T.G.I.W.

Jessilee Robison Watson Nance
my grandmother
(1901-1991)

"For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good works He planned for us long ago." (Eph. 2:10)

My first book, The Schoolhouse, tells my maternal grandmother's 1916 story as a young teacher in Tennessee mountain backwoods. Moreover, my paternal grandmother was an elementary school teacher as well. 

As a young widow in the 1920s, Grandmother earned a degree and taught school to support herself and two little children (my dad and aunt). In the 1960s, she returned to college and received her Masters of Education. Jessilee Robison Watson Nance loved her work. So much so that, if the truth be told, she fibbed about her age to avoid mandatory retirement at 70 and passed 75 before relinquishing the chalkboard.

In Psalm 90, Moses prayed, "Let the beauty of the LORD be upon us and establish Thou the work of our hands." Work is a gift from God, beloved. T.G.I.W. - Thank God It's Wednesday. We have more days to work!