November 21, 2023 • 31 mins
Michelle is checking in with your Thanksgiving menu! In this solo episode, Michelle encourages those overwhelmed and battling depression during these turbulent times, recaps her experience doing missionary work in DR and sets the record straight on how some of your Thanksgiving menu items need to be prepared. CHECK IN to this episode if you know how to dry brine a turkey. Aunty might need your help!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of
iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. Good Day, everybody, Welcome to
(00:22):
another episode of Checking In. Today's episode will be about
why we didn't have a new episode last week, and
also we are going to talk all things Thanksgiving, So
stay tuned. Hey, Hey, Hey, how y'all doing. What's been
(00:46):
going on? Y'all? Tell me what has been going on?
From my end, There's been a lot going on, heartbreaking
things that I believe we are all seen on the news,
probably heartbreaking things that you're seeing in your just your
(01:06):
local news, your regional news, the news of the state
you live in. We're seeing news about things that are
happening just in the country we live in, and also
things about the entire world that we live in, so
things that are maybe not happening in America, but things
(01:27):
that are happening outside the United States as well. And
I know what my specific job is to do. In
moments like this when you don't know what to do,
I sit in stillness. I sit in a lot of
prayer meditation just to get clarity on what I'm to do.
(01:51):
And sometimes people think that stillness is not enough, or
that even prayer is not a enough But there's been
so much going on that I'm aware of, and then
maybe things that you're not aware of, you know that
are taking place with so many people, some of you
know and some of you don't. And so I am
(02:14):
always I just feel a task to just to pray.
And I love to pray. I loved, I loved, and
so me saying that you are welcome to reach out
to me if you feel that you want me to
pray for a specific matter for you, or pray for
(02:35):
a person, a situation, a relationship, a job, opportunity, or
whatever it is. Yeah, I'd love to offer that to you. Okay,
no pressure, I'm not pushing anything on you, but just
know that your girl here loves you and don't want
you to feel that you are alone on your journey.
(02:56):
All right, I'm here. You know. It took people being
here for me. It also took me being able to
take a step back in the stillness and look at
my own situation. It took me time to kind of
sit in the stillness and say, Okay, well, what do
I have the power to change? So I just want
to encourage you to definitely reach out to me or
(03:18):
your support system for however they can best support you.
But then don't get too overwhelmed when you have to
sit back and say, Okay, what can I do. I
was speaking with someone a few days ago who has
been battling depression really really, really really bad. And the
(03:44):
thing about depression is sometimes when you're in that state,
it will have you just looking at all the negative.
You will sit in that bad on your sofa, in
a state of depression, even listening to the lies that
(04:06):
you tell yourself, listening to the lies that no one
has even said to you. And I was asking this
person what they needed for what was going on, and
they really couldn't tell me other than they felt that
people do not invest in them. And so of course
(04:29):
I just sat and listened to everything that they had
to say with an ear of compassionate, ear of empathy,
and I had to tell them, I said, well, look
at the ways people do invest in you. People only
invest in you to their capacity or ability. An investment
(04:53):
is someone picking up the phone to check on you
and see how you're doing. And investment is a tech
next to check on you, you know, and just be
careful if you have a specific need that you want
people to do, it's okay to tell them versus letting
that state of depression make you feel like no one
(05:16):
is investing in you. Because people can only invest in
you how they know to invest. And what I mean
by how they know to invest is based on what
you share with them. Now, sometimes people have a spirit
of discernment where God, where God can share something with
them and speak something to them that can show them
(05:37):
you're not telling me the whole story and you're going
through something because I do know when you're in a
state of depression or just any state, it's hard for
humans to ask people for help period. It's hard for
people to be vulnerable and say I'm having a rough time,
so let me get back to the investment portion. So
I was telling this person, if you want people to
(05:59):
invest you the way you want them to, then you
have to say that versus not letting yourself sit in
a moment of darkness because of what you haven't shared
or because of what people don't know. Also, I had
to share with this person. Is it investment that you
want people to make in you? Is it attention or entitlement? Again,
(06:26):
people can only do what they know or what they
have the capacity to do unless you share. Hey, this
is what I need from you. Okay, does that make sense?
I've been there. I've been there, honey. When I tell you,
I know, I know. But I also know that the
(06:51):
world did not stop for me while I was in
that state. So I had to give myself grace, and
I had to give others around me grace who might
have been ignorant to what I was going through or
who knew what I was going through, but they could
(07:12):
only help me to the ability and capacity that they have.
Does that make sense? All right? I just wanted to
share that I and I know the holidays can bring
on a lot of sadness and grief. This person like
(07:34):
it's the first year without somebody that passed away that
was really close to them, and so you know they're
dealing with that, you know, the birthday of that person's
it's a lot. I know it can be a lot.
