Blessed – Page 2

OVERWHELMED WITH THE LOVE OF FAMILY

I am overwhelmed with family love….a good kind of overwhelmed though, the kind that makes you smile. The past couple months, I have realized how much our family has grown and how much we have matured. Family isn’t always all smiles and cheer like seen in most photographs. Family is also about hardships, disagreements, loss and failures. But family is also about Love, forgiveness, grace and humility…these all can surpass any of those not so good qualities. It’s a good reflection of what God is to us, because he too, is our family..and love and forgiveness can overcome a lot. My family, like many others have had their ups and downs.. The downs being quite low. But these past couple of months I have seen how much we have grown. How amazing it is to forgive and let go…and how ahead it puts us in any relationship. We still have room for improvement, we still bicker and disagree at times, but we wouldn’t be human if we did not. I guess we are realizing that all we got at times is each-other. That it’s better to be at peace with each other than to be in any silly little disagreement. We are learning to let things go.

The past couple of months we have made it a priority to speak more and be more involved in each others days and lives. It wasn’t a talked thing but I think we’ve all realized how nice it is to be involved in each others lives. With my brothers this is a prime example. We have leaned on each other for help without expecting anything in return. My brother joe lend himself to us during our engagement party a couple of months back and it meant so much to us because he did it out of his own will and want. Thank you joe!

With my brother Chris it’s been special.. We have gone through a lot together… But we are learning to lean on each other when in need and when we want to share good things and that makes me so happy. We have talks with meaning and purpose, and we learned to listen to each other. Most importantly, I think we realized we have each other at the end of the day, no matter the circumstance. It’s been so nice to spend time with him on days off and share moments and build memories with him and his girlfriend Alexis, Xavier and I. The sweetness of it all is that we have come to see we are not just brothers and sisters, we are each others friends as well.

With my parents the relationships have also changed, and I think it has to do a lot with our age. Once we were kids, stubborn and thought we knew it all, yet they always had our best interest at hand and heart. We are growing and one thing I have learned now that I’m older is the unconditional love they give me, even when they disagree. We have had many uneasy moments in the past, but God has been good and we have overcome them all. Our relationship is stronger than ever, they are my best friends. They care for my heart more than any other physical human being and for that I am grateful.

My sister we all know is one that is dear to my heart, and I think she’s a reminder to our whole family of the joy we can find in the little things. She’s also a quick reminder of how different we all are and how differently we all have grown up. She brings us smiles and laughs only a child can and sends us “I love you’s and I miss you’s ‘” when we need them the most. While she may be strong-minded, she reminds me of how important it is to stand our ground, yet love with all our hearts.

The love recently has been one that even though we don’t talk about it on a daily basis and maybe my parents nor my brothers and sisters see. As I sat back to think and just take all the struggles we have gone through and all the memories in the past we hold dear to, they all just seemed to amaze me. We are growing as a family, and I really think it’s for the best. One thing I am so thankful for is that we all are here and live close to each other and that even though we don’t live under the same roof, were only a phone call away or a 10 min drive away. I’ve learned that while we are not a perfect family, we ARE a family and that’s good for me.

We have more family members being added like my fiancé Xavier and my brothers girlfriend and its so lovely to see how much we are a part of each others lives thus far. I know we have more to learn from each other and more to experience together, but so far its makes my heart warm. My family as whole is growing, and though some are far away, or I haven’t talked to in a while, I love them all because Ive learned something from each and every one of them. Today you were all in my thoughts, and today I am grateful for all those I call my family.

Jen<3

LIFE LATELY

Life lately has been busy.. But things are starting to settle down a little more. Of course there’s the busy days and the less busy days, but so far so good! Life lately has been full. Full of busy schedules, work, errands, wedding planning, moving out, moving in… It’s been full of emotions, cries, laughter, family and friends, but most importantly love. The love for each and everything we must do has kept us going. Love for what we do, our surroundings, our family and most importantly eachother. And to be honest, I am grateful for all the fullness, because if it wasn’t full we wouldn’t be complete. Life lately is a constant reminder to appreciate all we had, have and will have.

