2. How did you meet? {What’s your “love” story?}

Terence and I actually met over the internet.  Well, actually my twin sister Bonnie was talking to a dorm mate of his online and we decided to meet up at Baskin Robbins that night.  My sister brought me along and Terence’s friend brought him along.  We barely spoke that first night. 

After weeks of talking, emailing, and phone calls I invited him over on Super Bowl Sunday to hang out with me and my Mom.  The rest is history….a few nights later we went on an official date to the Olive Garden & Chuck E Cheese 🙂

3. If married, how long have you been married?

10 years


4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?

We had a pretty big wedding with over 300 people there.  It was in my hometown church in Conway, Arkansas.  We had a reception at the local college in one of the ballrooms.  We were only 20 when we got married so no crazy stuff!


5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

Yes- I call him Ter-Bear.  A nickname I picked up from his younger sister. 

He doesn’t really have one for me?

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

He’s loyal, smart, and handsome ……and a great Daddy 🙂


7. Tell us how he proposed?

Terence proposed at the Fort Worth Water Gardens.  He was on leave for the weekend from tech school in the Air Force.  It was a cold night in January we went out to dinner and he insisted we get out and walk through the water gardens.  It was COLD!  I remember he was shaking…not sure if it was because he was nervous or cold! Ha ha!

 8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

He usually gets me a box of Godiva chocolates and we may go out to dinner.  He’s not really a lovey dovey guy….so when he does do things like that it really surprises me because I am in SHOCK!


9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

These days it’s pop a movie in and relax.  I know that every day life is not like a Kay’s Jewelry commercial…they make me gag! LOL!


10. Tell us one thing you’d like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

We are leaving for London/Paris soon and I’m beyond excited about that because I’ve never been!  We would both like to go to Ireland or Norway someday.  We are not really beach peeps.

And I want to take Connor to Disney someday!


11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine’s Day.

Watching Breaking Dawn and gorging on Godiva truffles on my sofa…..


12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine’s day?

Obviously….a copy of Breaking Dawn and Godiva truffles…hint hint….


13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Don’t go to bed angry.  Kiss each other goodnight every night.  Pray together.  Don’t ever leave when you are in a fight…it only makes things worse.  Don’t try to rush something if your partner isn’t ready.  You have your whole lives together so take your time and enjoy each phase of your relationship….being a couple, buying a new home, having kids, traveling….take your time you will be able to do it all and of course there will never be enough money no matter how much you make so just get over it AND LIVE YOUR LIFE!


14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

I was going to post another chapter to our love story, but instead I wanted to go a different direction today.

Terence and I were married really young.  We were barely 20.  I mean we couldn’t even rent a hotel room alone or drink an alcoholic beverage when we got married! ha!  We’ve been through some tough times over the years and things have not always been easy. 

I know a lot of people who don’t own a home and still live in a one bedroom apartment.  And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all.  Our generation is so eager to live the American dream.  What is the American Dream?  Is it worth putting yourself under so much financial stress you don’t have the ability to do anything else in life? 

Terence and I have always been goal setters.  We set goals and do the best we can to reach them.  In our early years of marriage we had friends who had really nice homes and I was jealous.  I wanted that too….I wanted the American dream.  It seemed like some had it handed to them with a silver spoon.  Life is not always going to be fair, but if you set reasonable goals then you can attain the things your heart desires. 

It’s hard for me to read blogs sometimes because I still have that jealousy.  I don’t know why???  I have a wonderful life and I’m proud of our accomplishments.  But it’s still there. 

When I desired a child I was jealous of all the Mom bloggers out there.  Now that I am a Mom I am jealous of all the stay at home Moms who spend their days getting pedis, having play dates, staying in their jammies all day, and meal planning.  (Yes, I know that’s not all you do!) But some blogs out there portray that lifestyle.  I don’t have time for these things & I constantly feel like I’m missing out on moments with my son.  (cue Mom guilt here) 

I think dang…wonder what their husbands do for a living because they can afford to stay at home in their fancy house and carry a Louis Vuitton purse???  Must be nice. Sigh. 