So I'm just giving you a big old hug. Can
you hear me hugging you? Can you hear me? I
(07:57):
wish my boobs were just a little bigger, so you
can you know, you get a hug from somebody that's
got a real full volume chest and the hug just
be tight and just cushion me and pleasant. And you
know they mean that thing when they hug you real tight.
So I'm giving you one of those hugs because I
(08:19):
want to let you know. I promise you, baby, it
gets so much better. And I urge you to when
you can, to a teach to a small investment in
yourself today and tomorrow. All right, to a small investment.
(08:39):
I told this person, I said, I said, what's your
bedroom looking like? They said a mess? And so I
just said, why don't you try, you know, organizing or
straightening up the top of your dresser because I know
mail is everywhere, I know pill bottles from your alment,
(08:59):
I know that's everything. Just kind of organize your dresser
and just stop there. I told them, you don't have
to try to clean up your entire master bedroom in
one day, but just start with organizing your dresser and
your nightstand. That's it, all right, I understand. I promise you.
You guys know that I've shared a couple times. You
(09:21):
know what my uncle had shared with me. Just taking
baby steps and doing what you can, and before you
know what, you're making a lot of progress. All right.
I did a trip to the Dominican Republic, to the
capitol in Santo Domingo with an organization called Compassion, and
(09:48):
it was a missions trip. And Compassion is an organization
that invests into children. And I know you've seen a
lot of organizations on television that help feed children, on mothers, veterans,
(10:10):
you know, organizations that even service to supply safety and
refuge for animals as well. So this particular organization is
called Compassion, and it was a time for people to
even go to get a chance to even visit the
children that they sponsor. And it was it was fulfilling
(10:36):
but heartbreaking at the same time, lovely but heartbreaking at
the same time because a lot of the children had
so much joy, their parents still having smiles on their faces.
And it was a joy to just be able to
(10:58):
put everything into perspective, the things that we complain about.
It's not to dismiss things that are going on in
your life, but I was like, yeah, there are certain
things that I might personally complain about that I might
need to put on the you know, just not even
complain about. So, yes, Compassion. We visited a lot of homes,
(11:21):
We visited a lot of the Compassion centers where the
children go for their snacks, some go for their schooling.
It was pretty pretty awesome. I am going to post
my pictures very soon. It's about twenty of us that
went and relationships were made. We all met up in
(11:46):
Palm Springs in May of this year and everyone agreed
to go to the Dominican Republic for this missions trip.
And I just I have two little girls. One was
just so spunky and was just running and just had
(12:06):
so much joy. And one young girl. We were outside
playing and she just literally came and sat next to
me on the swings and we started swinging back and
forth and we began talking. Of course, I had to
use my translator on my phone to say certain words
(12:26):
or to even understand what she was saying. But she
was telling me that she wants to be a doctor,
and both young girls want to be a doctor. And
the fact that an adult who used to be sponsored
by Compassion, so Compassion is the vessel, and then we
(12:48):
are the people that actually pay money per month to
sponsor a child's food, schooling and their medical needs. And
one lady who used to be a Compassion child, she
is like one of the top neurosurgeons in the Dominican Republic,
(13:08):
and it was awesome to see her stand before us
to tell us how she lived. It was three people
we got to meet who are adults now, who said
it was the importance of their sponsors writing them. So
(13:30):
your child writes you, and then you're to write the
child back, because they said, we don't know how much
it means to them for them to get a letter
that says you can do anything you want to be.
Just know I love you, Just know I'm praying God's favor,
(13:53):
grace and protection over you. At means a lot to
that child, especially if they're growing up in a home
where heck it means it. That means a lot to
a child you know, anywhere, but specifically to these children
to hear out of their moms that it's a possibility
(14:14):
I would not be who I am if it wasn't
for my sponsor writing me back. Because there are some
children whose sponsors don't write them at all. And so
sometimes there are probably some of you that are listening
to me. You've sponsored children, you know, through these various organizations,
and you probably don't write them back when they write you.
(14:37):
But I'm here to let you know, like we got
to write our kids back when they send us a
letter to update us and let us know how they're doing.
So Compassion dot com. If you're able to do what
you can, and if you can't do anything with the
organization called Compassion, do something your local community center, mentoring
(15:05):
mentor someone you know you want to talk about investing
in someone, investing in someone who who you know for
a fact doesn't have anybody investing in them. So it
was just it was amazing and Compassion. They they're they're worldwide,
(15:26):
you know, Nigeria, Gana, Sri Lanka, they are everywhere, and
my heart just just smiled at those babies. Some are teenagers,
they're in high school and you can sponsor a child
that's a few months old. They have a survivor program
where the mother gets all the care that she needs
(15:49):
and you can sponsor that child all the way up
until high school they graduate. You can make sure that
they get what they need for college and beyond. And
it's so cool that these folks that are adults, like
the woman who's the neurosurgeon, she still keeps in touch
with her sponsors that live in Texas. She's a grown woman,
(16:13):
so sometimes they become family. If you have any questions
about it, please don't hesitate to ask me. It was awesome.
