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I Was Pregnant: The Reason Why I Blogged Irregularly After August 2021…

Hello World,

Back in September, I posted this editor’s note at the beginning of my blog post Is Gospel Singer Kelly Price Missing Or Not? Lawyer Says ‘No’ While Sister Says ‘Yes’ Plus Secret Marriage Details…See below…

Let me start with the obvious: I know your girl has been gone a minute…like over a month. I’m not going to go into a long explanation, but I will say that I’m going through a life change that warrants a rearranging of sorts. This life change does include getting back into blogging, but it may or may not be regular depending on a host of factors. But I do hope you can rock with me nevertheless…And at the right time, I will share more my dear readers…I promise…

Well, the right time has come: In the beginning of August 2021, I learned I was pregnant after years of undergoing fertility treatment. At the end of August 2021, I learned that I was pregnant with twins which was crazy because that was not a part of the plan…at least my plan…!! And on “Twos”day,  February 22, 2022, I gave birth to my identical twin girls Michaela, 4 pounds 2 ounces, and Mattison, 3 pounds 14 ounces, at 4:42 and 4:44 p.m. at 33 weeks plus three days pregnant. In fact, had my pregnancy continued to full term, I would given birth to the twins on Friday, April 8 so it’s fitting that I chose today to tell y’all what’s been going on with me and why I’ve been neglecting my humble corner of Al Gore’s Internet…

I tried blogging regularly, but each time I tried, I just didn’t have the energy to sustain my efforts which perplexed me because I’ve been  blogging since September 2008, when I wrote my first blog post…However, last week, it occurred to me why I just didn’t have the energy for it: All of my creative energies were devoted to creating my twins…And a lot of energy was required as I endured morning sickness which truly happened any time of the day, and as my pregnancy progressed, it was even triggered by showering. Yes, I allowed myself to get a bit funky to avoid being in the shower. LOL! I had food aversions and cravings. There were headaches. And a general feeling of malaise most of the time. Lower back pain some of the time. Heartburn from the pit of hell. (I learned that heartburn means that hair is being created. My girls have to thank me one day for being born with plenty of hair!) Many nights I had to sleep sitting up so the acid reflux wouldn’t be as bad. Lots of swelling, particularly from the waist down — so much so that  I was only able to wear one pair of my shoes, sneakers, and by wear, I mean jamming my feet into them and leaving the laces pretty much undone. And by January, my blood pressure started fluctuating. By February, those blood pressure fluctuations turned into severe preeclampsia and there was concern about my platelet levels. And that led to an emergency C-section on the perfect day to have twins!!

Let me take a moment to shout out the entire Labor & Delivery Team at Piedmont Hospital Atlanta where I gave birth to my twins girls. In fact, it was ladies night (really ladies afternoon) as not one man except for Handsome Hubby from my Ob-Gyn, to my anesthesiologist, to the nurses (and there were at least 15 or so women there as each baby was assigned a team) was in the room where my main doc, who also has my same name although spelled Jacqui, delivered the twins. Additionally, as it was a high-risk pregnancy due to my age (48) and the fact that I was pregnant with twins, I have to thank Georgia Perinatal Consultants because their care also contributed to the healthy delivery of the M&M twins (our nickname for the girls).

My mother told me that once I would delivered by twins, I would forget all that I went through in order to give birth to them. My mother is right about most things, but I didn’t forget. However, I will say this: It was worth it. My handsome hubby and I ABSOLUTELY ADORE our twin girls. Right now, my handsome hubby and I are feeding them every three hours so we sleep when we can which is not a lot, but we are enjoying getting to know our twins especially since they spent three weeks in the NICU before they were released! Since they are preemies, according to our pediatrician’s advice, we are slowly introducing them to the outside world. And since you are my dear readers, I am introducing you to the M&M Twins. See a few pics from our journey below…

Just a few days before we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary, we discovered we were pregnant! This is us hiking on the grounds of Montaluce Winery & Restaurant in Dahlonega, Georgia where we celebrated our anniversary. I’m working on getting back into those shorts now. While I can slide them up my hips, I cannot zip them up yet, but in time, I hope to do so 🙂

By Thanksgiving, I looked pregnant and I felt it was the right time to announce my pregnancy…Praise God from whom all blessings flow…

My favorite photo from my maternity shoot in February. It’s amazing what hair and makeup and a darn good photographer will do…Thanks to my hair stylist Venet Charles, my makeup artist Ashley Means and James Hill Photography!!! I had no idea that just a couple of weeks or so later, I would be giving birth although I absolutely felt ready to pop at that moment…

The M&M Twins stayed here during the first week on this earth. Those are their two beds. They were eventually elevated to their own private room as they progressed…

This is Handsome Hubby holding them for the first time…I hated seeing them hooked up to various monitors, but such is the path of preemies…

We took this picture of them shortly after they arrived home…No wires!!! Praise God!!!

