Before November Ends

I haven't written on my blog in forever, and I promised myself that no matter what I would get at least one post done for the month of November, and seeing that it's the last day of the month, I suppose today's the day to get it done. (I just realized that was a seriously long sentence, ha.) It simply isn't fair for me to try to condense my whole life from the past few months into one small post, so I'll just give some highlights and write further about said highlights in separate posts!

November 2012 marked Jeremiah and I's first Thanksgiving that we celebrated as a married couple! :-) We decided to have our own little dinner together before heading to my parents' house to celebrate with them and the siblings. 'Twas very fun. Here are a few pics from the Husband and I's dinner.

Our turkey didn't fit in our oven (we use our toaster oven as our oven! Works out better than it sounds ;)) So the Husband came up with the idea of putting our deep fryer to use for half the turkey, and then putting the other half in the oven! We didn't want our apartment smelling like deep fried turkey for a month, so the fryer ended up on a chair outside until it was done! Turned out tasty, by the way. 

That first item is cake. The Husband woke up early just to make it. And he ate the whole thing himself. That's a normal occurrence in our household, lol.

Days and days and days and days and days and days of LEFTOVERS!!!

Awww, I smile just by looking at it. We enjoyed putting it all together for ourselves. We ended up eating around 5 something pm, which is late for him, early for me! We probably would've eaten earlier, but we took advantage of his day off work by have a nap together before getting too into cooking. :-)

Blurry, but I love it! And we matched! I have the best husband.

And again.

And again.

And, yes, again.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures while we were at my family's house, but we had a great time there too! Plus my padre was in town from work, so it was truly a family celebration. After the eating and talking and fellowship was done, me, my older sis, her husband, one of my younger bros, and my younger sis headed to the mall for the Black Friday festivities. I guess it wasn't so festive for my little sis since she had to work... But I must say it was rather freeing for me this year to not have to worry about rushing from Thanksgiving dinner to the mall to work retail! 

Anyways, while at the mall, my older sister and I went to TJMaxx (yes, the one store with no sales on Black Friday because everything is always on sale...go figure!). We browsed and browsed and ended up in the baby section, and she blessed me and the husband with our first sets of onesies for baby girl! Yup, I'm pregnant, 23 weeks today :-) I wish I had pictures of the adorable little outfits since they're so freakin' adorable (so nice, I said it twice!..lame, ha!! You loved it though.), but I shall share some other time. Here I am on Thanksgiving Day:

Anywho, that's all for now! Much has happened over the past few months, but that's all I feel like writing about at the moment. Don't worry, I won't disappear for another five months. Maybe just five days. :-)

The Month To Surpass All Months

It's here! It's here! We are officially in February and I am too hype, because that means my wedding is in just over three weeks! Ahhhh! Excitement, man. Excitement. So many awesome things are happening this month, I just have to share...

February 4

Bridal Shower! My maid of honor, who's been my best friend since like...forever!, has been totally enjoying herself by not sharing ANY details with me about the shower. Grrr! Oh well, I know I'll enjoy it :-)

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February 5

 The Favorite and I's 3 year dating anniversary! (Oh, you thought I was gonna say the Super Bowl?! I didn't even know it was on the fifth til my brother told me a couple days ago. Shows how much football I watch!)

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February 14

 Valentine's Day! Not even one my favorite "holidays," but I'm always down for chocolate :-)

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February 18

 Spiritual Birthday! On this day of 2001, Jesus drew me to Himself, opening my spiritually blind eyes to see my need of Him and His grace and mercy! No longer am I among the walking dead, but the alive in Christ!

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February 25

WEDDING DAY! "And the two shall become one..." It's so surreal; I'm marrying the love of my life! My first boyfriend is also my last, and I have the honor of being his wife! (And he has the honor of being my husband! hehe) Definitely pray for us, that we'll truly have a wedding & marriage that honors the Lord!

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February 26

 Cruise!! DEFINITELY looking forward to the honeymoon, ya'll. Nobody better try to contact us! ;-)

Do you see how much LOVE is in each of these days!? From the beginning of the month with people showering love and gifts on me and the Favorite, to the beautiful union we'll have before family and friends, love, GOD's love is so real and present. And with that in mind, I already know that there are probably more things that are going to arise during this month, some great, some not so great, but in the midst of it all, whether good or bad, I choose to rejoice, and I choose to count my blessings because they are MANY and my great God has been doing, is doing, and will continue to do a great work! 

Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you 

will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.

~Philippians 1:6

He Proposed...And I Said YES!

