Thankful Thursday

I’m dedicating today’s blog to an amazing woman who means a lot to me. Ms. Faith McNair is a dynamic woman who I truly admire especially for what she does at her age. She is 73 years old and still moving so strongly. She shares a birthday with my husband and I believe that’s where the love began. We recently went to a friend’s anniversary and retirement party and she was “cuttin up the rug” (as my husband would say). She danced so well that even some young people were embarrassed at how good she was.

I am very thankful for this woman because of the role she has played in my life over the years. I have learned so much from her like cooking, and many more. She taught me how to make her legendary sweet potato casserole with pecans, baked mac and cheese, and green beans. If you know me, you know that I’m very good at making Nigerian dishes but with the help of this woman right here, I have spiced up my American dishes as well. Her sense of style is beyond amazing and I love her for it. She is a praying woman of God and a power house in the Kingdom. She’s a giver of her time, her resources, and her love. Anybody who knows her would definitely agree with all these attributes. Needless to say, I am very thankful for Ms. Faith McNair.

Who are you thankful for today? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. Thank you for all your continuing support. God bless you and hope you stay inspired as always.
#adakuinspires

A Shower To Remember

Wait a minute. Can we talk about this decor. My faithful friend who happened to be a bridesmaid to her college friend decorated this entire venue for a bridal shower. This picture simply exemplifies what I call Elegance. I could not resist drooling over how detailed the decor was. This bridal shower was supposed to be outside, only to find out that the whole day was going to be a rainy day. The chivalry chairs, rose petals, candlelight, and all the center pieces made this whole event picturesque.

Fortunately, they put up a tent over this beautiful setup to protect the decor as well as create a more intimate environment for the event. People also took lots of pictures. I truly enjoyed myself and I ran into a lot of my college friends who brought back old time memories that made us laugh out loud. Enjoy the rest of the pictures.

Stay blessed and be inspired beautiful people.
#adakuinspires

Thankful Thursday

Can we talk about the Daniel fast for a minute? For those of you that didn’t know, our church just came out of a twenty-one day fast and it was GOOD. This fast was very specific; the focus was on the church and we had an opportunity to deal with some stuff happening in churches. We also focused on other areas like our nation, the President of United States, our families, and many more. I personally got some prayers answered and I know it was due to the fast. My husband on the other hand found out some deep things exposed in his family that he’s now beginning to pray with his mom every Thursday.

When you take some time to fast and give God an undivided attention, He listens and answers your prayers. It’s very imperative that you take some time off your busy lives to fast. When I fast, I fast from a lot of things like social media, food, sometimes I turn off my phone from all distractions and I give God all my attention to speak to me. I anticipate to get something out from it because I don’t just fast from food but I remember the most important things when fasting, prayer and hearing from God.

Now, talking about fasting from food, can you believe we didn’t eat meat for twenty-one days? Needless to say, I’m very thankful for this food right here that contains meat.

The picture doesn’t do it any justice but it tastes so good. I made sweet potato casserole with pecans and marshmallows on top, together with green beans and chicken. I’ll let you savor the moment but, on the serious note, I am very thankful for the fast.
What are you thankful for? Did you get some prayers answered during this fast? Share your thoughts in the comment section. Until then, stay beautiful and be inspired
#adakuinspired

Focus. Plan. Dream

So many people have lost focus on what their dreams are. More especially, dreams that we had when we were younger. I can’t speak for anybody else but when I was living in Nigeria, my father took me to school and I looked forward to daddy daughter mornings. Whenever he took me to school was when I had deep conversations with him. He would ask me questions like, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I would never forget this, I told him “I want to be a doctor but not in Nigeria, in the United States!” Mind you, I was ten years old speaking with Faith. My daddy laughed at me so hard because he had no clue of how that was going to happen but he believed with me. Fast Forward to now, I am here in the United States with my whole family only by the grace of God. I have graduated from a four year university, I am happily married with a beautiful baby girl, and still pursuing my dreams. I’m not a doctor yet but I am here. 

This is not to brag or anything but the point is, when you stay focused on God, He gives you the right mindset to plan so that you can achieve your dreams. I had faith and believed in God that I was going to come here, especially the right way and not illegally,to pursue my dreams whether my parents believed or not. See, God’s plans are bigger than what we see because He is the author and finisher of our Faith.
Today’s blog is an encouragement for those of you that have plans to do X,Y,and Z. Don’t loose focus because it’s not working the way you want it to go. Let God become your master planner and watch where He takes you. Take your hand off the steering wheel and let God be the driver.

Stay inspired, stay blessed and stay beautiful as you focus, plan and dream!

#adakuinspires

Thankful Thursday

If someone would have told me that I would have mixed feelings about a car three years ago, I would have laughed at them. Today I’m happy and thankful to say my beautiful red Accord’s lease is up and we have turned it in. Needless to say my handsome hubby is jumping like a kid because we have no monthly payment on it which means we are saving a lot and our monthly insurance payment is ridiculously lower. I, on the other hand am slightly emotional because that’s the car hubby proposed to me with and I have so many memories in it. Some of you might be like “it’s just a car,” but it means more to me than just a car. However I’m very thankful that we are on the journey to becoming financially free from debts and I believe that’s what God wants from His children.