About two weeks ago, we made our biggest sacrifice thus far as a couple. We are staying with my parents in order to get a little break and save up for our wedding 6months from now and for our future home. It was a decision that I prayed because I knew it would be an adjustment not only for me again but for my fiancé. So far so good. We have learned to appreciate all we have been able to do thus far and what we had. But it’s also been a blessing to be sharing with my parents as well. They’ve been through a lot and are hard working individuals whom we learn something from each day. Family time has been my biggest happiness. Being able to spend more time with my parents, brothers and little sister has been truly special. My sister and I share a special bond being so far apart in age, and it’s been a whirl of fun watching how she grows each day not just in height but her personality. She keeps us on our toes, but she also brings the light back to us in the humility only a child holds. To say the least, it’s been special. Some sacrifice with loosing our personal and private place, but mostly joy behind a move that is only making us learn more from eachother as family.

Work has been busy, overtime is in full effect to save up for this wedding coming up! We are tired most days. But trying to make the best of our days off. While we mostly try to get some extra sleep in, we squeeze some errand time, family time and some much needed date nights just for Xavier and I. It’s important for us to find balance. And while at times I feel like work is consuming us more little by little whether it be physically or mentally, it’s a constant reminder of finding our balance and to be grateful that God has provided us with a job and most importantly our health. We know he will guide our way and we will be okay.

The LORD demands accurate scales and balances; he sets the standards for fairness. (‭Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭11‬ NLT)

Nursing week just passed and I just want to mention how terribly grateful I am to work with the group of nurses I work with. To be flat out honest. They kick butt!!! I am honestly part of an amazing group of nurses. We all have our strengths and weakeness, but from that comes the biggest lessons because we get to learn from eachother. I have to be honest by saying that there are three individuals that I am so lucky to call my work partners, my friends and most importantly my family. They are my girls. We are a group of girls that were meant to meet. I have learned so much from them, not just nursing but about life, love, patience, kindness and about having a giving heart. They have my back and I have theirs. They have become my sisters. I cherish our friendship and hold it dear to my heart. Vanessa, Dianna and Desiree, thank you for keeping me sane through the struggles of nursing, the hardships, and for being there through our accomplishments, laughters and craziness! Love you girls.

Now, for Xavier and I, our relationship lately has been stronger and stronger. We have learned a lot about eachother not just this past year but even more so now that we are back with my parents. We both agreed that it would be a change for us as far as our home, but we agreed that as long as we are together, we would be just fine. It’s been important for us to find a balance in our relationship as well. The time we spend alone as a couple to keep the fire going is very important to us! Sometimes the tiredness, work and life becomes a bump in the road, but we have talked about making time for us. We feel it’s very important to keep a well balanced relationship in our alone time and time shared to be about the quality of it. As long as we have faith, love, respect and all those other great things, we will keep getting stronger.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭7‬ ESV)

Life lately, well it’s been good. We are more than blessed I’d like to say. We have our good days and we have our little not so good days. But life lately has been good. Finding balance, love and strength is an ongoing process that keeps us alive and going. And with all that we have seen lately, experienced and still are waiting to experience, I must say we are doing well. We have been very grateful lately for our families, our friendships that support us like family each day, our growing love for eachother and our health. We are more than thankful to be healthy and strong. Life will continue tomorrow and pick up where we left off today. For now life lately has been… More than good.

For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. (‭Psalm‬ ‭36‬:‭9‬ ESV)

This is a little glimpse of life lately…

This little awesome coffee house was our location for our date night recently. My amazing parents at my dads birthday dinner. Little sisters weekend celebration to universal studios. Nurse life and my amazing friends who even sneak in a little FaceTime with me if I’m not working that day! These two are best friends and last Saturday I got to enjoy a weekend of watching my dad coach my little sisters soccer team and game.

How’s life lately for all of you? I hope it’s amazing!

❤ Jen

SOFIA TURNS SEVEN

Sofia turned SEVEN last week and I can’t help but look back at my little sisters #7 celebration! It was definitely a family affair full of surprises for our little Sofia! This year her birthday fell on a week day.. and we all know that a weekday birthday for a little one is no fun! lol But thanks to big brothers and sisters, we would take care of that and make sure it was a day full of fun for her! Unlike many little seven-year old girls, my sister is no fan of princesses, pink nor sparkly…(She kinda takes after me on that..woops) What she is a fan of and a HUGE fan of on that note, is horses! The love she has for them is overwhelming… Overwhelming in the sense that it’s this good emotion, that consumes you with love and a smile when you see her eyes light up when she sees one or is riding them in lessons. It fills me up with joy honestly. So what better way than to celebrate with some horses on her special day!

