Graduation

Again, absolutely nothing to do with the wedding, but I wanted to share my wonderful news with you all. I am officially an MBA GRADUATE of American University. My graduation took place on mother's day and what a great experience that was. It's been a long 2.5 year journey and now I can officially say it's all over.

At times I miss it: the learning, the people, the network, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end (lol). It's weird, sometimes when I'm sitting at home with little to do, I feel like I should be reading, doing homework or working on a project. Ahh... it's such a great feeling to be done. While most of my time these days is spent on preparing for the wedding, I can't wait until I can really relax with no worries at all

While, obtaining a doctorate is far from my mind right now, that might just be my next move. Maybe this will be the move I need to make in aims of becoming a professor (my ideal job).

For those of you who may be aspiring to go back to college to carry out a long time dream, I encourage you to do so. It will definitely be all worth it in the end.

Until next time...

SN: Wishing my girl Alonda a big congratulations as she graduates with her Master's in HR tomorrow!!!

Daily Devotional

A wonderful devotional I ran accross today, I thought I'd share...

Can Your Marriage Fulfill Your Dreams?

Pam and Bill Farrel , Crosswalk.com Contributors

We all enter marriage with a dream. When you said “I do” to one another, a brand-new creation of God took place. You might even remember some of the people who toasted the dream at your wedding. Some see the dream as practical: “To the bride: may she share everything with her husband, including the housework!”

Others see the dream as impossible: “Here’s to you and here’s to me, I hope we never disagree; but if, perchance, we ever do, then here’s to me, to heck with you.”

While others see the dream as blissful: “May your troubles be less and your blessings be more, and nothing but happiness come through your door.”

In our newest book, The First Five Years of Marriage, we explain that Romans 15:6 lays out the highest aspiration of marriage: “So that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” You as a couple have much in common with other couples, but no other husband and wife on earth are exactly like you. The ways you interact with one another, make decisions, plan your lives, communicate your values, and enjoy your time together are unique and ought to be treasured. You are a vital part of God’s worldwide, history-wide plan. The dream of your love will bring glory to God because you two, and the love you share, are intricately woven into God’s plan of love for the entire planet.

As you dream about your life together, you may be thinking:

• I sure hope we are one of those couples that are so cute and in love as they grow old together.



• I hope we have the opportunity to have some kids!



• I wonder if we’ll live in our dream home.



• I wish for long, romantic strolls on moonlit beaches.



• I hope that together we can become financially independent and live a life of ease.



• We’ll never fight!



• I hope other couples notice how in love we are and want what we have!



• I hope we travel to exotic, romantic destinations around the globe.



• Sex is going to be red-hot every night!

You have probably figured out that some of these statements may be unrealistic. Don’t be discouraged, because you hold the key to unlocking your dream and every time you enjoy your love, you reveal a little bit more of who God is, because “God is love” (1 John 4:16). Loving each other is the key to the dream. Sometimes we think the perfect job is the dream, or the perfect house is the dream or perfect children-- the dream. Those are all nice but if there is no love in that home or in the family the perfect job just becomes a way to fund a nightmare.

The key is to love one another with a bigger purpose in mind. Jesus said in John 13:35, " By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Your love is a light. That’s the dream!

As the year progresses, go out on a date and ask, “How can we better love each other? Set a goal to love in a way that the people in your world: your kids, your friends, your family, those you both work with can best see the love you two share and the source of that love--God! Live the dream by committing to love all out, over the top, no holds barred—unreservedly!

Discovering My Inner-Craftiness

Growing up in a household where my Mom was always working on crafts, you would think some of that would trickle down to me.  Well unfortunately the only art I mastered was the ability to trace!  But...over the course of the past 2 weeks, I have come quite familiar with stores such as Michaels & Hobby Lobby in preparation for our wedding invitations.  As much as I despise going into these stores, I learned how to get in and get out with exactly what I needed (or should I say whatever Janelle sent me to the store to get :-).  But I must say, it was a long, tiresome but fun process to see everything come together.  So for kicks, I was able to put my artistic abilities out on display.  As seen in the image below, I created this map below that will be on the back of wedding directions...now tell me I don't have skills!?!?! :-)

Until next time, talk to you all later!

Royalty

WOWOW!!! As I sit here and watch the Royal wedding I am getting chills just anticipating my day! This was truly a Royal event. I couldn't imagine celebrating this day with millions around the world, but it was nice to share in their special day from afar. They both looked absolutely stunning!!! I wish we could have tuned into the reception... now that would have been fun to watch.