I encourage you to do what you have to do to become debt free. Being in debt is the plan of the enemy to hold us captive from fulfilling the will of God but if you are smart in the way you spend your money, you won’t have this problem. My question to you today my friends is “what are you doing to becoming financially independent?” Let me hear your thoughts on this.

#adakuinspires

Girls Day Out

 

Some people might know this term as “Girls Night Out” but these three lovely girls had a great afternoon. It was 70 degrees and we sure took advantage of it. Anybody who knows me knows that I’m an outdoor person. If the weather it’s nice, I certainly take advantage of it. I take a walk, go to the park, library, have a picnic, or grab lunch with Kizzy and my friends who are available to fellowship together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a first time mom, one of the things I’ve learned is to take care of myself no matter how life gets busy and tough. You have to find a balance to get back to your momentum. If you need to take the baby with you, do it but make sure you take care of YOU. “After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church– for we are members of his body.” (Ephesians 5:29-30).

We all went to a nearby park and it was packed with a whole bunch of kids from all ages. It must be their spring break because kids were running around and having so much fun. Kizzy and Amiya were just chilling in the corner saying to themselves “I can’t wait to get older so that I can run around like these guys”

We had lunch at Olive Garden where we met up with the third lady baby, Lydia. People were just coming over to our table and they just loved on the girls. We couldn’t end this lovely afternoon without getting a picture of the girls. How cute are they? Of course Lydia being the oldest of the three was in the middle showing them how it’s done while the other girls looked away.

How do you spend your day when the weather is beautiful outside? Do you stay home all day or are you like me that look for opportunities to get outside? Let me know and leave your comment below.

Talking about getting back to my momentum, watch my latest video by clicking the link below. Don’t forget to subscribe for more. Catch you in my next one beautiful people.
#adakuinspires

Thankful Thursday

 

Words can’t even describe how thankful I am today. Today’s blog is about my beautiful princess, Keziah. For a couple of months now she hasn’t been sleeping in her crib and I’m not happy about it. I’ve been making excuses like “oh, she’s teething” or “oh she’s at her growth spurt stage” or ” she’s trying to crawl so she needs mommy.” All that jazzy talk is what I told people. I seriously was even thinking of making a t-shirt that says “She’s Teething” just because it was my popular go to excuse for why my lovely daughter chooses to snuggle up on mommy in bed at night time .

To all the mothers out there, I’m sure you can relate because I know it’s very common for kids to trick you into their world without you even realizing it. This act she’s portraying is depriving my alone time with my hubby let alone even watching a movie by ourselves because we’re constantly conscious of not waking her up. One time I tried putting her to sleep and she would sleep for hours on my arms but the moment I put her down, she wakes up and begins to cry. She’s so smart to know that when she wakes up in the middle of the night crying, I’m going to pick her up and move her to our bed because I’m too tired and, at that point, she’s happy and she sleeps through the night.
My dear friends it has come to a point where I said enough is enough. I had a talk about it with one of my friends yesterday and she told me that I need to be strong to let her cry for a while and she’ll go to sleep on her own, which I have NEVER done especially as a first time mom. She asked me a question that goes like this “Adaku, would you let her continue sleeping in your bed until the future?” I said ” HECK NO!” Then she said ” You need to stop it now!” Guess what! That did it for me and I made sure last night I put that to work. I did her routine which consists of bathing, nursing, reading and sometimes muscle relaxation exercises. I did all that yet she wasn’t having it so I let her cry herself to sleep. I must say my husband and I are dancing like little kids because she slept until 9am this morning. She woke up once for a second, I changed her and that was it. We are so happy to have our time as a couple without any interruptions. GOD IS GOOD.
Mothers out there, do what works for you but if it doesn’t work please don’t hesitate to reach out to a friend for help. Asking for help doesn’t show a sign of weakness. My asking for help led me to have a peaceful night and quality time with my hubby. I’m not saying that because it worked for me, then you should stick to my routine. No, but if you’ve tried everything and it isn’t working then it’s about time to talk to someone. With all that being said, I am very thankful to God for a sleeping baby.
What are you thankful for? Share your comment below and I’ll catch you in my next one. Stay blessed and stay inspired.
#adakuinspires

Style-N-Focus

Who says if you’re a Christian you can’t be stylish? Some of you who know me know that I love fashion and hope one day I’ll be a personal stylist to anyone in need of my services. Anyway, it was a beautiful day in Maryland and I absolutely took advantage of this weather in the city. As a Christian, you get the stereotype of not having the best style for certain occasions but I’m here to tell you my friends that is SO WRONG. I want to encourage you to embrace the style that God has embedded in you and don’t try to be anybody else. Enjoy being you. We are all beautifully and wonderfully made. Our God is the master of designs so why should I hold back?
Below are some pictures I took and I paired them with my burgundy boots I got from JustFab. Ain’t they cute? Enjoy and hope to talk to you in my next one.

Here’s a link to my Youtube channel for more inspirational videos and vlogs showing my crazy and fun side 🙂 Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel as well.

youtu.be/AbDVLRQuQ5k

Cheers, beautiful people!

#adakuinspires