I wanted to surprise Sofia.. So my plan was to set up a little cake table while she was in school so that when she’d get home, it was her birthday surprise! Well, that’s exactly what I did… The night before I had seen a couple of ideas online to incorporate horses and well my first task was a cake. A simple cake, with a silhouette of a horse. Let me start off by telling you this… I’m NO baker.. but I try! lol So a boxed cake would do, lol. Let me humor you all… the first cake?… well it fell apart while I was taking it out of the baking pan… sigh. But thank goodness for my honey! He’s so sweet…because I wasn’t having the greatest day and when I saw the cake fall apart, I almost went into tears. Luckily for me, I have the best fiancé ever… He took me to the grocery store and made me try again! So cake number 2? Success! lol Easiest thing to do was decorate the cake… Some cream cheese frosting and a chocolate sprinkled horse silhouette! A couple of goodies from target and I was ready to decorate the next morning before she came home from school!

I was so excited to share these photos with you all, not only because I was proud of how our sweet little set up turned out but most importantly because of the smile on our sweet little sofas face! It was priceless! I can’t wait to share more birthdays with my little sister! Most of you know that I adore her and she keeps me going and wanting to be a better me for her eyes!

Our celebrations didn’t stop there..Some games for the day, and a horse cake to wrap up the night. After, came some planning for our family trip to Orlando to keep celebrating with our little Sofia for the weekend. Lets just say the fun continued and its safe to say she had a great 7th Birthday!

We all love you Sofia! We all wish you many many more birthdays to come, full of that love, happiness and personality you have. May God continue to bless you!

My brother and Little sister, we miss you joe

excuse our messy look!!

Happy Birthday Little Sister, We all Love you!

WEDDING WEDNESDAY: SAYING “YES” TO THE DRESS

Saying “YES” to the Dress! One of the most special moments that will forever be imprinted in my memory! On this Wedding Wednesday, I want to take it back a little, to about two months ago when I said “yes” to the dress. After the holiday’s had passed, I decided that it would be a good time to “start looking” for a dress. Yes, I said ‘start looking’.. mostly because in my mind, I thought things would go a lot different. And what I mean by that is.. time! The time it took me to find MY dress, was definitely less than I had originally planned for.

Originally I had thought, “Ok, Jen! Its time to start the search, because knowing me, I won’t be able to decide”.. Those were my thoughts exactly guys. My thoughts played a little trick on me that day.. I had made two appointments for the day for a start. Little did I know ONE would have been good enough. My appointments for that day included two places; First being Patricia’s South Bridal, a cute little boutique in Ft. Lauderdale that I had known through my brother and from high school. It was the place to go to for prom dresses, lol. Second, David’s Bridal, I had nothing to lose. Going into the appointments, I was nervous, yet very excited. Nervous because I knew I had a budget that I was very adamant about not surpassing, especially that my fiancé and I are paying for our wedding. And of course, I was excited, excited because well I had never tried on a wedding dress and I knew at the moment that we walked into the store, that we were there for MY dress!

That day I decided to take with me the most special and closest of friends with me. Not all could make it to both appointments, but spending the day with all them even if it wasn’t all together made my day sooo special! It meant the world to have them all there. I was seriously overwhelmed with joy, seeing all my girls there. The first appointment was amazing, most of my girls made it to this appointment with the exception of a couple and it was the start of a very special two hours.

The appointment started in the cutest little ‘tea room’ where my bridal consultant asked me the famous questions… “whats your style?” “what do you see yourself wearing?” “poofy not poofy?” “Veil?No veil?” the list goes on… up into everyone’s favorite question..”what your budget?”sigh… well as anyone that’s getting married can tell you budget is a big deal! Well after I had told my Bridal consultant the ultimate answer of the budget, and how adamant I was about sticking to it, my lovely girls brought the champagne out to start the festivity and the search! Little did I know, my mom and dad had a little surprise I had no clue about. Right before the toast, My mom stopped and told me that her and my dad had a surprise me… well that’s when she leaned over and whispered to me that her and my dad were paying for my dress!… How grateful I was for that gesture is beyond what words can describe! Of course the tears flowed, but flowed with joy! We are so incredibly blessed for all the support we have received from all our loved ones through this journey.