We didn't get to do a lot of like it
wasn't a trip for rest and relaxation, but we did
get to go into old town Santa Domingo. We went
to some restaurants that were really really yummy. But the
(16:35):
majority of the trip, ninety percent of the trip, you know,
was to visit those children, their schools, and they were
gracious enough to let us into their homes. Some of
the homes, I know, I didn't feel comfortable filming or
taking pictures of people to me in this some of
their most vulnerable places. Some definitely had concrete floors, but
(16:59):
maybe just a a tin roof, tin roof, some hat bed.
Some didn't. But the children that are sponsored through Compassion,
if you see a need, you are able to make
sure that your child they get a bed, they get shoes.
One of the two young girls that I sponsor, her
(17:19):
birthday is in February. And when I tell you, she
has already told me that she wants a dress. When
I met her, when I saw her running through the center,
she had on she was so swaggy. She had on
this T shirt and this long, sweepy ivory colored dress.
I was like, I like that idea. And so she
(17:43):
told me that she wants a dress. She told me
her favorite colors were purple, green, and white. I'm gonna
make sure that she gets three dresses. She's probably just
expecting one, but I'm gonna make sure she gets three dresses. Yeah,
And so again I'll go back to we got to
visit their home. And one young girl is a teen mom.
(18:05):
And in certain cultures, once you begin to start your
own family, you no longer can live in the house
that you grew up in your parents or grandparents. They say, okay,
you got to be on your own, you gotta go.
And so this young lady, her house was actually kind
of like next door to her grandmother's actual house, but
(18:27):
this young lady, it was just literally a makeshift type shack.
And I want us to hear that a teen mom.
The father is not in the picture because he did
not want her to have her child, and she had
the baby anyway. And so one of my colleagues that
(18:48):
were on the trip, she is helping to sponsor her baby,
and the mother she wants to work in accounting or finance.
And I believe one day that young teen mom she's
going to be working in a finance department somewhere. It
literally is about exposure, resources or someone saying, hey, I
(19:13):
see what you want to do. Let me help you
with those steps. And so it just reminded me. It
just invigorated me to come back home and make sure
that when I see a need to make sure that
I can invest to my ability and my capacity. And
if I can't, and I know somebody that can, I'm
not going to hesitate to pick up the phone and
(19:34):
call Okay. So that was the trip to the Dominican Republic.
It had the type of humidity that I loved. It
was hot, the sun was shining. I have been to
the Dominican Republic in years past, you know, just on
a trip to you know, relax, you know, but this
(19:56):
has a different meaning for me. And I can't wait
to go back to Santo Domingo. I can't wait to
go back. Also, this week is what we call Thanksgiving.
What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Some people call it Friendsgiving,
(20:21):
whatever you call it, what are you doing this week?
I'm looking at all the ingredients on my counter for
the turkey. Y'all, I'm gonna attempt to do a corn
bread dressing for the first time. I pray I know
what I'm doing. Lord Lord help me. And of course
(20:42):
banana putting my mac and cheese, my collar greens, they're
off the chain. Yeah, and some other things. Now, I
made a post on my thread's account and it happened
to make the shave. I hate when that happens because
I feel like when I make a post on my
(21:04):
pages that it's a safe space for me, because people
know I rarely have to black people anymore, because I
think people know the culture of my page. Don't come
to her page with mess So I'm thinking I'm in
a safe space. And of course, you know, the Shade
Room posted it, which is fine. The post said, I
(21:25):
say this with love. Pecans don't go on real velvet cake.
I get it. I know it's to make it look cute.
I just want to just give me white spoof cream
cheese frosted. Don't put no pecans. Pecans, however you pronounce it,
don't put it on there. Then I said, marshmallows don't
(21:45):
go on the candy gams slash sweet potatoes, then some
people are like, oh my god, with potatoes, sweet potato
casse role. I want the sliced potatoes. Don't do no
whipped the sweet potato casserolle. I don't want it. I
(22:07):
don't want it, but I guess if it's like a
casserole or the whipped sweet potatoes, marshmallows is acceptable, but
don't put them on the sliced or dice candy. Don't
do that. I then said, chopped eggs don't go into
corn bread dressing. For what, I have an aunt who
(22:31):
does amazing corn bread dressing. I ain't never seen an
egg white or an egg but I M M. I
guess it ain't bad, but I'm not putting it in there.
