Happy Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow, most Americans across the country will celebrate Thanksgiving. Of all the holidays, thanksgiving is my most favorite. Everything it entails, from the weather, to the presence of family, dinners, great food, laughter, and so on... makes me feel really warm on the inside. No other holiday brings families together like Thanksgiving, and I think that's what makes it so wonderful. This year, as I spend my thanksgiving with my husband and daughter, there is no doubt that I have much to be thankful for. I have been truly blessed this year and God has been really, really good to me.

Tonight, I already see the Thanksgiving tweets and Facebook statuses checking in. Even more exciting, a lot of instagram"ers" are posting preparation pictures! I love it! In all our excitement, please I ask you to make it a point to tell God how much you appreciate Him, and what you are thankful for this year. Cherish every second spent with your loved ones and try not to eat too much turkey!

From my family to yours... HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

"O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercies endureth forever."

2 Chronicles 16:34

Family Fun

This post is a couple of days late but here we go. I have some what of a big family. My parents have six kids, five girls and one boy. As we've gotten older, life has taken us different directions. My oldest sister, Collette is married to Nosa and Pauley is their son. Collette is in Philadelphia finishing up her residency, Nosa is in Oklahoma and Pauley is with us in Atlanta. Huh? I know. It's not as complicated as it seems. Lol. Harriet is the second and she is in Dallas, Texas in law school. Juliet is the third, and she is here in Atlanta. I am the forth and I'm also here... for now. Emmanuel my only brother is right after me and he moved to Chicago recently. Emmanuel has always wanted to live in Chicago and somehow, God orchestrated things and he got a job with the Federal Reserve out there and moved speedily. Lol. Amazing how his dream came true. My little sister Annette is here in Atlanta in her third year in college. I doubt she'll stay in Georgia after school though. Little shawty got plans. All this to say, we are all scattered across the States and only get to see each other mostly on major holidays. Well, this past weekend, EVERYONE was in town! All under one roof! We had a party for Pauley who just turned three! I had such a BLAST!!! Whenever we all get together, we're all laughing non-stop and clowning each other. I never want it to end. I absolutely LOVE my family. They are all truly my pride and joy!

Some pictures from Pauley's party this weekend...

Pauley is named after his dad Nosa. He actually goes by Nosa at his school. He loves loves the Disney movie "Cars" and knows all the characters, so we made it his birthday theme. The look on his face when he saw his cake was priceless. Btw, this cake was so darn good! 

My mama straight matching with the wall and floor! Hehe

Yup! I sure did! And it was FUN!!!

I didn't witness it, but I heard Pauley gave his teacher, pictured above, the best welcome. He loves her!

This was the best part of the night. Pauley was SO excited when we sang happy birthday to him and he blew out his candles. He kept yelling "Tweee!" when we got to the "How old are you now?" part. Funny story... Pauley loves cookies, so the day of his actual birthday, we bought him a cookie cake and sang to him at home. Right before he blew out the candles, we told him to close his eyes and make a wish. So he shut his eyes tight and whispered "Abracadabra". That did it for me! Unfortunately, my sis thought she was recording on her phone but she wasn't!

Collette and Nosa

With Christian (l) and Nicholas (r). A long, long time ago... I was their babysitter. How long ago? I changed Christian's diapers. Nick was already potty trained. Today Chris is 12 and Nick is 14! We lost touch for some years. I recently found out I still have their mom's number and I reached out. Told her I was married with a daughter and she was at the house the next day! Lol. I was shocked when I saw how grown the boys were! The whole family was too excited to see them at the party!

With their mom, Mrs. Katie. Love her! She gave me my first job! Lol

MoMo with Mrs. Katie and the boys!

Going through gifts at the end of the night, Pauley was so confused with excitement. It was the funniest sight..

Sunday the 11th, was my brother's birthday and he got ready in his Sunday/Birthday best! Lol. He absolutely loves the ice cream cake at this ice cream spot called Brusters, so we get him one almost every year! When Pauley saw the cake and heard us singing, he got really excited and started yelling "Tweee!!!" We had to let him know... "Uh uh bruh... This one ain't for you!" In the words of his dad... "Cool down". Lol

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Uncle let him blow out the candles though. 

MoMo with her uncle.

The weekend was short of perfect. Just one piece was missing.... Hubby.

I'm looking forward to another amazing weekend ahead!!! CAN'T WAIT, CAN'T WAIT, CAN'T WAIT!!! #happyhappyjoyjoy

Enjoy yours!

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

Today I turned 26 and as I reflect on the past year, I can't but THANK GOD for how awesome He has been to me! 25 was TOO good to me! I got engaged and married to THE most amazing man on earth, we had THE most beautiful baby girl, I graduated with my Masters in Business Administration from University of Georgia, and hubby got a great job hence our move. All these among so many other blessings. Makes me want to break out and sing...