The Dress search quickly started and my amazing bridal consultant April started to put me in dresses! The best part of trying on dresses for the first time is seeing everyone’s faces when you come out and the second is seeing how what you may have hated or loved, doesn’t always go the way you thought. My advice to any bride looking for a dress… Be OPEN MINDED and be willing to try dresses on. Half of the time, the way they look on you is completely different from what you thought when you see the dress on the hanger. Well long behold, there were ‘nice’ dresses, ‘pretty’ dresses, ‘okay’ dresses and there was a ‘LOVELY’ dress.

Everyone always ask, “did the dress make you cry?””Did you get the feeling?” Well, I can now describe the ‘feeling’ most talk about. From all the dresses I tried, I always looked to mostly one person for confirmation, and that person was my momma. She liked a lot and thought many were pretty.. But how did I know that my dress was “the dress?” I knew, as soon as my mom got up from her chair, her eyes glowed, touched the dress from head to toe.. telling me how beautiful I looked and that she couldn’t believe it. I knew it was my dress when she stared into my eyes and cried with the biggest smile on her face. When her and my little sister reached over to me and gave the biggest hugs full of joy and love. And when I looked behind them to see my future mother in-laws face, lit up with a smile and tell me that Xavier is going to love it..and that I looked beautiful. That’s how I knew that my dress was “the dress.” Most girls, not all.. I realize this.. but most girls, look to their moms for that last confirmation.. and well, that’s me. I knew that if my momma loved it and made her get up from her seat, and my mother in-law also loved it and knew her son would too.. that, that was my confirmation to say “yes” to the dress. Did I cry? Yes. I didn’t cry because of the dress, no. I cried because of the moment the dress brought upon us. It’s a beautiful dress and I wouldn’t want to wear any other dress. But I cried because I could see myself walking down the aisle to my future husband in that dress and i could see my mom on the side with tears of joy and confirmation. All those thoughts plus my overjoyed mom hugging and fixing the dress and how lovely the dress is.. Knowing that’s the dress I would walk down the aisle with, is what made me cry.

Yes, we went to Davids Bridal after that appointment, mostly because I wanted to include those who couldn’t make it to the morning appointment and to confirm that Yes, I had picked the dress. Do I wish I would have kept looking for more dresses at different places? My answer is NO. I knew from the moment we had found my dress, that it was the dress. The dress I LOVED and would wear the day we get married. And while many tell me, you should have looked a little more, because ‘you never know’… I had already set my mind. If I absolutely LOVED my dress, saw myself walking down the aisle in it, my closest friends and family loved it and had such a sweet lovely and personal moment with my family.. why would I? Another tip for advice, don’t be too influenced by others, go with your heart. It makes the moment that much more special!

That’s how I said “YES” to my dress..

My girls with the exception of some, thank you ladies!

How cute are my Maid of Honor and Mini-Maid of Honor?

And to make my moment that much more special, my brother Joe also played a big part of my happy day… to my surprise he had also made a contribution to my saying “yes” to the dress.. Thank you Joe and to my parents for your endless efforts in making my memory the best one! You all are my happiness and Im so grateful for you all.

Happy WEDDING WEDNESDAY!.. How sweet is your memory of finding your wedding dress?