I know, I know I haven't posted in a while and now I'm springing this news on you! Nope, no joke. As of Wednesday, April 6, the Favorite and I are engaged to be married!! Woohoo!!! Sooo exciting! :-)

Let me give you a little background. Since we both live in the DMV area (which is where I was born and raised), the Favorite has met all of my immediate family, but I only met his mom and one of his sisters once (when they came to visit up here!). We've been dating a little over two years, so it was definitely about that time to meet his fam. So we planned a trip to Miami (where he grew up) for a few days this month. The day before the trip (April 6th), we planned to meet to go to a Borders blow-out sale (yay books!) after I finished Bible study on campus. So we met up at the metro, and I must say I was quite happy when I saw him. Looking handsome as usual, I came up behind him and gave him a hug (shout out to Jamil for the cut and shape up!! lol!). Amidst lots of laughs and teasing, we finally found the Zipcar he'd reserved and set out for Borders. (Now something I should insert here that I didn't know until after the fact is that the Borders sale was just an excuse for us to meet up! ...I mean, not like an excuse was really needed hehe, but he did a good job in covering his tracks in making sure nothing seemed out of the ordinary.)

After some book hunting, the Favorite suggested that perhaps we could go to the National Mall to check out the cherry blossoms while they were in bloom, before the Festival ended. A few weeks prior to this day, we had actually been talking about the Cherry Blossom Festival (and how we always miss it!), so viewing some of the lovely blooms under the beautiful DC night lights sounded like a plan to me. (Sidenote: we didn't actually go! He had other plans...)

On the way there, we stopped by Potbelly, and anybody who knows anything about me knows that I love their sandwiches - a Wreck on white, to be specific - and also their chocolate malts! He dropped me off at the entrance, long enough for him to drive around the block while I got my sandwich. As we headed over to see the cherry blossoms, I rambled on about so many things, such as our upcoming trip to Miami and the poor service I had just received at my beloved Potbelly. Needless to say, I was rather aloof about anything that was about to happen!

Just look at that yummy delicious goodness!
Photo courtesy of Google Images

Once we parked on the Mall we simply wandered for a bit, talking, laughing, and reminiscing on the many times in the past that we'd done the exact same thing. (As a matter of fact, he asked me to be in an official courtship/dating relationship with him at the Washington Monument!) We happened upon (actually, no. I found out after the fact that the Favorite had scoped this place out months ago!) this lovely garden that, as many times as I've been on the Mall, I had never seen before. It had a huge cast iron fountain in the center, with several perfectly placed lights to illuminate the unique foliage that surrounded it. We sat on a bench across from the fountain, and the Favorite pulled out a book that we have been going through for a few months now entitled, 101 Questions to Ask Before You Get Engaged. This wasn't at all odd or out of place, because we pretty much would take the book whereever we would hang out. Dinner, the movies, the park, anywhere! It was a fun and interesting way to get to know each other even better, and also to prepare us for the marriage that we both knew would inevitably come, though neither of knew (or at least I didn't!) when.

Photo courtesy
of Google Images

In order to keep the book from getting too monotonous, we would each pick a number and ask each other the question associated with that number. That night was no different. One of the questions was about love, and whether or not the love we demonstrated to each other lined up with biblical love. Then, he asked me whether I thought we were ready to be engaged. Of course I said yes :-) But again, this wasn't weird or out of the ordinary because it wasn't like this was the first time we'd talked about engagement and marriage! **disclaimer: details from this point forward get a little blurry because it seemed so surreal!** We went back to the book, and the Favorite began flipping through it, looking for a particular page. He said something along the lines of him running across a question that we hadn't gone over yet. And there it was.....

Question 102.



Ashley Danielle Strickland,

Will you marry me?

I stared at the page, jaw dropped. As I lifted my eyes to look at him he began to kneel, and pulled out a little box with a beautiful ring inside. Somewhere in the midst of this, I said yes!! :-) He slid the ring on my finger then wrapped me in a tight hug. It was all so beautiful! 

I must have said "oh my gosh" at least thirty thousand times that night because I was in such shock. Jeremiah would just sit and gaze at me with a smile, while I had a huge grin plastered across my face, shaking my head saying "oh my gosh" and looking back and forth from the bling on my finger to his content face. A few minutes after he proposed, I said I needed to walk around for bit. As we strolled slowly around the garden, it finally hit me: I AM ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED!!! I squealed and the Favorite spun me around. (I'm smiling to myself just remembering!) He pulled me into a hug, and we stood there like that for a few minutes. I remember saying "Oh my God," and it was at that point that it really began to sink in the depth and significance of this moments. It wasn't just the fact that the Favorite, whom I love, wanted to marry me, it was all the fact that our Sovereign God who sits high in the heavens has been ordering my steps and his for years prior to this moment!!