OH THE HATS!!! Amazing, it made me feel like I was somewhere in a southern baptist church. That was such a cute theme. The pastor/priest did an excellent job too. He did a great job depicting the sanctity of marriage and how important the covenant is between the two of them. Congrats Royal Family!

Hey Janelle, before I let you continue on w/ your post, I just wanted to say these are 2 of my favorite hats :-)...See more here.

My real Royal couple are the Obama's though. I LOVE BLACK LOVE~

Lastly, even as some may wish to bask in royalty, I'd like to remind you that we as children of Christ are a royal priesthood.

1 Peter 2:9

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Be Blessed

Another Anniversary?!?!?!?

Hey Guys!

Ya'll need to get on my soon-to-be wife.  She has been holding information from you guys.  A lot has been going on, but I'll leave it to her to share it with you guys.  But one day that I did forget to blog about was our 1 year anniversary of our engagement!!!  Well, honestly it was just another day and probably because we were so busy that day all we really did was say, "hey it's our anniversary!" and kept it moving :-).  I guess we're wierd like that :-).  So just to recap, April 9th is our dating anniversary (although I think differently about that date! lol) and April 17th is our engagement anniversary.  Next is the celebration of Janelle's (and let's not forget newly engaged Jennifer (you made the blog again!)) birthday on May 17th!

Photography...Invitations...+ More!

Well it looks like my wife has been killing the game with her recent posts and putting me to shame! Oh and yes I did call her my wife! I'm getting into the habit of calling her my wife. It's funny because titles have always required an adjustment period for me. When Janelle and I became official...I sort of liked to refer to her as my "lady-friend" as my young nephew would call it. The "girlfriend" title took a long time to stick. Then came the "fiance" title. My goodness, if you have never had to say that word before in reference to someone, it takes a lot out of you to say and even more so it just sounds like a word that is just too elegant to come out of my mouth. It's soooo, mmmm, how do you say it...FRENCH! LOL :-) But I did get used to it as of late, but now I'm just calling her my wife to those who know me. I must say...it sounds great. It comes out so fluent and all...but this isn't what this post is about...so let me get on course! So the other day, a follower of this blog got on me because I had not posted anything in awhile. I told them, oh just wait, I have lots to share. But when I said that, I really wondered to myself...I really don't have much to say right now. Of course a lot is going on and probably more so because at this point everything is moving so fast right now. For the most part Janelle is tackling many different projects right now and I'm just there to attend meetings and be her support. My sole responsibility during this time has been to find a photographer. Well, I'm happy to announce that after weeks of visting websites, taking calls and emails from vendors and meeting face to face with photographers we have finally selected our person to capture our moments on our special day. We will be working with AKGilley Photography and her name is Amanda. We meet Amanda just last week and I am not exaggerating when I say we had the best meeting out of all our meetings with the photographers we visited. All of our other meetings were great, but we just enjoyed our time with Amanda and I'm sure she will be delighted to work with Mr. & Mrs. Photogentic, so we really look forward to it...and we will be able to share more pictures on the blog as we have agreed to do another complimentary engagemenet session :-)...but you guys will have to wait for those... Other things that are going on...THE INVITATIONS ARE HERE! Well in pieces that is...now we will spend the next couple of weeks, but hopefully days putting them together! Yes, I have signed up to help folks, hope Janelle let's me in the lab to do some damage. Arts & Crafts may not be my thing, but I can do some mean cutting (along the dotted line of course :-). Let's see...we're also meeting with florists. I wish you guys can see me in these meetings. Janelle and the florist are so into it and I'm just left sitting there wanting to get to the bottom line...the $$$$ :-). In fact, most florist don't even talk to me until they ask what kind of flower(s) I want in my boutonniere. All the glits and glamour of flowers and stuff isn't me, but I continue to follow along. I'm just there for support for the most part but I love to see how Janelle's visions come to light. So I hope you guys are impressed with what we're working on towards the look and feel of the ceremony and reception! Lastly, we had a meeting with our event planner (Randi) yesterday and scheduled our food tasting...mmm, can't wait! Randi told us to make sure we bring our appetites and ya'll know she didn't have to tell me that twice! She also informed us of some great news that we wanted to hear months ago, but hey, better late than never huh? :-)... All and all everything is starting to come together. I need to make more updates instead of these long brain dumps that I'm sure tends to bore you guys. So if you made it this far I commend you! :-) Until next time - "Peace...Out!" *in my Shaun T voice* lol (sidenote: Shaun T is our personal trainer that we despise! lol)

"Weekend to Remember"- Family Life

Renard and I have been so busy the last couple of months that we never got a chance to share what a blessing the Weekend to Remember conference had been to us. We both felt that during our engagement process it was very important to seek marriage counseling and learn more about this ministry of marriage. We began last July with Pastor Sterling of Kettering Baptist Church and upon finishing his counseling we began counseling with Pastor Aaron of Infinity Church (SN: he will be officiating our wedding).