This is just a few days ago on April 1. I imagined they had the below conversation…

Mattison: Sister, what you think about slap-gate?
Michaela: Zzzzzzzz
Hello April 👋…The deadline for slap-gate discussions has now passed…😁😆🤣… #MandMTwinsChronicles

Handsome Hubby and I feel as if we entered into our personal Promised Land…

So…regarding blogging…I’m back…I’m literally brimming with creative energy now that my body is my own again…However, for the time being, my time is not my own (these twins and their feedings own it)…so dear readers…I’m asking and praying that again you will still rock with me as I try to get on my regular blogging schedule (Sundays and Wednesdays and sometimes more and sometimes less) because I LOVE blogging the cross section of faith, relationships and pop culture!!!

And so there you have it…The Reason Why I Blogged Irregularly After August 2021…

Ain’t God Good?! Won’t He Do It?!

This Bible verse comes to mind this morning as I blog:

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,  to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

And if you please, please pray for the twins…

Any thoughts?

 

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Upcoming Lifetime Movie ‘Line Sisters’ & Gospel Music Star Kierra Sheard-Kelly Tells Page Six That She Sends Female Guests to Hotel to Keep Them Away From Her Man…

Hello World,

From the headline of this blog post, you already know the gist of what Kierra Sheard-Kelly recently said, which has pretty much gone viral at this point. But let me tell you a story a ninth grader who learned an important principle back in the day…

A ninth grader, who shall go nameless for the time being, was giddy in love with her first official boyfriend. Although she was too young to go on dates, she enjoyed their relationship nonetheless. Her boyfriend walked her to most of her classes, wrote her love notes, bought her teddy bears and spent many hours on the phone with her each night. She was so giddy in love that when she was asked to write a journal entry about the definition of love in her English class, she happily wrote, ‘Love is *Name Redacted* and *Name Redacted* is love.’ The journal entry, which she had to read aloud in class, became so popular with her classmates that they teased her about it for weeks. But she paid their teasing no mind because she was in love.

In fact, in classes where she didn’t have to profess her love for her boyfriend, she found ways to talk about him to people in those classes. In band class, she met a new friend, a girl in the grade ahead of her, whom she told all about her love for *Name Redacted*. At some point, not long after she told this new friend all about her boyfriend, she noticed that her boyfriend had become distant. He wasn’t calling like he used to do. At school, he seemed preoccupied. Valentine’s Day was coming up, and she wondered if he would even acknowledge it. As this ninth grader had no experience in relationships, she had no idea what was going on, but in her mind, she decided that if she broke things off with him, he would come to his senses. Now, why did she do that?

Almost the next day, her boyfriend was walking down the hall holding hands with the new friend from her band class!!! The ninth grader would come to find out that before she and *Name Redacted* were boyfriend and girlfriend, he had tried to talk to her new friend, but she had turned him down. The ninth grader realized that all of her gushing over her boyfriend had demonstrated to the new friend that she had made a terrible mistake. That new friend and the ninth grader’s ex-boyfriend are married TADAY…

As you probably have guessed, I was the ninth grader. I learned from that very first relationship that there have to be boundaries when it comes to your romantic relationship and what should be shared with others. While you may consider some women to be friends, they may not always conduct themselves as friends when it comes to your man…And what those boundaries should be are debatable. I’m not saying that I would force all of my female friends to stay in a hotel rather stay at my home. And in the case above, it was clear that their relationship was meant to be, but at the same time, that doesn’t mean that lessons weren’t taught…So I’m not mad at what Kierra said although I know I’m not the type of woman who would try to steal a man from a friend…An excerpt of what Kierra said is below…

Let us go unto the house of the lured.

Gospel singer Kierra Sheard tells Page Six that when her girlfriends come to visit, she makes them stay at a hotel so that her husband isn’t tempted to have sex with them.

“My momma has already told me don’t have too many people around your house … I don’t care how good you trust them or whatever it is, I’m very mindful and careful. I would buy a friend a hotel room before I let them stay at my house,” she told us.