Just to give you a snapshot (It didn't begin here, but this is where I started putting it all together)... 
--Family financial situation caused me to leave six years of private Christian school education to go to public school. The school opened my eyes to the desperate need in the black community for believers to take a stand for righteousness found in Christ! This prepared me for the next step...
--I didn't get into my college of choice; not because of grades, but because of a paperwork technicality! So I ended up going to Howard, my last choice of school (which I now love!) Howard led to ministry opportunities...
--I got involved with Howard's chapter of the Impact Movement, which allowed me to put feet to my faith and to fulfill my God-given desire to reach out to the African American community on the college campus (and at Howard, pretty much the whole campus is black, hence HBCU hehe). I was actively involved with evangelism, discipleships, campus outreach events, and more! The Favorite and I met through ministry...
--Jeremiah was a junior and President of our Servant Team on campus when I came onto campus as a freshman. We got to know each other through service to the Lord, and initially we weren't really even attracted to each other; we were just brother and sister in Christ! But as time progressed, we both began to realize that the Lord was changing our hearts toward each other...
--February 2009, after talking to my dad for his approval, the Favorite asked to begin an official courtship with me. It hasn't been all flowers and ice cream (weird combo, but you get my drift), but the closer the two of us grew to the Lord, the closer we grew in our relationship with each other. Time progressed and...
--April 6, 2011, two years, two months, and one day after beginning dating, the Favorite once again sought my father's approval, and upon receiving it he asked for my hand in marriage! Yayyyy! And here we are now :-)

So there is a very brief snapshot of how the Lord has ordered things long before I even realized it! Of course there's more (He knew me before I was even in my mother's womb!), but just to give you an idea. We certainly DO serve a risen Savior; I have His testimony in my heart and in my life! (Here's my Happy Resurrection Sunday plug!)

Photo courtesy of Google Images

Well to make to this long exciting story short(er), basically we ended up leaving the Mall and going to my house where I shared the news with my siblings and parents, and took lots of pictures! We stayed for hours and it was just a wonderful time! And then the next day we left for Miami where the Favorite introduced me to his family as his fiancee :-) God is good, eh?

I welcome prayers as God continues to prepare the Favorite and I for the wedding and our lifelong covenant of marriage!

A Fish Named Grace

I mentioned briefly in my last post that a couple of my siblings and friends and I went to a conference in Atlanta, Georgia from December 27st to the 31st. It was truly amazing! I first went to one of Impact's National conferences by myself in 2008, and it was INCREDIBLE. To be able to share it with friends and family this time was truly awesome.

Believers worshiping the Lord at the Impact 2010 conference.
Photo courtesy of the Impact Movement.

The mission of the Impact Movement is to reach the college campus, community, and world by producing leaders of African descent who are spiritually focused, financially responsible, and morally fit. At first, I struggled with being part of a group whose focus was on one main ethnic group, so I really sought the Lord regarding my involvement. As I saw the moral devastation of the black community, the doctrinal errancies being perpetuated in many of our churches, as well as the desperate need for leaders in my age range who are bold about our Lord, there was no way I could pass up the opportunity to get plugged into this group! This is the same group I went to South Africa with in 2010, by the way. I have grown leaps and bounds in my walk with the Lord since I first became involved with Impact my freshman year of college in 2007, and I am still involved with Impact on my campus now, even though I haven't been in school!

Priscilla Shirer
Photo courtesy of the Impact Movement

So yeah, there's my short little blurb about Impact, and they have conferences every other year (except this time they're having one at the end of the year, woohoo!). At this particular conference, a woman (no, she's not a pastor or anything like that, f.y.i. lol) named Priscilla Shirer spoke about the story of Jonah. Often when we think of the big fish that ate..er, swallowed? Jonah, we think of it as a punishment. However, as Priscilla explained, this fish was actually evidence of God's grace toward him! Here's the background: You've got this guy Jonah, who is commanded by God to go to Ninevah. The guy balks, and begins to high tail it to the furthest island known to man at the time. While on the boat, God sends this crazy big storm, and Jonah agrees to have the crew throw him overboard. Now this could easily be where Jonah's story ends. He wouldn't be playing man overboard if he had simply obeyed God, right? Seems like death by drowning would have been the natural consequence.

But then this fish come around and swallows Jonah whole. GULP, just like that. (At least I'm assuming, cuz I'm assuming if chomping were involved, Jonah would've been pretty injured!) And after a good little bit in the fish's belly, Jonah was coughed up/vomited/deposited (take your pick!) on dry land. Now this is amazing to me, just how God can show His grace in any NUMBER of ways, including a FISH! But to be honest, I haven't yet even told you the part that really gets me about this story! So let's rewind just a little to the beginning of the story...

**insert VCR rewinding noise here**

God gave Jonah orders, right? He commanded Jonah to go to Ninevah, and Jonah disobeyed. Let's fast-forward again... After the fish deposited Jonah on dry land, God's word, His command had not changed. He still wanted Jonah to go to Ninevah!