Then I said, don't put a lot of bananas in
the banana pudding. I won't pudding in soft wafers. More
than anything, I don't want a lot of bananas in
(22:53):
the banana pudding. Don't come for me. I didn't send
for you. Well maybe I did when I made that post.
Then I said, eggs don't need to be in the
macaroni and cheese. Years years and years years ago, probably
thirty plus years ago, I was at a relative's home
for Thanksgiving, and somebody bought some mac and cheese and
(23:17):
it was a kind of mac and cheese where you
didn't use a spoon, you like you sliced it. Like,
why am I slicing in the macaroni and cheese? Why
am I taking a spatela? It was too thick and
(23:38):
too bound together. I wanted a little bit of a cream.
I like creamy macaroni and cheese. Now I don't want
macaroni and cheese soup, but I don't want macaroni and cheese.
That it was like, y'all, and what I think the
(24:01):
I think the eggs kind of scrambled itself a little bit.
So I was reading in the comments today and somebody said, oh,
because they didn't let the noodles, I guess cool down,
because y'all, the macaroni and cheese started to look like
a macaroni and cheese scramble, like a macaroni and cheese
(24:21):
breakfast casse role. I don't want it. And then I said,
did I miss anything else besides minding my business? So
everybody's got something to say? Of course, because I did too.
And then I read one comment. Then I stopped reading
the comments because somebody made the lamest Destiny's Child reference. Y'all.
(24:46):
I need. I need folks to come up with newer
jokes on me besides the Destiny's Child jokes, because they're
just as whack as their fight Coast score. Like I like,
or argue with your fire cost score, not me. I don't, don't,
don't do that. Don't do that. So it was starting
to get It was fun at first, and then people
(25:08):
just started going below the belt and getting personal and
I was like, bro, why are you trinkered? Hmmm mm
oh well, so I said what I said. Right, I'm
gonna explain to you this turkey type of technique. It's
(25:29):
called spatch cocking the turkey. So it's where you cut
the spine and crack the breast and make it look
like a oversized frog. It's pretty cool, and they say
it cuts down on the cooking time of a turkey,
(25:51):
so that's what I'm going to do. It says it
makes the skin crispy, the juicy meat, and the turkey
can be done in about an hour and a half
two hours. Max always says, I gotta dry Brian the turkey. Ooh,
(26:11):
let me how I dry Brian? The turkey. Y'all, we
gotta figure out how to dry brian this turkey. It said,
it's crucial in this recipe. Dry brian the turkey woo
and compound butter. It imparts flavor under the skin, but
perhaps more importantly, leaves us with the buttery herb drippings
(26:32):
that can be used to moisten up the turkey prior
to serving. Ooh, I'm real excited. Okay, so google spatch Cock. Okay,
spatch cocking turkey. Okay, it's SPA t H coci n G.
(26:58):
All right, get your adds out the gutter, thank you.
So yeah, I'm excited about about this year. And even
if you just want to chill this year and you
don't want to do nothing, that's your business. You don't
have to. Okay, I'm gonna try to chill. I've got
(27:21):
some a couple more engagements this year. I'm excited about
December twenty third and twenty fourth. I'll be at Gateway
Church in Dallas on the twenty third and twenty fourth,
three services on the twenty third, three services on the
twenty fourth. You know, lots of churches do their cool
Christmas programs, their candlelight programs and so I'm excited. I'm excited.
(27:46):
I'm excited, and then I'm gonna go somewhere and sit down.
But yeah, what else is going on? Oh, Beyonce's movie
premiere in LA this weekend. That's gonna be amazing. I
go to Dublin, Ireland, and I'm thankful. I'm thankful for
my schedule, but I'm already anticipating the bed in each
(28:09):
place that I gotta go to. So AnyWho, I just
want to say that I love you. This year. I'm
thankful for you. I'm thankful for your love to me.
I'm thankful for your support of me and all that
I do. I'm thankful for your encouragement. And I pray
(28:31):
that this Thanksgiving is a blessed one for you and
your loved ones. I pray that ain't surely don't say
nothing at the table this year that's disrespectful. I hope
Uncle June Bug ain't drunk this year. I pray that
(28:52):
your mother in law or your father in law, your
sister in law, brother in law. I pray that they
don't sigh eye you and make you want to fight.
I pray that it's pleasant this year. And if you
are in therapy. Make sure this Thanksgiving you apply everything
that you've learned in therapy. Restraint, boundaries. Oh last thing,
(29:15):
If you don't want to go to a family member's
house because it's always toxic and always drama, you don't
have to go. You don't. Or if the minute it
gets uncomfortable, you can excuse yourself. Yeah, you do not
have to sit there and take no foolishness. All right.
Your peace is so important. Protect your peace at all costs.