Sheard married landscaper Jordan Kelly on Dec. 12, 2020, in their hometown of Detroit.

Read the rest HERE…

What say you on the matter?

Additionally, check out Kierra Sheard-Kelly in the upcoming Lifetime movie “Line Sisters” this Saturday at at 8/7c!!!

“Line Sisters” follows four sorority sisters– Valerie (LeToya Luckett), Cassandra (Kierra Sheard-Kelly), Simona (Ta’Rhonda Jones) and Dominique (Drew Sidora) – as they reunite at a Black Greek Weekend celebration held on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Having pledged the Alpha Beta Omega Sorority, Inc., they share more than the bonds of sisterhood, after the mysterious death of the dean of pledges 15 years prior. But the past comes knocking on their door as they arrive to the island and strange and inexplicable things begin to happen to each one of them, threatening to unearth the deadly secret that may tear them apart.

“Line Sisters” is produced by Big Dreams Entertainment in association with Undaunted Content for Lifetime and is executive produced by D’Angela Proctor and Leslie Greif. Tailiah Breon directs from a script written by Jasmine S. Greene and Scott Mullen.

See the trailer below….

Also, this post reminds of an Aretha Franklin song “Doctor Feel Good.” Below are a few of the lyrics followed by the actual song…

 I don’t want nobody
Always sittin’ around me and my man
I don’t want nobody
Always sittin’ right there
Lookin’ at me and that man
Be it my mother, my brother or my sister
Would you believe, I’ll get up, put on some clothes
Go out and help you find somebody for dissolving that pain
Yes I will…

Any thoughts?

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Seven Lessons We Can Learn From the Divorce of DeVon Franklin & Meagan Good Without Actually Knowing What Happened to Break Them Up…

Hello World,

Did you have a Merry Christmas and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with family, friends and loved ones yesterday? I certainly did although I kept forgetting that it was Saturday. Well just days before Christmas, you may have heard that film producer DeVon Franklin and his wife of nine years, actress Meagan Good are are divorcing. A joint statement was released via People magazine. Below is the statement:

After much prayer and consideration, we have decided to go into our futures separately but forever connected,” Good, 40, and Franklin, 43, share in a joint statement.

“We celebrate almost a decade of marriage together and a love that is eternal. There’s no one at fault, we believe this is the next best chapter in the evolution of our love,” they continue.

“We are incredibly grateful for the life-changing years we’ve spent together as husband and wife. We are also extremely thankful to God for the testimony being created inside us both and for blessing our lives with each other,” the pair adds.
And below is the IG post that included on both of their pages:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by DeVon Franklin (@devonfranklin)

I was shocked although there had been rumblings of a crumbling marriage on a social media for a few months. But now that the demise of their marriage is official, I’m truly saddened by the news and I wish them well in moving forward in their lives. I thought about posting about the news when I first heard about it, but I didn’t want to post such sad news before Christmas, which is the proverbial “most wonderful time of the year.” Additionally, since then, I’ve had time to reflect on the news and ponder what happened to break up this beautiful couple. On social media, there has been lots of speculation that ranged that they were never equally yoked in the first place as Meagan is somewhat risqué in how she publicly presents herself to they couldn’t come to an agreement about having children. Either or a combination of those reasons could be true.

I would bet that the pandemic forced them to examine the parameters of their marriage which led them to deciding their differences were irreconcilable. This pandemic has wreaked havoc on a lot of relationships, not just romantic, from what I’ve read because it has forced all of us to look inward and not be distracted by the outside world. Still, for all of our speculation and although they opened their relationship to the public through their book The Wait, events, various interviews, etc. over the years, we may never know and it’s not our right to know…

However, there are still lessons to be learned from the divorce of DeVon Franklin and Meagan Good without knowing exactly what happened. Below are my seven…

1. Thou shalt not covet…celebrity marriages…One of the Ten Commandments is “thou shalt not covet.” When I was younger, I didn’t get the importance of this commandment but now as I get older, I understand more and more “by and by.” To covet means to “to desire (what belongs to another) inordinately or culpably.” When it comes to being a celebrity, it seems all glitz and glam but no one knows what goes on behind the scenes of any individual’s personal life. How many times have we heard of a celebrity being a secret drug addict or being unhappy despite all of the trappings of a celebrity life. I recently read the memoir Will, which is a very good read by the way, and he wrote about having everything you want materially but still feeling dissatisfied.