I’m just trying to be real here.  That is what I feel…and I am not ashamed of what I have, I just feel so much competitiveness…not only in my life, but in the blog world too.  I’m tired of it effecting me or make me feel  less sufficient as a wife, mom, or woman. 

If you feel like you don’t have it all right now it’s okay.  You can get there with goals and hard work & I keep reminding myself that! 

I thought I would share how Terence and I started out 10 years ago…..

This is our very first kitchen.  We lived in a duplex on the Air Force Base.  I remember thinking this is so OLD.  How am I going to live here?  It was definitely a kitchen from the 70’s and it had been well lived in from prior tenants.  I was not thrilled about moving into this house at first…..

But you know what?  I made that kitchen my own and it was great for 5 years and served us well 🙂

Then we moved into a tiny one bedroom apartment in Arkansas after Terence got out of the service.  I then thought “A one bedroom” ???  How are we going to live here??? 

Again, we made it work and it was a wonderful home for about two years while Terence finished school and I worked 2 jobs.  Truth be told we were so busy we just slept there anyway! 

Fast forward to 2007

We moved to Texas and lived with my in-laws for what was supposed to be a few months….and actually turned into two years!  It saved us a ton of money because he was in an accelerated MBA program where he couldn’t work for a year.  We are forever grateful for that time they let us live with them.

When Terence graduated and got a job we moved into another 1 bdrm apartment, again not my ideal home….I thought at this point in life we would already have a home, but it was a step up from previous residences!  It was the nicest kitchen I’d had so far and I was beyond excited about having an extra pantry cabinet in particular  🙂

July 2009 – SURPRISE!  We have a baby on the way!!!  We looked at bigger apartments, but ultimately started looking at homes closer to where Terence’s family lives & my job is.  Terence would always be happy living in an apartment and it really is a much more economical decision…but I finally convinced him to start looking at homes!  I was so excited!  We had never owned a home before and after several searches we found our house…..

This is not my dream kitchen, but it is my DREAM kitchen for now & I am beyond thrilled we have it!
It’s better than anything we’ve had before….and I feel like after all our hard work we have a home of our own and a place to raise our son.  God is good.  Life is good.  Goals are good.

This is my point of view,Terence may be reading this and thinking “That’s not exactly how it happened!” But it’s how I remember it….and it’s my blog yo 😛

Fall 1999 – Freshmen in college

The cost of a gallon of gas was $1.22

Napster was all the rage

The Matrix & The Sixth Sense were top movies

Britney Spears & Shania Twain were at the peak of their careers

ICQ chat room was “the thing to do”

CHAPTER ONE :
Terence decided to go to college out of state and move to AR for his education. Bonnie and I attended a local Baptist college. My sister, Bonnie, liked to chitter chatter on the Internet long before Facebook & Twitter were even a glimmer in cyber land. She started talking to a guy who was a dorm mate of Terence’s in college. Bonnie and T’s dorm mate decided to meet up one night at Baskin Robbins. Just in case this person was a creepy serial killer….Bonnie brought along me and our friend Rachel.

Off we went to Baskin Robbins that night to meet these mystery guys. We pulled up in the parking lot & started chatting and eventually ended up at the recreation room on the college campus. We played video games, shot some pool, and talked. Terence hardly spoke two words to me. Honesty, I wasn’t interested at all, especially in someone wearing cowboy boots & an Aggies hat held together with electrical tape.

He wasn’t my type.

A few weeks passed after our meet up & life went on…then all of a sudden I started getting emails and chat messages from Terence. I didn’t know whether to respond or not.  Bonnie & I were actually trying to see if he was interested in our friend Rachel. He wasn’t. He was interested in me. Terence is a smooth talker, anyone will tell you this. Although I wasn’t interested I gave it a shot and slowly but surely started liking him more and more. We chatted and emailed for a couple of weeks….the emails eventually turned into phone calls….which led to me asking him “Hey you want to come over and watch a movie with me and my Mom?”