(29:41):
All right. I love y'all so much, y'all, I gotta
go because I got to figure out how to do
this dry brine for this turkey. All right, Okay, I'll
see y'all soon. Love you so much. Nothing you can
do about it. Checking In with Michelle Williams is a
(31:22):
production of iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. For more podcasts
from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows,
Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of
iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. Good Day, everybody, Welcome to
(00:22):
another episode of Checking In. Today's episode will be about
why we didn't have a new episode last week, and
also we are going to talk all things Thanksgiving, So
stay tuned. Hey, Hey, Hey, how y'all doing. What's been
(00:46):
going on? Y'all? Tell me what has been going on?
From my end, There's been a lot going on, heartbreaking
things that I believe we are all seen on the news,
probably heartbreaking things that you're seeing in your just your
(01:06):
local news, your regional news, the news of the state
you live in. We're seeing news about things that are
happening just in the country we live in, and also
things about the entire world that we live in, so
things that are maybe not happening in America, but things
(01:27):
that are happening outside the United States as well. And
I know what my specific job is to do. In
moments like this when you don't know what to do,
I sit in stillness. I sit in a lot of
prayer meditation just to get clarity on what I'm to do.
(01:51):
And sometimes people think that stillness is not enough, or
that even prayer is not a enough But there's been
so much going on that I'm aware of, and then
maybe things that you're not aware of, you know that
are taking place with so many people, some of you
know and some of you don't. And so I am
(02:14):
always I just feel a task to just to pray.
And I love to pray. I loved, I loved, and
so me saying that you are welcome to reach out
to me if you feel that you want me to
pray for a specific matter for you, or pray for
(02:35):
a person, a situation, a relationship, a job, opportunity, or
whatever it is. Yeah, I'd love to offer that to you. Okay,
no pressure, I'm not pushing anything on you, but just
know that your girl here loves you and don't want
you to feel that you are alone on your journey.
(02:56):
All right, I'm here. You know. It took people being
here for me. It also took me being able to
take a step back in the stillness and look at
my own situation. It took me time to kind of
sit in the stillness and say, Okay, well, what do
I have the power to change? So I just want
to encourage you to definitely reach out to me or
(03:18):
your support system for however they can best support you.
But then don't get too overwhelmed when you have to
sit back and say, Okay, what can I do. I
was speaking with someone a few days ago who has
been battling depression really really, really really bad. And the
(03:44):
thing about depression is sometimes when you're in that state,
it will have you just looking at all the negative.
You will sit in that bad on your sofa, in
a state of depression, even listening to the lies that
(04:06):
you tell yourself, listening to the lies that no one
has even said to you. And I was asking this
person what they needed for what was going on, and
they really couldn't tell me other than they felt that
people do not invest in them. And so of course
(04:29):
I just sat and listened to everything that they had
to say with an ear of compassionate, ear of empathy,
and I had to tell them, I said, well, look
at the ways people do invest in you. People only
invest in you to their capacity or ability. An investment
(04:53):
is someone picking up the phone to check on you
and see how you're doing. And investment is a tech
next to check on you, you know, and just be
careful if you have a specific need that you want
people to do, it's okay to tell them versus letting
that state of depression make you feel like no one
(05:16):
is investing in you. Because people can only invest in
you how they know to invest. And what I mean
by how they know to invest is based on what
you share with them. Now, sometimes people have a spirit
of discernment where God, where God can share something with
them and speak something to them that can show them
(05:37):
you're not telling me the whole story and you're going
through something because I do know when you're in a
state of depression or just any state, it's hard for
humans to ask people for help period. It's hard for
people to be vulnerable and say I'm having a rough time,
so let me get back to the investment portion. So
I was telling this person, if you want people to
(05:59):
invest you the way you want them to, then you
have to say that versus not letting yourself sit in
a moment of darkness because of what you haven't shared
or because of what people don't know. Also, I had
to share with this person. Is it investment that you
want people to make in you? Is it attention or entitlement? Again,
(06:26):
people can only do what they know or what they
have the capacity to do unless you share. Hey, this
is what I need from you. Okay, does that make sense?
I've been there. I've been there, honey. When I tell you,
I know, I know. But I also know that the
(06:51):
world did not stop for me while I was in
that state. So I had to give myself grace, and
I had to give others around me grace who might
have been ignorant to what I was going through or
who knew what I was going through, but they could
(07:12):
only help me to the ability and capacity that they have.
Does that make sense? All right? I just wanted to
share that I and I know the holidays can bring
on a lot of sadness and grief. This person like
(07:34):
it's the first year without somebody that passed away that
was really close to them, and so you know they're
dealing with that, you know, the birthday of that person's
it's a lot. I know it can be a lot.
So I'm just giving you a big old hug. Can
you hear me hugging you? Can you hear me? I
(07:57):
wish my boobs were just a little bigger, so you
can you know, you get a hug from somebody that's
got a real full volume chest and the hug just
be tight and just cushion me and pleasant. And you
know they mean that thing when they hug you real tight.