As part of this marriage counseling Renard and I were required to attend one of the Weekend to Remember conferences, so we attended this conference in the beginning of February. THIS CONFERENCE ROCKED!!! While most attendees of this conference were married individuals, this conference couldn't have been more on time for us during our engaged season. We learned so many helpful tips, lessons, biblical principles and much much more to help us in preparation for this new ministry we are about to partake in. While a large majority of the conference was geared toward various seminars, it presented us with a lot of time for self reflection, attentive communication and expression toward our significant other.

I definitely recommend a conference of this type for any engaged couple. It truly allows you to learn and understand God's purpose for married couples, while also teaching various methods and principles that help aid in a successful lifetime of marriage. To say this conference was magnificent is an understatement,... it was absolutely amazing! I challenge those engaged, married, or single looking to be married to attend one of these conferences and I promise you that you will be blessed. Another nice part of the conference was at the very end, each married couple got a chance to renew their vows... it was a beautiful experience to witness lives being changed, marriages being renewed and love being shown by all.

We are looking forward to A weekend to Remember 2012... we vowed to attend this conference again as part of our one year anniversary of our wedding! We also promised that we would bring another couple along with us to share in this wonderful experience... won't you join us??? They are held all over the U.S. Check out the link below!

(http://www.familylife.com/site/c.dnJHKLNnFoG/b.3204559/k.F5BB/Attend_a_conference.htm)

Be Blessed!

April 9th

Today is such a special day for us as we celebrate our anniversary and our 3 month countdown!!!! Time is flying by, but that's what happens when you're having fun. Can't wait to become his Mrs.

SN: Shout out to my Gamma Tau LS's... happy 6th anniversary!!

Wedding Wire Forums

I'm clearly months into wedding planning, but I can't believe I just recently found out about wedding wire. A friend of mine who is also engaged told me about this site almost a month ago and I have been addicted to their forums ever since. Brides from all around share so much useful information about their planning process. Literally there is an answer for any question you have concerning your special day. This site has seriously been a huge help, just really wish I knew about it sooner :)

Great News!!!

Renard and I are so excited to share that Jenny (my twin) and Will got engaged this past Saturday!!!! It was such a beautiful event. She was totally surprised and had no idea that he was going to propose. It was also exciting to see her face when she saw friends and family from far and wide surprise her at their engagement party Saturday night. Will did an awesome job putting it all together as everything worked out perfectly.

We love you guys and are so excited for what the future holds!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Quick Update

As Janelle and I carpooled to work this morning, she asked me "What can we blog about next?". My response, just sit at the keyboard and let your keystrokes do the work for you. That's when I sat back and said, mmmm, that can be one of the things I do today during one of my "smoke breaks" (I don't smoke of course but it's what I call my random breaks from work throughout the day). I was reminded of what I used to do in middle school where I had to keep a journal for a creative writing class I took. So this won't be anything formal, but just many of the things we have been doing as of late.

The first thing that comes to mind dates back to a few weeks ago when Janelle and I picked out our wedding bands. Now, I'm not into rings at all. Trying on different styles, metals and the whole nine is not my forte. But it's funny, because I feel like I'm a ringologist (I made that word up) when it comes to rings for women, based on all the information my jeweler gave me prior to getting Janelle's ring. So I know all the ends and outs for her rings, but when it comes to mine, I really don't care! The only prerequisite I have is no bling! Plain and simple will do just fine for me, but enough on that. I'm just really excited for Janelle's wedding band. It is exactly how I envisioned it to look. Can't wait for you guys to see it on 07/09/11.

Next...*pausing to think*...oh yes, Janelle and I have been in the lab as of late. We have spent probably about 2 days worth of cutting, gluing and printing designs for our invitations. Janelle is the visionary for this job, I'm just the peasant. I just shoot in my ideas from time to time but it's all in her hands with what she wants to do. I personally can't wait to see how it all turns out.

Wedding Cake story...you can see Janelle's illustration of what happened below. Envisioning how it will look on the day of our wedding seems pretty cool. I can't wait to see the final product!

Meeting with our Event Planner was pretty cool. Walking the site for our ceremony and reception was pretty cool as we saw the exact room we would be using. The next part for us to figure out is how we will use the room in terms of set-up and presentation. We haven't quite focused on that piece yet, but more thought will be given on that in the coming weeks.

