“We’re getting married”

Our journey is one that we definitively describe as; when it is meant to be it is meant to be. Meeting Grace as a young, charismatic, and troublesome teenager many years ago in Federal Way, WA is a day we’ll both never forget. We quickly learned that love happens when God orders it to happen, despite not fully understanding what this meant at the time. It is no coincidence that two individuals from two separate coasts of Africa, East (Kenya) and West (Sierra Leone), would meet in the United States of America at a young age and strike up a friendship that overtime has blossomed into the fulfillment of what our Father in heaven wants for us, to walk in his covenant for the rest of our lives. Grace and I met at a friends’ gathering in 2002. Even though we were both very young, immature, and inexperienced, we immediately took a liking to each other. You can say that it was a small beginning that pleased our Father in heaven. Grace’s style, intelligence, astonishing beauty, plus learning that she was a PK (Pastor’s Kid) made the chase all the more exciting. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to gain her attention and favor, yet, I was willing to give it my all. When she finally agreed to be my friend, joy overflowed my heart. And to this day, I consider myself blessed to have such an amazing woman in my life. Unlike most love stories written in books, our story isn’t all rainbows and sunsets. After enjoying the bliss of puppy love for nearly two years, a break was ordered between this Kenyan Queen and this Sierra Leonean King. Standing where we are today, we can humbly say that God knew what was best for us. During our time apart, we got to understand more discernibly that love alone is never enough. Without God and our obedience to his rules when it comes to relationships, it is impossible to weather the storms of life. I could go on, but it is important to note that a 13-year break taught us both what relationships are about, what God expects of us, and how we are to behave as His children. It was 13 years of complete separation and total silence, before God reconnected us again in December of 2017. In 2017, God faithfully grants us another chance at true love. We met for lunch to catch up on the past 13 years. Little did we know that lunch would turn into dinner, dinner into a movie date, after the movies we struggled to end the night because we did not want to depart from each other's presence. It was as if no time had passed. Since then, our love has continued to bloom. We are so blessed and excited about our future together. Being born again Christians, we are firm believers in the verse that says what God has put together, let no man put asunder. What is meant to be will be, as long as we continue to yield to the will of God. And he who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. We are joyful to continue our journey together. To God be the glory!

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday. We hadn’t had such a beautiful sunny day in a while, so it was obvious that Alieu had planned some fun activities for us to do that day. He had scheduled breakfast, a photo shoot, then we were going to downtown Seattle for a nice dinner in the evening. As we pulled up to our first stop, I realized we were at the same restaurant he took me to for our first official date when we reconnected. Then we went to do some leisurely gun shooting at a range. After rattling off a few hundred rounds, we needed to grab a snack before our photoshoot. We stopped at a restaurant which I realized was our old stomping ground when we were just kids in High School. He took me there for our first formal date as a teen couple. We were having such an amazing time going down memory lane and remembering all the crazy things we did as teenagers. We toasted and cheered to making more memories together. On to our photoshoot, he asked me to put on a blind fold so I don’t see the setup. Upon arrival he gently guided me to where the setup was and I could hear music playing. My favorite song “Into you by Tamia” was playing as we walked up. My heart started beating faster and faster as I realized this might be the day… He took my blindfold off and I gasped because I was so overwhelmed by how beautiful and intricate the setup is. He was standing right in front of me and for the first time I saw Alieu nervous as he tried to express himself. We were both so emotional and as he got down on one knee to ask me to be his partner for life I shouted "YES”! Suddenly, out of nowhere, our friends and family came out of hiding and celebrated with us. We were engaged! We're so excited to celebrate this next chapter of our lives with you. It will be a sleepless in Seattle kind of celebration.