So I'm giving you one of those hugs because I
(08:19):
want to let you know. I promise you, baby, it
gets so much better. And I urge you to when
you can, to a teach to a small investment in
yourself today and tomorrow. All right, to a small investment.
(08:39):
I told this person, I said, I said, what's your
bedroom looking like? They said a mess? And so I
just said, why don't you try, you know, organizing or
straightening up the top of your dresser because I know
mail is everywhere, I know pill bottles from your alment,
(08:59):
I know that's everything. Just kind of organize your dresser
and just stop there. I told them, you don't have
to try to clean up your entire master bedroom in
one day, but just start with organizing your dresser and
your nightstand. That's it, all right, I understand. I promise you.
You guys know that I've shared a couple times. You
(09:21):
know what my uncle had shared with me. Just taking
baby steps and doing what you can, and before you
know what, you're making a lot of progress. All right.
I did a trip to the Dominican Republic, to the
capitol in Santo Domingo with an organization called Compassion, and
(09:48):
it was a missions trip. And Compassion is an organization
that invests into children. And I know you've seen a
lot of organizations on television that help feed children, on mothers, veterans,
(10:10):
you know, organizations that even service to supply safety and
refuge for animals as well. So this particular organization is
called Compassion, and it was a time for people to
even go to get a chance to even visit the
children that they sponsor. And it was it was fulfilling
(10:36):
but heartbreaking at the same time, lovely but heartbreaking at
the same time because a lot of the children had
so much joy, their parents still having smiles on their faces.
And it was a joy to just be able to
(10:58):
put everything into perspective, the things that we complain about.
It's not to dismiss things that are going on in
your life, but I was like, yeah, there are certain
things that I might personally complain about that I might
need to put on the you know, just not even
complain about. So, yes, Compassion. We visited a lot of homes,
(11:21):
We visited a lot of the Compassion centers where the
children go for their snacks, some go for their schooling.
It was pretty pretty awesome. I am going to post
my pictures very soon. It's about twenty of us that
went and relationships were made. We all met up in
(11:46):
Palm Springs in May of this year and everyone agreed
to go to the Dominican Republic for this missions trip.
And I just I have two little girls. One was
just so spunky and was just running and just had
(12:06):
so much joy. And one young girl. We were outside
playing and she just literally came and sat next to
me on the swings and we started swinging back and
forth and we began talking. Of course, I had to
use my translator on my phone to say certain words
(12:26):
or to even understand what she was saying. But she
was telling me that she wants to be a doctor,
and both young girls want to be a doctor. And
the fact that an adult who used to be sponsored
by Compassion, so Compassion is the vessel, and then we
(12:48):
are the people that actually pay money per month to
sponsor a child's food, schooling and their medical needs. And
one lady who used to be a Compassion child, she
is like one of the top neurosurgeons in the Dominican Republic,
(13:08):
and it was awesome to see her stand before us
to tell us how she lived. It was three people
we got to meet who are adults now, who said
it was the importance of their sponsors writing them. So
(13:30):
your child writes you, and then you're to write the
child back, because they said, we don't know how much
it means to them for them to get a letter
that says you can do anything you want to be.
Just know I love you, Just know I'm praying God's favor,
(13:53):
grace and protection over you. At means a lot to
that child, especially if they're growing up in a home
where heck it means it. That means a lot to
a child you know, anywhere, but specifically to these children
to hear out of their moms that it's a possibility
(14:14):
I would not be who I am if it wasn't
for my sponsor writing me back. Because there are some
children whose sponsors don't write them at all. And so
sometimes there are probably some of you that are listening
to me. You've sponsored children, you know, through these various organizations,
and you probably don't write them back when they write you.
(14:37):
But I'm here to let you know, like we got
to write our kids back when they send us a
letter to update us and let us know how they're doing.
So Compassion dot com. If you're able to do what
you can, and if you can't do anything with the
organization called Compassion, do something your local community center, mentoring
(15:05):
mentor someone you know you want to talk about investing
in someone, investing in someone who who you know for
a fact doesn't have anybody investing in them. So it
was just it was amazing and Compassion. They they're they're worldwide,
(15:26):
you know, Nigeria, Gana, Sri Lanka, they are everywhere, and
my heart just just smiled at those babies. Some are teenagers,
they're in high school and you can sponsor a child
that's a few months old. They have a survivor program
where the mother gets all the care that she needs
(15:49):
and you can sponsor that child all the way up
until high school they graduate. You can make sure that
they get what they need for college and beyond. And
it's so cool that these folks that are adults, like
the woman who's the neurosurgeon, she still keeps in touch
with her sponsors that live in Texas. She's a grown woman,
(16:13):
so sometimes they become family. If you have any questions
about it, please don't hesitate to ask me. It was awesome.