Ohhh, how could I forget. Janelle and I actually picked up our Marriage License. All it needs is the signature from our officiant and a seal from the State of Maryland and we will be official. But of course the signature won't come until 7.9.11 so the documentation is just being stored in safekeeping for now (shhh, don't tell anyone but Janelle didn't trust me to hold onto it...the audacity! :-).

Ok, well that's all I can think of for now. Enjoy!

Lemon, Chocolate, Vanilla... Oh My!!!

Renard and I met with the Marriott wedding planner this past Friday and what a wonderful experience that was. She answered so many questions for us and gave us a lot of insight on things we needed to be doing within the next month or so. One of many things that we talked about was deciding on the wedding cake. I had no clue what kind/type of cake we were looking for. Several months prior I looked in a wedding cake magazine but hadn’t thought much about it as there were more important things to cover. With our wedding cake being included in our package she suggested we begin thinking about what we wanted. She casually mentioned that the company that would be providing our cake was having an open house on Sunday and if possible we should try and check it out. So I looked into it and decided to register for the Sunday open house.

On Saturday, I casually mentioned to Renard that I had registered us for the open house, to my surprise he agreed to go with me. Upon arriving at the open house it was a little hectic with various people browsing various cake options and taste testing several different flavors. I decided that I would browse the cakes that were on display while also looking in the catalogs that showed past cakes/events that they had done. There were several cakes that caught my eye, and one in particular that I kept going back to. Shortly after we browsed, we decided to taste the various flavors of cakes that they had to offer. WOW!!! They had about a dozen different flavors of cakes and all of them were amazing!

After our quest to try almost all of the flavors they had, Renard and I both decided on the 3 flavors we liked best. After that we decided we should probably set up an appointment for a consultation. We meet with one of the representatives and scheduled our appointment. She then explained the specifics of our package and walked us around to the various displays to show us what was included in our package. Of course I still had my eye on that one cake so of course I inquired about it. There were a few items on the cake that weren’t included in our package, so after a few modifications we were able to close on a deal (of course with Renard’s approval, but I could tell he could care less). I was so excited because we were able not only to taste the various flavors and decide which we liked best (as a matter of fact we could have up to four flavors in our wedding cake), but also decide on the cake design for our wedding. It’s always exciting to mark off items on the checklist!!!

110 days~ Almost There!!

Almost There

Today marks 4 more months until the big DAY!!!

~Almost there!
07.09.11

My Love Letter

Today marks the day where the "world" tells us to love, but I first and foremost must say that love is an act that is to be illustrated to our loved ones daily! Just as Jesus loves us, we must be willing to display the same type of affection to ALL. But as Janelle and I continue to grow and learn more of our role in marriage, I can't help but be reminded that God calls us to love our wives just as Christ loves the Church (Ephesians 5:25-28) and gave Himself up for it! I'm grateful that during one of our conseling sessions with Pastor Sterling from Kettering Baptist Church, he illustrated what the picture of God's love for the Church (His people) looked like! If you have the time, take a deep look and study of Psalm 22:12-18. Once that study concluded with Pastor Sterling that evening, we were in awe and primarily I was taken away by how strong God's love is towards us and as a husband I am to express that same committment and love to my wife!

With God, I am continuing to love my bride-to-be! I am learning to love Janelle with every emotional ability. To say "I love her" is not enough for me! Every part of me needs, wants and will be committed to her on that day we take our oath before God.

Therefore, it was only fitting that the 1st thing I said to her today was, "Happy I Love you everyDay"! I love you Janelle!

Signed... Sealed... Delivered

Hi everyone! It has been a while since I have posted anything to the blog. So what better way to use my 1^st entry of the year, to talk about the first thing we did as far as marriage preparation for 2011. Well…it all started in late December when Janelle and I started to think of ideas for our Save the Dates. We visited a number of sites for ideas, but at the end of the day we reached out to our close friend Ashley Contee to spearhead the design of our Save the Date. We had a few pictures in mind to use from our Engagement Photo session, but decided to let Ashley use her creativity and decide on the picture and style that met the theme we were looking for. Over the next couple of weeks, Ashley worked diligently with us to ensure she met all of our expectations on a perfect design and as you can see from the image below, she came through big time for us!

Janelle and I would like to give Ashley a BIG THANK YOU for all her hard work and stylish design. She did an awesome job putting the Save the Dates together, so we genuinely hope our guest enjoy them as much as we do!