P.S. No my dress is not shown, for “groom” purposes.. 😉

-Jen<3

REMINISCING ON OUR NYC TRIP & SOME TIPS

Today, we’re reminiscing on our NYC trip last month. Ive been slacking a little with my blog post lately due to much time spent searching for “wedding stuff” and have postponed much of my blogging! Sorry in advance y’all! But today, I decided that it would be the perfect day to blog about our trip to New York, which was exactly one month ago. Mainly for three main reasons.. One, both Xavier and I woke up ‘missing NYC.’ Two, exactly one month ago, we woke up in the big city ready to take on all it threw our way. Least but not least…Today marks exactly one month that we have been engaged!!! eek! Isn’t this the perfect day to blog about or trip?? i think so! We really felt that this was one of the most successful trips Xavier and I have taken together. We had a budget before we left home and we did amazing sticking to our budget. Well, I won’t ramble too much about our trip! I will try to get to the point. Mainly because we’re so excited to share a lot of our pictures with you all. We already shared our eating adventures with you here on Eating in the Big Apple, and now we’re excited to share the places we visited! This trip was not only fun, exciting and a big adventure, but one of the most memorable that Xavier and I will share in our lives! We truly are so blessed to have been able to have such great experiences in NY and just the opportunity to take a trip like we did! I hope you all enjoy our memories as much as we did. Since there are sooo many pictures that we would love to share with you, we are going to have to break down our adventure. The way I will be doing this, is by breaking our days spent in New york, day by day. In a way we will have a series of our NYC reminiscing throughout the next two weeks (give or take guys.) Each post will be dedicated to that day we spent in NY and what fun adventures we ran into that day. So please stay tuned! We are very excited to share them with you!

Before we move on to the good stuff.. We wanted to share some of our little insider tips that helped us throughout our adventure there. Here are our NYC tips before we share our lovely pictures with you all. Most of these helped us stay on budget! I hope they are helpful and I hope you put them to use if you plan on making a trip there soon!

::TIPS::

-One thing that I highly recommend if you’re going to be in the city for a couple of days and want to go the more touristy areas is purchasing The New York Pass. They have over 80 city attractions that can be visited by just showing the New York city pass. By the time you add them all up at regular price you’ll probably end up spending more than you would if you were to just purchase the pass! This of course is as long as you make sure to visit it enough places so that the pass pays for itself or more, you’ll pretty much have a win win situation!

– One of our biggest tips when visiting the city is also to bunch together the different places you want to visit by districts or at least their near by neighbors. It’ll save you a lot of walking and the hassle of going from a far place to another far place! Trust me, if you’re on limited time, you’ll appreciate this!

-Another tip for anyone traveling to the city and on a budget, skip the taxi fares from place to place.. (they’ll add up) Instead purchase the 7 day unlimited subway pass! This metro card will come in most handy! It’s $30.00 pp, but so worth the buy. The subway can get tricky, and not every time you swipe will the subway entries open..what it will take is your money! So instead, the unlimited pass will let you swipe till the gate opens and it will last up to 7 days, as many rides as you’d like! Score!

-Lastly, Download the HopStop app for your iPhone (if you have one) if you’re a risk taker like us and want to get around the city ‘subway style’! Once we got the hang of it, and read the instructions, lol, it was super easy! It will tell you the near by stations and where to get on and off! Easy breezy! It will take you to your destination by the nearest subway station close to it and give you directions from there on. Sweet!

Hope those come in handy, and just like our previous NYC post, We would love to take you all on our journey in the city day by day! So stay tuned for the upcoming posts.. Only this time, ‘day by day’ will be ‘one blog at a time’ so that each day gets the attention it deserves,lol. ;O

So don’t go anywhere and stay tuned! I look forward to sharing with you all such a sweet experience for us.

..oh..and…

..happy one month of engagement to us..

..love you babe..

Jen<3

THE PROPOSAL!

The proposal! Yes, our proposal! It was simply perfect. Xavier and I are officially engaged and we could not be more excited! Not only are we excited but we are so remarkably blessed! Our relationship has been a blessing in disguise from the very beginning. Xavier and I met in Nursing school and to many’s surprise, he and I were not even friends in the beginning. I was a little apprehensive to start a friendship with Xavier, mostly because of his “I’m a stud and I know it” kinda walk he had, lol. According to him, he always just “wanted my attention.” I didn’t give him my attention until some semesters after in school where we actually had to be in clinical’s together. We got to know each other some more and we actually became great friends. Towards the end of nursing school our good friend Anita, aka cupid, started stirring things up for us and long behold the truth came out! We actually liked each other and we both were okay with it. Our last semester in nursing school, Xavier and I were pretty much inseparable and he asked me to be his girlfriend! That moment alone was unforgettable… picnic by the bay, asking me to be his girlfriend and dolphins swimming right by the water. No seriously, that’s exactly how it went! Just lovely. We also have been so blessed to share graduation together, passing our boards together and being hired as Nurses weeks apart! Some months into working we even got our own place! So many memories.. and to think that we have so many more in our future together fills my heart with so much love. God has truly been watching over us and for that we are grateful.