I lived at home during college so I thought he wouldn’t want to come to my parents’ house. Much to my surprise he said “YES!” I was excited and nervous at the thought of him coming over, but thought “What do I have to lose?” After all he doesn’t have family here and if nothing else he would have a friend in town. So that night I met up with Terence.

We watched a movie called “Romy & Michelle’s Highschool Reunion”, which I now know that he hated! LOL! My Mom eventually went to bed and left Terence and I alone to talk in the living room. We went to the computer and browsed around on the Internet for a bit….we talked all evening and flirted a lot! We both had school the next day and it was getting late….I really liked this guy, but it was obvious he was very shy, his words on the computer were much stronger than his actions in real life! Ha!

So I took matters into my own hands….leaned forward and gave him a long kiss goodnight…………

To be continued…………..

I have to admit at times I feel overwhelmed.  Lately I have questioned why I keep this blog.  In the beginning…way back in 2006 when I first started blogging it was for fun.  I think a whole two people read it!  I enjoyed reading other people’s journals about their lives and I still do. 

Lately I have been feeling stressed out with all the blogging, picture taking, Twittering, Facebooking….blah..blah..blah….it has become something I feel like I need to do instead of something I want to do. 

My husband and baby should not have to ask me to get off the phone or computer to spend time with them.  I should want to do it.  And I realize I have been spending a lot more time in front of the computer & having my hand practically surgically attached to my phone rather than spending quality time with them.  I find myself constantly thinking “What would everyone think if I wrote this?” or “Would this please the people that read my blog?”  Instead I should be writing and taking pictures for myself and my own family and because I want to.  I want to write about things I want instead of what I think others would want to hear. 

I’ve always been hard on myself.  Some might say I am a little bit OCD 😛  I have felt guilt over the past year because I have not been as active commenting and replying to emails as I should have.  But I know you all understand why….if you really know me, then you know I care and I still love you anyway. 

With this new year I want to spend less time on the computer, phone, and TV….more quality time watching my son learn, loving my husband, and growing in the Lord.  I am not perfect and I am only doing the best I can do day by day.  I struggle to get my house cleaned, the dishes washed, laundry done, dinner cooked, and even shaving my legs!  I have a hard time prioritizing things and using my time wisely.  Over the past year I have struggled with anxiety and depression because I put so much pressure on myself.  I am ready to let go of the bricks I have weighing my shoulders down….relax….and enjoy the gifts that God has given me.  I praise the Lord every day for this life, my family, friends, our house, great jobs, and food on the table…even if it is a frozen pizza 🙂  God is good.  God is SO good.

 Have patience with me love…..I am learning too…

You are my angel.  Everything I ever wanted and dreamed of.  I know at times I get frustrated and stressed…but I hope you know everything I do is for you and Daddy.  I love my boys so much!

Have you ever woken up and thought “Didn’t I just go to sleep?” Lately it seems like each day flies by and I don’t remember what I did the day before. Everything just runs together into one thick stream of LIFE.

Terence and I have both felt convicted to study the Bible more because we know there will be a day when Connor will ask us “Mommy & Daddy why do you believe what you do?” We just started attending a new church and really like it there! I admit I have not always been the best at studying and reading the Bible like I should. We are trying to change that though….and I want to be a better person and Mommy for him……
Terence’s Dad gave him this book called “Systematic Theology“. Honestly, I would have never opened it unless Terence told me about it and we started reading it together. It explains a lot of those questions about “WHY” things are the way they are in the Bible. We just started this book, and so far it’s been a great learning tool. I don’t want to feel guilty because I am not leading the kind of lifestyle I should be….I want to be an example…not just any kind, but a Godly example.

My time with this little guy is not a whole lot 🙁 By the time I pick him up after work and get things done for the next day it seems like we’ve only shared a few hours in the evenings. I wish I could stay at home, but on the other hand I do cherish the moments we have a lot more now.

I can tell he’s going to have lots of questions….just like his Daddy!

He’s my sweet angel and I thank God every day for this little life He has in trusted in my arms

Here’s a little video for Nana & Poppy 🙂