"Count your many Blessing, Name them one by one,

Count your many Blessings, See what God has done,

Count your Blessings, Name them one by one,

Isn't it surprising what the Lord has done"

I'm not sure what I've done to deserve so much joy and happiness but I am so grateful to God. 25 has been my best year yet, but I know there is so much more in store for me and THE BEST IS YET TO COME! I am full of expectation and ready to be embarrassed with God's love and all that He has prepared for me. One of my all time favorite scriptures...

"For I know the thoughts that I think towards Lauret Odesanya, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give her a future and a hope" .... Amen.

Jeremiah 29:11

02-11-12

MoMo Boo

Sharing a very proud moment with my sister Juliet! Older Sis Harriet pictured with us.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU LORD!!!

Smile

Considering all the unnecessary (in my opinion) post election tension floating around, I just want to lighten the mood a little.

A couple of weeks after Mo boo was born, my big sister Harriet, Mo's godmother, who is just oh so crafty, knitted the prettiest hat ever for Mo Boo. Over the summer while rounding up my MBA, Harriet helped me babysit Mo one of the nights I was in class. She took a picture of Mo with the hat on and sent it to me. Whenever I get pictures, I usually take a snapshot of it with my IPhone and save it to my picture library. Well recently, I was with my sister-in-law Renny and her daughter Izi. I told Renny about the hat and proceeded to pull up the picture from my phone so she could see it. After she looked at it, she handed the phone back to me and Izi came up to me and of course also wanted to take a look at the picture. Here's the picture...

Ahhhh!

She took a look, turned to her mom and said, "Mama why is my baby cousin wearing that basket?" My goodness! I laughed SO hard, I think I was close to tears!

Three days ago Harriet sent a text with the picture below to the family, that brought the biggest smile to my face. She graduates from Law school next year and on Tuesday, they took their class pictures. Words cannot express how proud I am of my sister!!! 

Elegance

Two cents disclaimer... I am a firm believer that it is the will of God for President Obama to have a second term. Long before President Obama was formed in his mother's womb, God knew him, called him by his name, and destined him to be the President of the United States of America for two terms. It wasn't luck. It was him over time preparing himself to walk into his destiny. Now, if we all will just for a moment, take our minds off ourselves and not focus on hate, race, political party affiliation, policies, and so on, and just for that moment consider the circumstance surrounding President Obama's win stemming back to 2008. Something in you has to admit that God has His hands on this man. If you believe in my God, the One who sent His son Jesus to die for the redemption of our sins, whether or not you care about the President or his policies, please tap into that agape love your Bible teaches you about and join me to cover the President in the wisdom, strength, and fear of God as he takes on the next four years. Thank you.

Happy Friday and enjoy your weekend. Mine will be a BLAST!!!

History Made AGAIN...

Last night I sat in my parents living room for hours glued to the TV and watched as my President got reelected...

AND IT FELT AS GOOD AS IT DID THE FIRST TIME!!!


#Obama2012  #Fourmoreyears #Hope #Change #Foward #Yeswecan .... And YES WE DID!!!

Happy Birthday Izi!

Happy New Week. Hope you had a great weekend. I sure did!

I would like to wish hubby's niece a very happy 4th birthday!!! I remember going to see her at the hospital four years ago when she was born. How time flies!

Izi dressed up as a fairy for Cowloween at Chick-Fil-A a couple of weeks ago.

Around this time four years ago, Americans were heading to the polls to vote for the first election ever with an African American candidate. It was a very exciting time and four years later, we are heading back to the polls. I just want to encourage every American out there who has the ability to vote to go out and exercise your right. It is so important that you vote if you haven't already. Clearly, I have a preferred candidate, but recently, I've prayed that God's will be done.

Proudly displaying my sticker after voting (2008).

Enjoy your Monday!

Mo's First Halloween

Mo's first Halloween went very well! In the morning, she went to cousin Pauley's daycare for their fall party. It was a lot of fun! All the kids were dressed up in their costumes and there was a competition going on for best decorated classroom. Mo got a lot of attention from some of the kids. It was pretty funny watching 5 to 6 year old kids come up to her to tell her how cute she is. Later in the evening, I dressed her up in her costume and took her and cousin Pauley to Publix. It's a grocery store about a mile away from my parents home. They usually have fun activities for kids inside the store every year during Halloween. Pauley played all of the games and "won" candy. I think he had a lot of fun. We came home and gave candy to the kids trick or treating the rest of the evening. It's always fun expecting what sight you'll behold every time the door bell rings. There were some pretty good costumes this year!

A couple of posts back, I was in search of a costume for Mo and I later updated that I found her perfect costume. Mo baby was a Ballerina! She looked SO beautiful!

Front of her leotard.

The back was really cute!

For a great price at T.J.MAXX

Matching Socks and Headband only $5.99

I wore her a long sleeve onesie because of the weather! I picked some up recently due to the weather change! I actually went in search of regular white onesies to wear underneath her outfits and I found the ones with long sleeves. Perfect!

So Cute!

Mo Booski!

She looks so big in this picture!

Cousin Pauley was a Pirate! Too cute! He kept saying 'Aye Aye"

The back! Cool Stuff!

Sis and Mo

Not sure what I'm looking at or what Mo got going on with her face but I love it!

Much Better :)