If Home Is Where Your Heart Is. . . .

 Maggie has been waiting for so long to be an Aggie.  (I am going to have to be a big post on Hays the Aggie since I haven't blogged while he has been there--I am just so proud of him.). We walked onto the Texas A&M campus when she was a Freshman in high school and the clouds parted and angels sang (Hullabaloo Kaneki Kaneki, I think) and she knew in her soul that she was going to be an Aggie.  She got a little Sheltie named Kyle Field for Christmas and life has never been the same--our closets are full of maroon and we know all of the words to the Aggie fight song.  The Braner family bleeds maroon! I dropped her off a couple of weeks ago and, even though my heart broke because I was leaving my girl in Texas, my heart swelled because I knew that Maggie was exactly where she needed to be!  I cried so many tears, but on some levels it was such an easy goodbye.  I miss her like crazy, but I would never wish for her to be anywhere else! She and Hays are neighbors and they get

I want to brag on a friend of mine for a minute. . . .  Alexis Cook was one of our KIVU Gap Year students several years ago and since I moved to Nashville she has become a dear and treasured friend. Y'all, Alexis is AMAZING!  She really really is!  She and her business partner, Corbin, have started an unbelievable social enterprise jewelry company and I want to brag on it! Unlocked is a jewelry company that is so much more than a jewelry company.  The jewelry is just the icing on the cake, but the cake is so much more!  Their website says:  "We believe in investing not only in great products but in the health of our community.  That's why we employ women transitioning out of homelessness to make all of our jewelry, unlocking the opportunities they need to build a brighter future.  Empower our neighbors and building a more equitable community isn't just a side project.  It's the reason we are in business, and it's at the core of what we do every day.&q