Photo courtesy of Google images

Now at this point, you either get where I'm going, or you're scratching your head and really want me to get to the point. But hang with me guys! So many times in our lives, especially around this time with it being the beginning of a new year and all, we set so many goals. We want to change this about our lives, lose weight, read our Bible more, pray more, evangelize more, figure out what God's will is for us. That's not necessarily bad, but what many (including myself, until recently) of us don't realize, is that we can be so busy trying to figure out our future and determine what new thing God wants to do in our lives when we never really allowed Him to accomplish the work in us that He was trying to do last year! Like Jonah, we run away, experience grace, but are still faced with the choice to obey the exact same command God gave us before we ran away.

So here's the ultimate question, guys. What's your year going to look like? Here's what mine is going to be like, starting from this point forward. I am fully engaging in each season of life, not rushing into the next. I am going to walk with the Lord daily, concerning myself with obeying the Spirit moment by moment. I'm going to obey the things the Lord told me to do last year that I simply refrained from doing out of fear or uncertainty or some other un-legitimate reason to disobey.

I've gotta tell you guys, I definitely have a fire right now, a huge passion to be used by the Lord in a greater capacity than ever before. Even today some situations have risen that I know God has a hand in! Remember Vibia Perpetua in my very first post? Well I definitely believe living life in this way is honoring to the Lord and is a life perpetua: abiding, lasting, and fulfilling!  I will definitely keep you posted on all that transpires throughout this time!

Are there any things in your life that God, through His Word and/or Holy Spirit has prompted you to do that you put off or ran away from completely? If so, what are those things and are you seeking to change that in 2011?

Looking forward to hearing from you guys!

It's A New Year!!

I cannot explain to ya'll how excited and in awe I am that it is really 2011! Time FLIES! 2010 ended in an awesome way. My brother, sister, two of our friends and I went to a conference in Atlanta, Georgia with The Impact Movement. God MOVED in so many hearts and lives, and 112 people in the community accepted Christ as their Lord and personal Savior! The conference was SUCH a blessing to be a part of. New Year's Eve was spent with family and the Favorite. As a matter of fact, it was the first new year the Favorite and I spent together! :) We went to my church first, then left early to go to his church, and once that New Year's service was over, we went to a friend's house to play games, eat food (chicken and waffles to be specific, yay!), and talk! It was really a great day!

I must say, 2010 was an interesting year. Things happened that I didn't expect to happen, and some stuff didn't happen that I was sure would work out! In the midst of it all, I praise God for His sovereignty and His grace. He has been long-suffering with me continually drawing me to Himself! I am thankful that I can close the year out knowing that even in the midst of many past mistakes, I am forgiven and closer to the Lord than I was when the year first started!

One of my main goals for 2011 and for all the years to follow is to fully engage in whatever season I'm in! I know that I have the propensity to be such a visionary and to have so many dreams for the future that I end up missing out on opportunities to follow and serve the Lord, my community, my family, and others around me right now, in the present! It's so easy for us to begin to question what God's will is for us, what He desires for us to do, etc., etc. While that isn't necessarily bad, many times all God's will for us is to obey Him daily, moment by moment. Each time we are prompted by the Spirit and we walk in obedience to what He has said, we are walking in His will...How amazing is that!? With that being said, my desire is to live life to the fullest on a daily basis, by being obedient to the Spirit and fully engaging in whatever it is He has me a part of in each season of life.

How did you all bring in the new year? And what decisions have you made for this upcoming year/years to come? I'd love to hear your thoughts. :)

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!!

It's been so long since I've posted! Life has been really busy, especially since I work at the mall. (By the way, YES, I DID survive both Black Friday and the late holiday hours at the mall!)

I could not pass up this opportunity to express my JOY at having a personal relationship with the Creator of the universe, a love affair with the very One who is to be celebrated on this special day! God is so gracious in giving us lowly human beings who, not only on this day, but on every day of our existence, deserve hell itself, yet He offers of heaven in the form of His Son, sacrificially offered to give us life to the fullest in HIM! I am truly humbled that God in His sovereignty saw fit to have all that Old Testament prophecy come to fruition, not only in the sending of His Son, but also in Jesus' life, death on the cross, burial, and resurrection! If everything stopped at Jesus' birth, we would have no salvation! But praise be to God it did not end there!! Salvation is FREE and it is HERE and it is available to ALL who are willing to accept Christ's GIFT! :) Okay, I won't continue on this forever (though I must say, this is a worthy rant). But a huge MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone, and I hope to get a few more blog posts in before the year ends!

Photo courtesy of Google Images

ALSO, a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little sister who turns 18 today, yay!! :)

How will you all be celebrating Christmas, and most importantly, celebrating Jesus this year?