CHRONICLES: SLIGHT SETBACK WITH MOM, OVERCOME AGAIN

On Sunday my dad and I had to go to Jacksonville to see my mom. For those of you who don't know, she's recovering from a lung transplant. Her nurse called my dad early Sunday morning and said that my mom was complaining of shortness of breath, and that she was being taken to ICU, but they were taking care of her. She also asked if he could come to the hospital. My dad let me know what was going on, I hopped out of bed, grabbed the bag that I keep packed and got ready to leave. Before we headed out, my mom's doctor called my dad and let him know what was going on. In short, her doctor believes another blood clot got to her lung which caused shortness of breath. He said that she was stable, they had put her on the ventilator to help with her breathing, and she was sedated. Her doctor, more or less, gave a good report which helped to put us at ease (we've gone through something similar to this during her recovery but worse).

We arrived in Jacksonville around 9:30am and went straight to the hospital. She was exactly as her doctor explained: sedated, on the ventilator, stable (no changes in her appearance). Her nurse was in the room and explained everything to us and what was going on at that point. We went over and kissed her to let her know we were there. We stayed with her Sunday, Monday, and came back yesterday.

She was stable enough to be taken off the vent so they removed it on Monday. Once they took it out she was back to herself. Her voice was a little raspy because of the tube but after a while she started talking normal again. By the end of the night, I had fed her soup, my dad and I watched tv with her and we prayed before we left. We stayed with her for a little while on Tuesday. She is doing well and we (God willing) will be returning this weekend.

This has been a long journey and we're just trusting God for my mom's complete recovery. Some days have been tougher than others but we know when it's all said and done God will get the glory for it all.

P.S. As we've learned during this process, when things like this happen, we know now that it's a slight setback. With God, she's overcome one (more than one) and these past couple of days she had to overcome again.

Asking that you would keep my mom in your prayers.

CHRONICLES: ME AND MY SALLERGY (SINUS AND ALLERGY)

Photo Credit

Good Morning :-) Well, it's another beautiful Saturday and it's absolutely gorgeous outside. Spring is one of my favorite times of the year (I want to get married in the Spring) but it can also be a nemesis: sinus and allergy (which is why I have summer time as plan B for my future wedding lol). Yesterday my sinus and allergy were bad. I woke up with a headache, couldn't find my medication, and the sneezing made the headache worse. I finally found the medication (Benadryl: Maximum strength, severe allergy plus sinus headache), and took two of them. Man, Benadryl does not play. "Marked drowsiness may occur" is an understatement lol. How about, "After taking prescribed dosage, count backward from 10"?

I was in and out of sleep for a bit then finally dozed off. I will say that Benny (Benadryl) will probably be my go-to meds if I don't have the Tylenol Sinus that I usually take, on hand. It worked wonderfully but I woke up with a low grade fever. Although it was only 98.9, I still had the chills and being cold that comes along with having a high grade fever. I wasn't too worried because I knew that a fever usually occurs when I'm having trouble with my sinus and allergy. My only concern was that I wouldn't be able to be around my mother.

My temperature is still 98.9 (just took it) which means I still have doctoring on myself to do. Other than the fever, I feel ok, but, nevertheless, I'm still going to enjoy the sunshine coming through my window.

CHRONICLES: HERE'S THE SKINNY

I'll be honest: There's not much going on with me. I've racked my brain trying to figure out how to make it more personal over here but I couldn't think of anything. All the excitement happened pre-Chronicles lol. For the most part I'm pretty much a home body. I spend most of my days, building my new design business and keeping up with my mom's post lung transplant recovery. As far as my personal life goes, well, I'm still waiting :-)

I just wanted to give you a little blurb about what's going on with me. I still want to make things a bit more personal around here. I'll see what I can do :-)

COMING UP ON CHRONICLES

Hello all. Just giving a quick update on what's coming up on Chronicles:

COMING UP ON CHRONICLES: 

Look out for the first Open Letter from @VirtuousbyFaith. I'll be sharing her response to the question I posed a few weeks ago: "Where are you in your single life right now?" She has a great story about her life as a single mom and what she's learned.

