Monday, February 23, 2015

Love

In a nutshell, we would like to share one of the things we've learned in our 3 years of being husband and wife. Since it's February or the LOVE month, we sum it up into the 3 kinds of LOVE in Greek.

First is Philos- affectionate regard/friendship/brotherly or sisterly love. Alan is my best friend, my best travel buddy, my confidante whom I can talk to about everything and anything. Even though we were miles apart, he would be very supportive in all the things I do. Having someone who has your back and someone you can trust is very crucial in any marriage.

Second is Eros - desire/longing/sexual love. God created physical attraction between man and woman. In a conventional, Christ-centered courtship, after a couple gets to know each other in a deep personal, emotional, and spiritual way, normally they decide to take the relationship to the next level which is marriage. And I'm sure all of you who are married knows what comes next after the wedding, the honeymoon or sexual intimacy. That's where we came to realize God's greatest gift to husbands and wives. Eros is crucial to marriages especially when it becomes life giving. (Praying and hoping we can give life to wonderful babies and would be blessed to become parents in God's perfect time) But some of you might be wondering how our marriage survived through 3 years of long distance relationship with less and long abstinence to sexual intimacy. Only because of the last type of love...

Third is Agape- divine love. It mirrors the love of God through Jesus when he died on the cross for our sins. It is the love that is self denying and self sacrificial. Truthfully, Alan could have demanded me to go back home and live there for good. Alan was living a good life, he had a good job with good pay, his family and friends were there, and yet he allowed me to stay here in the US to support my family. He gave up everything he established, moved out of his comfort zone, moved here, started back from zero, to be with me so we could be together. I am so grateful that Alan would do such a sacrifice. Indeed, I can feel God's divine love for me through him.

Now that we are together, we know there's so much more we have to learn, challenges and trials we have to deal with but through these 3 kinds of love and only through God's grace, our marriage will be victorious. 


My husband and I were asked to briefly share during a gathering of our community, a testimony of God's love and faithfulness to our marriage. Our love story has always been an open book with the hopes of bringing light and hope to others for the greater glory and honor of God.  Hope this helps. 

xoxo,
Joselle

Thursday, February 19, 2015

The Ferns in Louisiana


In celebration of Valentines and our momentous reunion, we took a trip, just the two of us, to Louisiana! Alan's timing was perfect for the Mardi Gras festival. We knew it's going to be crazy but you can only be crazy when you're young so we braved it!  




Alan knows that one of my dream destinations is France and the French Quarter is the closest thing we could go to for now. The architecture has a lot of European influence.






St. Louis Cathedral




Jackson Square


Unintentionally captured this lovebirds kissing by the Mississippi River. 








New Orleans is a mecca of arts! 







It is also the home of the king of jazz, Louis Armstrong.


Harvested tons of colorful bead necklaces from the Mardi Gras parade. 







 I'm totally buying one of these automatic lazy boys instead of a wheelchair for my senior years. LOL





And of course, the highlight of our every trip, FOOD!!!

Right after we got out of the airport, we looked for a place to grab a quick bite and passed by Chicken Shack. I've been to Shake Shack, Seafood Shack, but didn't know that a Chicken Shack exists!! For fried chicken lovers like me, this is a treat!



Alan tried their gumbo.



LA is one of the states that has great seafood like oysters! 


A Po Boy is short for Poor Boy. It's a sub sandwich that consists of usually fried seafood or meat in a french bread. I've never had an oyster and neither a Po'boy and I'm glad I had my first in NOLA! No doubt I would come back for this!


The star of Johnny's Po'boys is their Shrimp Po'boy.


Alan raved about their Roast beef Po'boy.


For Valentine's day dinner, Alan and I dined at The Three Muses Jazz bar along Frenchmen Street recommended by our friend Ping and Maria. 





A night couldn't be more romantic than with a serenade by an in house Jazz band.


For breakfast, we woke up early to get these famous square sized donuts covered in powdered sugar called "beignet". Cafe Du Monde is the most popular place you could get these while sipping their warm cafe au lait. 




I'm not much of a fan of alcohol but I like sweet cocktails like this, Hurricane. It's a popular drink served in NOLA. 


We also visited Louisiana's capital, Baton Rouge.  I was so thrilled when I saw this hotel that just exudes elegance. Super pogi points to my hubby! It's called L'Auberge Casino Hotel. There's a casino which if you play for 30 mins, you get to eat in their amazing buffet for free!! Their buffet showcased a wide array of LA's cuisine. Felt like we tried all the food that this state has to offer. It delights me to no end knowing my husband is gastronomically adventurous like me.  



They have a TV behind this mirror. No kidding!


Crab all you can!


A mouth watering cajun style shrimp and tilapia.


The struggle is real dude!


I'm pretty pleased with our trip to Louisiana, my 15th state to visit. Even more so because I'm with my favorite travel buddy, Alan. I am still incredulous of the fact that he's here. Everything is just surreal. Thank you Lord! 


xoxo,
Joselle