We didn't get to do a lot of like it
wasn't a trip for rest and relaxation, but we did
get to go into old town Santa Domingo. We went
to some restaurants that were really really yummy. But the
(16:35):
majority of the trip, ninety percent of the trip, you know,
was to visit those children, their schools, and they were
gracious enough to let us into their homes. Some of
the homes, I know, I didn't feel comfortable filming or
taking pictures of people to me in this some of
their most vulnerable places. Some definitely had concrete floors, but
(16:59):
maybe just a a tin roof, tin roof, some hat bed.
Some didn't. But the children that are sponsored through Compassion,
if you see a need, you are able to make
sure that your child they get a bed, they get shoes.
One of the two young girls that I sponsor, her
(17:19):
birthday is in February. And when I tell you, she
has already told me that she wants a dress. When
I met her, when I saw her running through the center,
she had on she was so swaggy. She had on
this T shirt and this long, sweepy ivory colored dress.
I was like, I like that idea. And so she
(17:43):
told me that she wants a dress. She told me
her favorite colors were purple, green, and white. I'm gonna
make sure that she gets three dresses. She's probably just
expecting one, but I'm gonna make sure she gets three dresses. Yeah,
And so again I'll go back to we got to
visit their home. And one young girl is a teen mom.
(18:05):
And in certain cultures, once you begin to start your
own family, you no longer can live in the house
that you grew up in your parents or grandparents. They say, okay,
you got to be on your own, you gotta go.
And so this young lady, her house was actually kind
of like next door to her grandmother's actual house, but
(18:27):
this young lady, it was just literally a makeshift type shack.
And I want us to hear that a teen mom.
The father is not in the picture because he did
not want her to have her child, and she had
the baby anyway. And so one of my colleagues that
(18:48):
were on the trip, she is helping to sponsor her baby,
and the mother she wants to work in accounting or finance.
And I believe one day that young teen mom she's
going to be working in a finance department somewhere. It
literally is about exposure, resources or someone saying, hey, I
(19:13):
see what you want to do. Let me help you
with those steps. And so it just reminded me. It
just invigorated me to come back home and make sure
that when I see a need to make sure that
I can invest to my ability and my capacity. And
if I can't, and I know somebody that can, I'm
not going to hesitate to pick up the phone and
(19:34):
call Okay. So that was the trip to the Dominican Republic.
It had the type of humidity that I loved. It
was hot, the sun was shining. I have been to
the Dominican Republic in years past, you know, just on
a trip to you know, relax, you know, but this
(19:56):
has a different meaning for me. And I can't wait
to go back to Santo Domingo. I can't wait to
go back. Also, this week is what we call Thanksgiving.
What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Some people call it Friendsgiving,
(20:21):
whatever you call it, what are you doing this week?
I'm looking at all the ingredients on my counter for
the turkey. Y'all, I'm gonna attempt to do a corn
bread dressing for the first time. I pray I know
what I'm doing. Lord Lord help me. And of course
(20:42):
banana putting my mac and cheese, my collar greens, they're
off the chain. Yeah, and some other things. Now, I
made a post on my thread's account and it happened
to make the shave. I hate when that happens because
I feel like when I make a post on my
(21:04):
pages that it's a safe space for me, because people
know I rarely have to black people anymore, because I
think people know the culture of my page. Don't come
to her page with mess So I'm thinking I'm in
a safe space. And of course, you know, the Shade
Room posted it, which is fine. The post said, I
(21:25):
say this with love. Pecans don't go on real velvet cake.
I get it. I know it's to make it look cute.
I just want to just give me white spoof cream
cheese frosted. Don't put no pecans. Pecans, however you pronounce it,
don't put it on there. Then I said, marshmallows don't
(21:45):
go on the candy gams slash sweet potatoes, then some
people are like, oh my god, with potatoes, sweet potato
casse role. I want the sliced potatoes. Don't do no
whipped the sweet potato casserolle. I don't want it. I
(22:07):
don't want it, but I guess if it's like a
casserole or the whipped sweet potatoes, marshmallows is acceptable, but
don't put them on the sliced or dice candy. Don't
do that. I then said, chopped eggs don't go into
corn bread dressing. For what, I have an aunt who
(22:31):
does amazing corn bread dressing. I ain't never seen an
egg white or an egg but I M M. I
guess it ain't bad, but I'm not putting it in there.
Then I said, don't put a lot of bananas in
the banana pudding. I won't pudding in soft wafers. More
than anything, I don't want a lot of bananas in
(22:53):
the banana pudding. Don't come for me. I didn't send
for you. Well maybe I did when I made that post.