I'm working on "Men Speak Week: The Future Husband and Husband Edition". I've done one great interview so far, working on another, and the third one is in the works. I'm really looking forward to sharing with you.

I have some fabulous wedding features coming up so stay tuned for more Wedding Wednesday.

You'll be hearing from me, personally, too. That can come at any time lol.

That's all for now. Have a blessed and safe weekend.

WEDDING WEDNESDAY: LOVE SONGS

I've been in a lovey dovey mood lately, listening to romantic, want-to-be-in-love, could-be-used-for-a-wedding-like songs. In homage to those feelings and Wedding Wednesday, here are a few tunes that had me swooning recently. (What are some of your favorite romantic/wedding songs? Wives: What did you walk down the aisle to?)

The Point of It All by Anthony Hamilton

How Many Ways? by Toni Braxton

Long Way Down by Keyshia Cole

Love All Over Me by Monica

Everything to Me by Monica

And of course, the crooner himself, Luther Vandross

FEATURED FUTURE WIFE: {ENGAGED}: MICHELLE JONES TO DONNIE SMITH}

I'm a sucker for love :-) And when Jaiya posted the announcement (and a link to the site) of her friend Michelle's engagement on Facebook, I had to check it out. Let's just say all I needed was a bag of popcorn because I literally did not move from in front of the computer screen until I went through the entire site. Michelle's story, from meeting her fiance' to the proposal, was just beautiful and I had to get her on Chronicles. Here is our first Future Wife feature of 2011.

Meet the future Mrs. Smith.

Name: Michelle Jones

Age: 28

Wedding Date: November 5, 2011

Engaged to: Donnie Smith

Wedsite: Donnie Loves Michelle

This is a moment that I'm sure all my Future Wife readers dream of (getting engaged, and eventually marriage). What was your reaction when your fiancé proposed?
My reaction to when DJ proposed to me was complete and utter shock. You would have thought that with all of my family and friends there, I would have known something, but I honestly thought it was a surprise birthday party.

I was hoping for a proposal within 2010, but I never thought that it would happen for my birthday because he always said that it would be too obvious...he basically played reverse psychology on me (LOL). The moment I saw him get down on one knee was the moment that took my breath away. I was so emotional that I couldn't even breath enough to say the word "yes", all I could do was nod my head in acceptance of his proposal.

Were you thinking about marriage before you met your fiancé?
I think most women dream of marriage from a very young age. When we are young we dream of a prince or a knight with shining armor whisking us away to start a new life. So yes, I've always wanted to become a wife one day.

The one thing that I saw when I read your story is how you responded to Donnie when he was pursuing you. What made you give him a chance?
Donnie (aka) DJ, was so consistent and patient with me that I could not resist him. Before I knew it, he was the only person I wanted to talk to or be with. He told me what he wanted out of a mate and promised me happiness. He put the ball in my court without any pressure. And I fell in love with him from that moment on.

Another thing I saw about your story is how perfectly God timed you meeting your future husband. How important is it for single people to know that God is in control of how they will meet their mate?

At the time when I met Donnie I had been single for a while, so I wasn't focusing on finding a man or being in a relationship. I honestly felt like I had met them all, and I wanted to focus more on me and my career and achieving my own personal goals.

I'm a firm believer that God is in control of all things and He places people in your life at a certain time for a reason. If I had meet DJ in 2005 or 2006, mentally I may not have been ready for him, and he may have not been ready for someone like me. God allowed me to go through experiences in my life as His way to prepare me for who I was suited for. DJ is everything that I've prayed for in a friend, a mate, and husband.

For single women I would say, accept what God has planned for you, learn from your experiences and appreciate them. Pay attention to the signs of genuineness. Also, do not focus on finding a man or being in a relationship, this can lead to settling for less, God does not want that for us. If you are happy within your own skin it, it will have its own glow.

One of the things I had to learn along my single journey is that there's a difference between a wedding and a marriage, a bride and a wife. What are the differences to you? 

A wedding lasts only a day, a marriage lasts a lifetime. In my wedding planning process, I'm excited as excited as any woman would be about the day that my soulmate and I will become husband and wife, my excitement is focused on becoming a complete unit, two hearts and souls blended into one. A bride is momentarily, a wife is for life. A wife is partner, a spouse, another half of the whole.