In the case of DeVon and Meagan, they were truly a beautiful couple from the outside looking in but clearly we weren’t seeing the entire picture. And although I’m not an OG of marriage as I’m only eight years in my doggone self, but I do know this: If Robert and I had to have our marriage dissected in the public eye, we would have likely divorced by now. Although I’m not holding up the marriage of Jay-Z and Beyoncé as a standard, I do appreciate how, for the most part, they have kept their marriage off limits to the public. A marriage is precious and in general should not be open to public scrutiny. I appreciate when long-time married couples write relationship books and share the secrets of their years-long marriage, but I do think they have to be careful about what they share.

2. Regular, degular marriages should be highlighted…While I love my celebrities and celebrity culture, I have learned to look up to regular people when it comes to marriage. Like anyone, I fawn over celebrity weddings and I imagine all of the trappings that come up with a celebrity marriage like having a fabulous home or homes, household help, exotic vacations, etc. I’m not saying that any of these material accomplishments should not be aspired to, but what about the man who brings coffee to his wife every morning before going to work at some small business in Anywhere, US of A? Or what about the young couple who had to scrimp and save for several years before buying their first home together as a married couple and have lived in that one modest home for all of their married life? And consider the couple who raised many children together and finally have enough money to go on a proper vacation abroad and alone after many years of sacrifice. I’m bougie and I want ALL OF THE THINGS, but I’ve learned to treasure the daily acts of service and sacrifice that define a couple instead of what the media (of which I’m a member) has deemed worthy of accolades.

3. God’s way is still the right way…One thing that I appreciate about DeVon Franklin & Meagan Good is their stance on premarital sex. Now that their marriage is over, there has been speculation about whether they should have waited. In the Bible, we are taught to flee fornication. I would guess that Christians are single a LOT LONGER than people were in Biblical times, but I still think the ideal standard is refraining from premarital sex. I don’t know if this couple has any regrets about things they did or didn’t do, but I would bet that not having sex before they got married is not something they regret.

4. Marriage requires time together…I read that DeVon & Meagan were often apart due to their work schedules. I do think long-distance marriages can survive for a time if the foundation of the marriage is solid, but in general, just like any relationship or anything you want to grow, it has be nurtured through the course of time. For better or worse, me and handsome hubby see each other every single day although there are times that I’ve fantasized about living alone again, particularly since I enjoy reading in the bed at night while handsome hubby prefers to turn off all of the lights and go to sleep as soon as he gets into bed. But since we are forced to navigate our marriage day after day AND night after night, we’ve really gotten to know each other. And it’s hard to get to know each other when you’re not spending time together.

5. We live in a fallen world…There were many times that DeVon & Meagan talked about how God put them together and yet they are now getting divorced. In an ideal world that hadn’t been marred by sin, married couples would stay married until death where they have to part, pandemics wouldn’t kill thousands of people all over the world and slavery would have never existed. I know and have a personal relationship with God through the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ, but I do not profess to know all there is to know about God and his son Jesus Christ. I don’t know why God allows many things to happen, but I don’t think any of us can escape of the destructive nature of sin in this world. As the writer Chinua Achebe says, things fall apart…But that doesn’t mean that it was never meant to be from the start.

6. Being a follower of God does not exempt you from divorce…This lesson is somewhat related to the lesson above, but let me explain a bit more. When I first decided to follow God in my early 20s, I thought my life would magically get better. I mean if you know the creator of the universe, you would expect that, right? But chile, that is not what happened. I experienced some of the worse depression I’ve ever experienced when I became a follower of God. But I also learned some critical lessons that are the foundation of my life today during that time of depression. God often uses unhappy circumstances to impart critical lessons and for some people that may include a divorce.

7. Love isn’t enough…From how they announced their divorce, it is clear that DeVon & Meagan still love each other. It may not be the same love they had for one another when they decided to marry but it is love nevertheless. While love is a requirement in my estimation for a happy marriage, it is not the only requirement. There are several ingredients for a long-lasting and happy marriage. One of those ingredients is a commitment to weather the storms of life together no matter what. Again, we don’t know what happened or didn’t happen that caused them to break up, but I would have to be unhappy for a looong time to divorce my man. And maybe they were….For me, I have put too much effort into it to end it quickly.

So that’s all I have for now…What do you think about my lessons and the divorce of DeVon Franklin and Meagan Good? I’m still puzzled by the timing of the announcement of their divorce, but the the New Year is coming very soon and it is an optimum time to begin anew…

Any thoughts?