Questions and Answers, Part 4

QUESTION: What is your ethnic background?

ANSWER: Just call me a mut: English, Irish, and Indian {from my dad's side} and Panamanian, French, and Costa Rican {from my mom's side}.

QUESTION: How did you decide on a budget for your wedding and how many guests attended? How did you decide which details were most important to you?

ANSWER: We never had a dollar amount that we aimed to stay within - rather, we took the approach of writing down all the things that we desired {that would create a beautiful wedding}, and when everything was tallied up, we felt that the bottom line number was reasonable. Around 160 guests attended. The details that were most important to me was the venue, the floral, the food {along with a grand cake}, unique wedding favors, and the music {we hired a jazz band to play during our cocktail hour and throughout dinner, and hired a Nigerian band and a DJ to play back and forth during the reception - we infused many different styles of music; our entertainment was a huge hit!}. Also, hiring a great photographer to capture our treasured day was very important to us. I truly fell in love with tending to each wedding detail that, in the end, fashioned a beautiful atmosphere of chic and personalized elements, lively music, delicious food {and a dessert bar}, a romantic ambience, and unforgettable heartwarming moments. *You can view all of my wedding recaps here.

QUESTION: Where did you get Ilah's shoes?

ANSWER: I purchased most of them from Marshalls. They have adorable brand name shoes at discounted prices!!

QUESTION: Have you thought about how you are going to blend the African and American cultures together when raising your daughter?

ANSWER: Our child{ren} will have quite an ethnic background {see my answer to question 1}. While we believe that a child should know the origin of their lineage, and while indeed we will expose our child{ren} to certain traditions from each culture, we will be placing the most emphasis on raising our child{ren} to have the mindset of the Jesus culture – having an open heart and mind to all cultures, not just their own. This world is comprised of a melting pot of people and there is such beauty in a child discovering that.

Just as my husband and I have done a lot of traveling and have been exposed to many cultures, we wish the same for our children. We have left each place with such an appreciation for the world as a whole and embraced the unfamiliar practices of each culture; we would love for our children to come into that same awareness.

While we hope that our child{ren} will be proud of their heritage, we will not raise them to be forced/overwhelmed by knowing the in’s and out’s of any one culture. Certainly we will raise them to know their background – but how they will embrace it remains to be seen. For instance, my mother was born, raised, and lived in Panama. While I was growing up, she never forced me to learn Spanish or follow Panamanian traditions. I just didn’t have any interest in it. But as an adult, I couldn’t wait to visit Panama and when I did, I had such an appreciation for the country. And that’s how I desire to raise our child{ren} - allowing them self discovery.

QUESTION: What made you decide to move from CA to GA? It must have been a culture shock.

{The below photo was a part of my moving announcement that I sent out. On the outside of the card it said, "I'm Moving!" And on the inside it said...}

ANSWER: Before moving to Georgia, I had been itching to move out of California for quite some time. Every time I visited a new place I always hated the plane ride back home. While California is a beautiful state, with so much to see and do, I was just ready for a change.

In 2006, I was working for a company who layed off my entire division. I received a severance package that would carry me through a few months so I seized the opportunity and flew out to Atlanta - a place that I had heard great things about and wanted to see first hand if any of them were true! I had ONE job interview lined up while on my two week visit and I just had the intuition that I would land the job. And I did. The following week I flew home, packed up, and transitioned to the south. And yes, the south is very different from the west coast!

Here's what I miss most about California...living so close to the ocean.....

I hope I've answered everyone's questions! If I haven't, shoot me an email - it may have gotten lost in cyber space. About half of the questions I received I responded to privately as some of you had personal questions that you wanted a private answer/suggestion/advice on that was best to be answered outside of the blog. Thank you to all of you who sent me an email just to say how much you've enjoyed this little blog of mine, as well as sending in well wishes for a safe delivery. I love hearing from all of you!!