Jamal and I first met during our junior year of high school. Our lockers were close to one another so we would see each other often, but never really talked. Later in the year, we ended up in a bible class together and his seat was near mine so we had conversations from time to time, but that was about it. Junior year came and went and we remained nothing more than acquaintances. During the last week of summer, I got a phone call from a number I didn’t know. I answered the phone out of curiosity and it happened to be Jamal. We had a surprisingly great conversation about how our summer went and how excited we were for senior year to start. My first thought when I got off the phone was “who gave him my number!” When senior year began, we found ourselves interacting more often (i.e. we were both in gospel choir, I was a cheerleader and he was on the basketball/football teams, etc) and our friendship really began to develop. Over time, I had a feeling that Jamal was interested in me, but I didn’t want to get into a relationship without being sure that this was God’s plan so we just remained friends while praying about it. We eventually started dating at the end of senior year and have been together ever since.

Alright. It has been a very long time coming….Let's do this! I met Tamanda Chanza our junior year of high school. At first, I thought that she was this stuck up girl who wanted nothing to do with the inhabitants of the school (except for Keila Miles). As God would have it, our seats were near each other in bible class so we had occasional conversations . As time went on, I decided to give her a phone call and see how she was doing in preparation for the upcoming school year. The more we talked the more I realized that she was nothing like what I had originally assumed about her. She was extremely kind, compassionate, and self driven. She was so much more than I had even begun to understand. I soon discovered that I had made one of the biggest mistakes in judging a book by its cover. During my senior year, I decided to take a leap of faith and ask her out. It took a couple tries, but she finally said yes. Who would have known that God had my beautiful future wife, hidden among it’s pages.

Ah man. The biggest day of my life…..for now! For some years now it was confirmed in my heart that Tamanda was the one person in this world that I wanted to share my future with. We had been through many amazing times as well as challenges during the course of our relationship, all of which strengthened my desire to continue growing with her. So, just as I had done before, I decided to take that next step with her, a second leap of faith. It was April 30th, 2017, a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I knew that Tamanda did not want to have a big crowd at the proposal. However, I also knew that she could not be without some of her closest friends and family present. So I invited a few people to the event without her knowing (special shout out to Keila, Lauren, Kayla, Leslie, Jalisa, Steven, Steven Joseph, Gabe, Mrs. Faith Blair, The Mabena Family, the Charles-Marcel Family and the Douglas Family!). I presented the event to her as a simple double date at the National Harbor with Jalisa and Steven Holness. We walked around and went on the ferris wheel a couple times. After a few hours, my photographers, (Shout out to James and Ryan!) discretely informed me that the sun was setting quickly, so we needed to hurry up to the proposal so that they could get some good photo shots. I swiftly and secretly tried to escort Tamanda to the area where I would propose to her. As we approached the area, she started to see her friends and family gathered there smiling and laughing. She was definitely shocked which is exactly what I wanted. Once she got over the surprise of seeing everyone I decided to ask the question and if you are currently on this site, then you already know what her response was. :D