Our story is one of true love that Godly love, faith, and starting over. It was Dec 23, 2006. I had been out shopping frantically for gifts for my children. We had been through a rough couple of years and I wanted to show them that God does come through for us and he blesses us continuously. My babies had not had what some children have all the time and I was grateful to have been blessed by God to finally give them stability, the bare necessities and even some hope for more in life.

It had been a smooth start. I had so many bags I could barely see, nor hold them all. As I started my clumsy start out of the mall I remembered that I needed gifts for my father and brother, so I stopped into the nearest store, Casual Male XL. It was there I asked for assistance from Terrell who was working there at the time for gift ideas, and a helping hand reaching them and bringing them to the register. I guess he seen a damsel in distress and offered to help me carry my bags out of the mall to my car.

We walked out, with me know only carrying two bags and he being loaded down with the rest. He helped me to the nearest bench as I sought refuge for my tired feet and a break from the rambunctious last minute shoppers. I then remembered that I had forgotten to stop for a drink for my parched body. He offered to go in and purchase my drink as I waited for him on the bench with my packages. I handed him my $20 and gave him my order and off he went.

As I waited I called a cab, and grew worried because it had been over 10 mins and still not Terrell. As I thought the worse all while growing more agitated from the day, thinking this nice guy turned out to be the same as the rest and even took my money and left me dryer than the desert I now lived in, he arrived. He handed me my lemonade, and $20 bill. He apologized for taking so long informing me of the ridiculously long lines at the pretzel place and told me he wanted to purchase my drink for me.

I was relived he brought made it back and touched by his kindness and the gentleman he was. We started to talk and discuss our journeys to the valley of the sun. We shared many laughs and surprises of our pasts. He asked who all the packages were for and I told him of my family and before long we had covered most our short story’s of our histories. He talked of his first dreams of becoming a doctor, how he played football his whole life, and how that was short lived because of a college injury. Before we knew it, it had been 2 hours.

The cab finally arrived and he helped me to the cab. We started our departure to our respective destinations however; there was a lingering of souls. We each wanted to finish chatting and possibly get to know each other better. Me being hesitant because of past relationship woes, and he being completely unsure of how to approach we fumbled with the exchange of numbers and headed on our ways.

We spoke often over the rest of the holidays and planned to watch movies one night over his house. I arrived to find a pleasant surprise. He had purchased me a Christmas gift because he felt like it was just right for me and he seen how giving I was and happy to light up my children’s faces.

The generosity, kind-hearted, sweet, loving, and compassionate demeanor of Terrell is what drew me to him. He says that it was my beautiful eyes, my comical approaches to situations, my smile, cuteness, and my heart that drew me to him.

We have been together ever since. The most difficult part of our journey together has just been the adjustments of a single mother, control freak, free spirited, semi perfectionist, and afraid of failing; to grow as one with a; fresh out the gates, Grandma, and Mama’s baby, reserved spirited, and full of fun man. As we grew closer and closer and our roles in each others lives began to gel, our communication has effectively assisted us in understanding one another as well as prayer, prayer, prayer and our faith in God.

We initially planned to have the traditional style wedding. We picked our wedding party, flower girl, ring bearer, officiate, colors, location, menu, cake flavor and filling, and our rings and the whole kit and caboodle.

After careful consideration of our budget we realized we would not be able to afford such an occasion. We knew that we could not ask our parents to carry that financial burden for us. We have contracts that we can not cancel even still however we knew we could not do it.

We started to look into elopement plans. We each feel it is essential to make our covenant before God to one another in a place that is suitable for our desires and that could possibly have what only our dreams could imagine. We thought about the courthouse and believe that it is unfair to have to settle for anything in out marriage and in our lives, we deserve better!

So we found a wonderful travel agent that has assisted us in having the wedding of our dreams and our honeymoon in one for a fraction of the cost. It is more than we ever dreamed of. We even scheduled a date for Oct 23, 2008 for an intimate private ceremony for the two of us.

When releasing this information to Terrell’s mother she addressed her concerns and her joy of wanting to be there with us on such a special day. That got us thinking and we decided to offer the invitation to all our family and friends that wished to celebrate with us and could attend to join us in celebration in Jamaica.

We will be married on the beautiful white beaches of the Sandals resort Royal Caribbean facing the beautiful blue tropical waters of Jamaica, with beautiful tropical flowers, the ocean breeze and the sunset.

We ask all who could attend to join us there in February of 2009. Our travel agent Reba Lowe is happy to assist you with accommodations and help you find the best deal for your money. Her contact information is Reba Lowe 480-539-7595 or toll free at 800-646-9967 email is vacamme@aol.com and the website is www.vacationmemories.com Please feel free to contact her for pricing and packages for your trip and we will see you there God willing.

Our reception will take place immediately following the ceremony. There will be champagne and hors d'oeuvres served as well as a two tier Caribbean wedding cake. There will be live musical entertainment and photography as well as videography to share with all our family and friends our joyous day. This will all take place on the white sandy beaches of Jamaica. Immediately after, Terrell and I will be whisked away to our intimate dinner for two on a secluded part of the beach.

We plan to host a family BBQ at our home in Mesa AZ, during the summer for all our family and friends that wish to attend or even possibly back home in our home towns of Louisville, KY and Joliet IL so we could both spend time with our grandmothers.

All BBQ information will be sent in advance to all our family and friends so that you all can celebrate our union! The BBQ is still under construction however, you will be notified when all arrangements have been set.

All travel arrangements can be made with our travel agent Reba Lowe of Vacation Memories. Her phone numbers are as follows (480) 539-7595 or toll free at (800) 646-9967 email is vacamme@aol.com and the website is www.vacationmemories.com. Please feel free to contact her with any questions regarding pricing and packages. She is happy to assist anyone who plans to attend as well as anyone thinking of planning a trip. All guests will arrive the day before the wedding and may stay as long as their hearts content!

Terrell and I would like to thank all of our family and friends for their ongoing support, love, and comfort. We appreciate you in everyway. We respect your advice and your perspectives on marriage and life. We also want to thank you for all your contributions to our special day and your gifts of love. We want to pray for you all and we ask you all to pray for us as well.

Heavenly Father,

We ask that you bless our family and friends. We ask that you send your angles to take charge over them and protect them from any seen or unseen dangers. We pray that you would be merciful and continue to cover them with the blood of Jesus. We thank you for your grace, mercy, love, kindness, protection, blessings, our homes, our jobs, our families, our friends, our children, our lives, our cars, our sanity but most of all God we thank you for you! We ask that you send them our love, blessings, and prayers from afar. We ask that you be a constant in theirs lives as you are in ours. God we ask that you protect them in all their endeavors and that you be their refuge from storms, their light, their peace, their hope, and their faith. We pray that we can be all on one accord when it comes to family, friends and our fellowship and that the God of love reign over us all. We pray for good health, good cheer, and good lives through you God. We believe that we will prosper in love and that faith, love and prayer heals all. Lord we know you love us and we all appreciate every breath you allow us to take and every day we get to try again to walk in the light of Christ, in Jesus name we pray. Amen