How did you allow God to prepare you to be a wife?

I think God has prepared me to be a wife in many ways, for one He allowed me to experience the single life, date, and gain experience through other relationships as an indicator of what I should look for in a future husband. He allowed me to work on myself and take care of my own personal goals and being comfortable and happy with myself before entering another relationship. Through my courtship with DJ, God has shown me what true love is and how to love, and be patient and care for someone else. He has blessed me with someone who loves just as hard as I do and who will go to no end to make me happy and I'm so excited to give that same love back.

What are you most looking forward to becoming a wife/getting married?

I'm looking forward to sharing my life, special moments, struggles, along with creating a family with the man who knows me and understands me better than anyone else and who loves me unconditionally. I'm looking forward to becoming one with him.

*Engagement Photo Credit: AVI Photography

BACK ON TRACK :-) HAPPY FRIDAY ALL

Hello and Happy Friday :-) I thought I'd end the week by updating you on the blog (this was the post I was supposed to be sharing before I was Sidetracked by Gorgeousness the other day lol). So without further ado...

Coming Up on Chronicles
ENGAGED: (Michelle Jones to Donnie Smith) -This Tuesday, see Chronicles' first Future Wife feature of 2011. You'll love it.

New to Chronicles
Open Letters and Real Talk- While I was away I posed a few questions on Twitter and Facebook to Future Wives and Wives. I asked them to share their stories and open and honest opinions about the single and married lives. I received some great responses. For the ladies who didn't mind their stories or opinions being shared, I will be posting them as a part of a new feature on the blog. I will continue to pose questions because not only do I want to hear your stories, experiences, etc... but I believe what you share will help someone else.

Question or Quote of the Day- I'll be posing QOTD from myself and (if you have anything to share) from you as well. Again, I believe your responses will help someone and will encourage interaction. The other QOTD will be quotes that I think will be encouraging, uplifting, and will provoke thought.

Men Speak Week: The Future Husband and Husband Edition- I'm really excited about this. Just as I believe it's important for us to hear from wives to give us the real deal about marriage, it's also important for us to hear from fellow brothers in Christ who are walking the single walk and brothers in Christ who are husbands. Stay tuned for some great features.

Giveaways- Yes, Chronicles will be having its first giveaway really soon (two giveaways are in queue at the moment. Hopefully there will be more.)

The Future Wife- That's what the blog is all about, right? Well, mostly about lol. I feel like I need to do better in personalizing my journey so I am :-)

A Staple on Chronicles
Wedding Wednesday- I will continue to feature fabulous weddings or wedding-related things on the blog. A girl's gotta dream, right? :-)


Future Wife Features- Look out for more fabulous Future Wife features (one of my favorite parts of the blog)


Wife Features- Ditto for this :-)


Marriage Features- Double ditto for this :-)

Have a fabulous and safe weekend. God Bless.

SIDETRACKED BY GORGEOUSNESS

So I sat down to type the next post for today, but got sidetracked after seeing these gorgeous wedding images by Keith Cephus (one of my favorite photographers). I'll give you some time to view the gorgeousness then I'll be back with the post I was originally supposed to share lol. Happy Wedding Wednesday :-)

JANAE+LANCE

(To see more images go here)
(See Janae + Lance's feature in Essence here)

I HOPE THE BLOG IS HELPING...

Of all the subjects that I thought of as a first post for Chronicles' return, not only was that the last thing I would have thought of, but it turns out that it was the most honest. I thought I would have a laundry list of things to think about as far as the blog was concerned while I was away but I didn't. That one thought is what I believe God wanted me to be honest with myself about as I go on to what I think is the next "phase" of the blog: I really want Chronicles to help.

I have some new things coming up for the blog such as a new look, new features, and I'm working on some other things (I will do a break down of those things in a separate post). I will also be updating you on what's been going on with me as well. But for now I wanted to reopen with what was truly on my heart: I hope the blog is helping.

So, Chronicles is officially back. Thanks to all of you who have continued to tweet, send encouraging words, and subscribe even while I was away. I really appreciate it. More posts coming soon :-)

Just thought I'd let you know...

CHRONICLES WILL BE BACK NEXT WEEK :-)