For those of you that have followed my blog, you’ll know that Xavier and I had a trip planned to NYC this past week. That trip was ‘supposedly’ meant to be a mini-vacation to NYC and to attend an event in Madison square garden. Little did I know, one of the most important questions in my life would be asked. On that day, Xavier and I woke up to the usual New York city noise and the hustle of the crowd. Little did I know Xavier had been planning this day for some months. Our day started by getting some very delicious breakfast and a walk in the park. After our bellies were full we headed to the world trade center memorial. From there we had plans to meet up with Xavier’s friend and his girlfriend to head to Brooklyn. After some debating on where we were really going to meet them and lots of painful walking, Xavier told me that we would meet them at the Brooklyn bridge, so we could walk across it. Lets jut say I was not a happy camper and my feet were in so much pain that I quickly told him, “I am not walking the bridge!” Well to my surprise, Xavier turned around and gave me a very sturdy and loud “WE ARE WALKING THE BRIDGE!” I was so stunned that I just stayed quiet and agreed,lol. I gave in, sucked up the pain and headed to the bridge in pain but excited to see the great Brooklyn bridge! Little did I know, this was all planned.

THE PROPOSAL: We got to the start of the bridge, Xavier stopped to put his jacket on and get his camera ready so we could take some awesome shots! I quickly followed his steps so that we wouldn’t have to stop in the middle of the bridge and hold up people who were doing the same. ( This was the moment that he very sneakily put the ring in his pocket that he had been carrying in his camera bag!) I was so blinded by the view that I didn’t even notice this! lol. Well, we walked close to the middle of the bridge were we met up with his friend and his girlfriend and we all kept walking together. To my surprise as well, they were in on the plan! Just about midway on the bridge we all stopped to take some shots. Xavier asked to use my camera so he could take a panorama shot while I took a picture of his friend and his girlfriend. ( This was the moment he took a picture of a small piece of paper with some very important words) Once again, I of course did not even notice, lol. Well right after, Xavier asked me to give his camera to his friend so he could take a picture of us on the bridge. The next part, is the best part of this story!!

On October 17, at 3:20 in the afternoon, Xavier and I made one of the best memories in our lives thus far. He asked me to grab my camera and look at the cool shot he had taken with my camera. To my surprise, and it was a very unexpected surprise! It was the most beautiful picture i had ever seen! It was him holding a little piece of paper with the best words on it… “WILL YOU MARRY ME?” The moment was perfect, the timing was perfect and the setting was breathtaking! A this moment all I could do was cry. I literally threw myself on him while he was on one knee and ended up on my knees too! lol. I cried out of excitement and the feeling of love that was rushing through me. It was a feeling like no other and a feeling that I cannot even describe with words. Knowing that you will spend the rest of your life along with the love of your life, your soul mate and your lover is the best feeling ever.

It was a moment that I will cherish for the rest of my life and that when thinking back on it, will always bring a smile to my face. It will be a memory that will be in our hearts forever and a moment that will remind us of our love. Our proposal was perfect for us in every way possible. We were experiencing a new place together, doing something that we enjoy doing as a couple (taking pictures.)Our story thus far has always had ‘unexpected moments’ and this is another that will be added to our list. These ‘unexpected’ moments for Xavier and I have been the best moments and moments that show us our endless blessings.

We are so thrilled for our future ahead. I know that I cannot imagine spending a future without him. He makes me better, he supports me, takes care of me, loves me unconditionally and makes me complete. I know that we will always be there for each other through the good times and the bad. I can only pray that God continues to bless us in our future ahead. We are very excited to share this moment with all our loved ones and with you all. So here are our perfect pictures captured by Mike, Xavier’s friend. THE PROPOSAL.

ps. It was a little windy that day.. lol

love,

Jen and Xavier.