Felecia Causey's Blog

Photos Provided By: Khanyisa I had the opportunity to interview author, entrepreneur, traveler, and motivational speaker Khanyisa Mnyaka. Be sure to follow on her on Instagram @khanyisamnyaka.  My name is Khanyisa Mnyaka, 34 years old,  from South Africa. I identify as a strong, black, African lesbian. I have a BA degree in Psychology and an AM in Gender and Peace building. I’m currently living and traveling through Australia. My life is at its most peaceful when I have a trip planned :-). I’m an entrepreneur with established businesses in the Philippines and an author of Traveling While Black and Lesbian.  **You are an author of a book called Traveling While Black and Lesbian? Please tell me what inspired you to write this book.  Also include where your book may purchased . I absolutely love to travel. It has changed my life in so many ways; I’ve done things I never dreamt I could do in my life. However, everywhere I’ve been, black people are in the minority. I’ve gone

Written By:Felecia Causey Model Mom: Dandria Mclean As a full time stay at home mother, and I am not apologizing for saying it's a 24/7 job. I always try to put the kids and house first.  I try to stay organized , be cheerful, and stay on top of every single detail. I was starting to feel guilty because I am constantly finding myself needing a moment to myself. I think many moms can agree, that they need to know who they are beyond the mother. With kids 12 and 14 years old, I have only been away from them, ONCE overnight. I'm not complaining, because it wasn't that I couldn't,  I chose to share every moment with them. Besides "me" time was something I rarely have because of my mommy-to-do list. I've felt guilty and was worried about the backlash for wanting or needing to do so. I began to ask myself should I start taking a little time off to recharge myself. As I plan for my upcoming getaways I have begin to feel nervous, but I've decide

Written By: Erica Marie Davis Photography By Felecia Causey Where do I begin? Everyday is a new day and I never know what to except with my sweet girl! In the last three years, I've had many sleepless nights.  The day I found out I was pregnant was the biggest shock to my doctor and I! We both started crying, he knew my medical history and all the surgeries and health complications I had gone through. I was told by several doctors, that I would never get pregnant.   I can honestly say, I had a perfect pregnancy but there were three times during the nine months I had some scares. Sarah was born four days late and was the perfect little baby. She met all her milestones on time, it wasn't until she was around four when something seemed different with her.  Her teacher at the time told us that she noticed that Sarah had little or no interaction with her peers, she always lined everything up in a specific order, and she could count to one hundred. At first I

Written By: Ebony Davis Photography: Felecia Causey Less than 13 percent. That’s the likelihood of survival that a doctor gave my son Isaiah, who was born at just 23 weeks. I believed that the greater percentage of life was indeed lost when the delivering doctor said that Isaiah’s heart was not beating. But, love prevailed, and my little boy soon gained a heartbeat and was on his way to five months of growth in a neonatal intensive care unit. You want to think that after not being able to hold your baby as soon as he opens his eyes in the world or after watching him fight for his life day after day before coming home, that you’ve experienced “enough” trauma for one lifetime and that all else should go well. But “we” mamas – the mothers with premature babies who experienced some kind of shortfall that may or not be connected to prematurity – know that that’s not how life works. The same roller coaster journey we experienced in the NICU might very well be a

 Written By:  Brandi Photography By: Felecia Causey     My name is Brandi and I have 11 years involvement with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus or SLE or better known as Lupus. I am 40 with a 21 year old son. He graduated high school, while I graduated with my bachelor’s at the same time. We are in college still at the same time while he works on his Associates and Certification in HVAC, and I work on a dual Master’s program in MPH and MBA.     I was a city letter carrier for the USPS when I was diagnosed in 2008. I have a history of 2 aunts with Lupus and my mom having discoid (skin) lupus. I hurt my shoulder while in the mail truck and after it not going away, I decided to go to my primary doctor. She knew I had a history and I really don’t remember what other things I complained of besides the shoulder pain. She did the ANA test and it came back high and positive. She then referred me to a couple of Rheumatologists. I tried a Rheumatologist here, who only treated me for

 Photography By: Felecia Causey I got diagnosed with Lupus the summer of 1991. While in summer school, one morning I woke up to so much pain. My whole body was hurting I couldn’t get out of bed. My mom called the doctor office made my appointment to see the doctor. It took about two weeks to get in the office, meanwhile I was getting more ill, so my mom took me to the emergency room. They sent me home said I had a UTI and prescribed antibiotics and pain meds. That help for about a week then the pain returned. When I went  to the doctor office, the doctor only prescribed some acid reflux meds and pain meds. I went home feeling worst then I ever that night. My mom take me back to the ER, and they admitted me for a day to stop the pain and throwing up. I went home for about a week then my mom called another doctor. I went to the new doctor, he was puzzled about my test results from the other doctor and ER. He did a lot of testing, but he still came up with nothing. H

Photography By: Felecia Causey Hi I am Shannon, and my journey with Lupus started in 1998, when I was pregnant with my daughter.  My daughter's father noticed I had a bald spot in my head, so I had a biopsy done.  It came back as discoid lupus, so  I started injections and cream, but none of that worked. My hair loss progressed and got worse.  My follicles eventually died leaving me completely bald. I'm dealing not only with discoid lupus, but SLE and subacute as well. I'm currently on steroids, plaquenil, myfortic, chemo infusions, naproxen, and a ton of other medicines. Since being officially diagnosed in 2016, I've gained 55lbs, lost some of my confidence, and it can get so depressing at time. I'm coping, but its sincerely hard. I don’t date,  because I don’t want anyone to see my scalp or skin the way it is. Who wants to deal with a person, with all the problems lupus comes with? I currently wear wigs to hide my hideous scalp, its honestly

Written By: Felecia Causey Photos: Provided By: Six Tables Cafe and Felecia As many restaurants are opening and summer is here, couples, families, and more will be looking for restaurants or diners that can satisfy their hunger.  One thing I know is that people are always interested in trying a place, that is worth their money, and the travel. Downtown Prattville, has a hidden gem called Six Tables Cafe, which is owned and ran by single mom Ashley. She admitted that loving to cook,  having independency, and being able to have a flexible schedule in order to take care of her kids is what motivated her to start the restaurant. As a business owner, she says she would like to give her customers a great experience, so they will continuously  return. I had a chance to drop by there, and try both something off her breakfast and lunch menu. I am from a small country town, where café such as Six Tables are some of my favorite places to eat. It's very cozy, and the customer servi