Then I said, eggs don't need to be in the
macaroni and cheese. Years years and years years ago, probably
thirty plus years ago, I was at a relative's home
for Thanksgiving, and somebody bought some mac and cheese and
(23:17):
it was a kind of mac and cheese where you
didn't use a spoon, you like you sliced it. Like,
why am I slicing in the macaroni and cheese? Why
am I taking a spatela? It was too thick and
(23:38):
too bound together. I wanted a little bit of a cream.
I like creamy macaroni and cheese. Now I don't want
macaroni and cheese soup, but I don't want macaroni and cheese.
That it was like, y'all, and what I think the
(24:01):
I think the eggs kind of scrambled itself a little bit.
So I was reading in the comments today and somebody said, oh,
because they didn't let the noodles, I guess cool down,
because y'all, the macaroni and cheese started to look like
a macaroni and cheese scramble, like a macaroni and cheese
(24:21):
breakfast casse role. I don't want it. And then I said,
did I miss anything else besides minding my business? So
everybody's got something to say? Of course, because I did too.
And then I read one comment. Then I stopped reading
the comments because somebody made the lamest Destiny's Child reference. Y'all.
(24:46):
I need. I need folks to come up with newer
jokes on me besides the Destiny's Child jokes, because they're
just as whack as their fight Coast score. Like I like,
or argue with your fire cost score, not me. I don't, don't,
don't do that. Don't do that. So it was starting
to get It was fun at first, and then people
(25:08):
just started going below the belt and getting personal and
I was like, bro, why are you trinkered? Hmmm mm
oh well, so I said what I said. Right, I'm
gonna explain to you this turkey type of technique. It's
(25:29):
called spatch cocking the turkey. So it's where you cut
the spine and crack the breast and make it look
like a oversized frog. It's pretty cool, and they say
it cuts down on the cooking time of a turkey,
(25:51):
so that's what I'm going to do. It says it
makes the skin crispy, the juicy meat, and the turkey
can be done in about an hour and a half
two hours. Max always says, I gotta dry Brian the turkey. Ooh,
(26:11):
let me how I dry Brian? The turkey. Y'all, we
gotta figure out how to dry brian this turkey. It said,
it's crucial in this recipe. Dry brian the turkey woo
and compound butter. It imparts flavor under the skin, but
perhaps more importantly, leaves us with the buttery herb drippings
(26:32):
that can be used to moisten up the turkey prior
to serving. Ooh, I'm real excited. Okay, so google spatch Cock. Okay,
spatch cocking turkey. Okay, it's SPA t H coci n G.
(26:58):
All right, get your adds out the gutter, thank you.
So yeah, I'm excited about about this year. And even
if you just want to chill this year and you
don't want to do nothing, that's your business. You don't
have to. Okay, I'm gonna try to chill. I've got
(27:21):
some a couple more engagements this year. I'm excited about
December twenty third and twenty fourth. I'll be at Gateway
Church in Dallas on the twenty third and twenty fourth,
three services on the twenty third, three services on the
twenty fourth. You know, lots of churches do their cool
Christmas programs, their candlelight programs and so I'm excited. I'm excited.
(27:46):
I'm excited, and then I'm gonna go somewhere and sit down.
But yeah, what else is going on? Oh, Beyonce's movie
premiere in LA this weekend. That's gonna be amazing. I
go to Dublin, Ireland, and I'm thankful. I'm thankful for
my schedule, but I'm already anticipating the bed in each
(28:09):
place that I gotta go to. So AnyWho, I just
want to say that I love you. This year. I'm
thankful for you. I'm thankful for your love to me.
I'm thankful for your support of me and all that
I do. I'm thankful for your encouragement. And I pray
(28:31):
that this Thanksgiving is a blessed one for you and
your loved ones. I pray that ain't surely don't say
nothing at the table this year that's disrespectful. I hope
Uncle June Bug ain't drunk this year. I pray that
(28:52):
your mother in law or your father in law, your
sister in law, brother in law. I pray that they
don't sigh eye you and make you want to fight.
I pray that it's pleasant this year. And if you
are in therapy. Make sure this Thanksgiving you apply everything
that you've learned in therapy. Restraint, boundaries. Oh last thing,
(29:15):
If you don't want to go to a family member's
house because it's always toxic and always drama, you don't
have to go. You don't. Or if the minute it
gets uncomfortable, you can excuse yourself. Yeah, you do not
have to sit there and take no foolishness. All right.
Your peace is so important. Protect your peace at all costs.
(29:41):
All right. I love y'all so much, y'all, I gotta
go because I got to figure out how to do
this dry brine for this turkey. All right, Okay, I'll
see y'all soon. Love you so much. Nothing you can
do about it. Checking In with Michelle Williams is a
(31:22):
production of iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. For more podcasts
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