense of the IFB that he turned down the job!

      I said this is the exact garbage the IFB is so good at. They drill it into the kids that God will only be pleased with them if they go into full time Christian service. He will be angry with them if they go into a secular profession. I said it this way.

      What if you have two boys, Bob and Jim. Bob feels called to the mission field but Jim feels led to go into medicine and become a doctor. Everyone is pleased with Bob but Jim is told God doesn’t want him to be a doctor, God wants him to be a missionary or pastor. Jim sticks to his guns though and becomes a doctor. Now years later on the mission field, Bob needs a van to pick up people. He needs song books for his church. He needs a building to meet in. Who might be God’s vessel to help him out? Jim! Jim is making good money, he is giving a lot to the church. Maybe he’s a deacon and serves the Lord through the church and as he makes good money he can give a lot. What good would it have been to Bob if Jim was only a poor missionary like himself?

      There is a part of me that wants to think my 23 years in fundyville was a waste but I refuse to think that way. Everything fundy is NOT bad. There are some good aspects. Right now I’m sifting through everything and discarding the bad and keeping the good. It’s sort of challenging to figure out just which is which. But it’s a journey and we’re all on it together and you guys are such a help and blessing. God bless you all! :mrgreen:

  29. I don’t post here much, but I do come here and read on a daily basis. I will echo others here–this is a very healing site. Thank you Darrell, and major blessings with the new baby!

  30. Darrell, you’ve handed out many flashlights to a lot of desperate people wandering in the dark of a pile of brokenness. There has been nothing I could bring. But you have brought together a group that shows me I. Am. Not. Alone.

    I’ve been reading this site for a while now. The insight, the laughter, the friends I’ve never met, has been the best medicine for my soul! I am forever grateful and wish you and your family the very best.

  31. That is what the trolls and fundy defenders do not get: the healing power of knowing we are not alone, that others have been through it, and are on various places on the deliverance road. I truly feel that SFL scoots us along that road just a wee bit more easily, and many times, with laughter. That is the BEST. DD, you are the best. Praying again this evening for you and yours, and the excitement that is coming to you!

  32. Lovely sentiment, and one I have been dwelling on lately myself. In fact, I was planning a post similar to this (though a bit more satirical) for my own blog. Unfortunately, now I’m just gonna look like a copycat. πŸ˜‰

  33. Awesome – Happy Darrell Appreciation Day, Congrats on the little one, and Happy Thanksgiving!

    And Happy Thanksgiving to the rest of SFL also!

    I am so thankful for the refreshingly honest conversation we share here. I am also thankful for my past, cause I could imagine a better one at times, but that would make me no longer me, and I kinda like the me I have become.

    I’ll say a prayer for those of you who are facing a struggle with your families over the holidays and those of you who just won’t go so you don’t have to struggle too.

  34. I post here very little but I do read the site regularly. It is a place that lets you know that you aren’t alone. Thank you for the wisdom, the insight & the laughter, Darrell. Thank you for giving so much time to all of us! God bless you & your family. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!!

  35. It’s been a busy weekend so everyone has already said what I think we all are thinking and feeling. Best wishes to Darrell and his wife, hope the new baby will be a blessing to you.

    SFL has been a great blessing to me and has helped me a great deal.

    Happy Thanksgiving everyone. :mrgreen:

Comments are closed.