A'Donna's version of our story:

JR and I first met at college. I was a sophomore, and he was a freshman. We lived in the same dorms at Bowling Green State University. Most of our friends here will definitely remember all the fun times we had at the co-ed Conklin dorms. It was a weekend fire drill and we all had to evacuate the building. JR was caught in the middle of his shower and had to hurry to get out so, he was half dressed and one of the last students to vacate. I was across the street (all the way across the street lol). When I saw him coming out, I was taken back at how handsome he was. Jet black long hair, chiseled chin and no shirt (ok, I'm done). Anyways, it was safe to say I was very attracted to him. I was caught staring at him way longer than normal and that was it, I was hooked. We became great friends from that day on because we both were in other relationships, but we were just drawn to each other, like magnets. Our friendship eventually grew into a relationship, then love, then marriage. We were married December 30, 2008, at the courthouse and we both joined the Air Force shortly after. Did I mention that we had our first son, Jayden during this time. Yeah, a lot of people doubted our love for each other, I mean we were only 20 and 21 but we are proving them wrong even to this day. JR joined the Air Force Active Duty, and I joined as a Reservist (Don't hate, Reservist do our part too, lol). We spent our first years of marriage in an on and off again deployment cycle. From 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015 and each one of JR's deployments was 6-8 months at a time. Being newlyweds, new parents, living in a new state (Wyoming) and communicating mainly by letters was painful to say the least. We lived in Wyoming for 6 years and had our second son Alijah in 2010. Shortly after, we were stationed in Illinois. There we had our first home built from the ground up. We also experience tragedy in the loss of our triplets and then twins. Our family, our tribe, our faith and love for one another carried us and kept us sane. Finally, I took a promotion that relocated us to Florida, and we officially said good-bye to the Midwest. We were finally ready to accept that we were going to only have 2 kiddos, then Saniah popped up on the scene, another blessing we did not see coming. So here we are 15 years later and counting and we want to share this moment with all of you. We didn't have an official wedding so this time, we are not holding back. We are in a special place in our marriage and forever seems about right.

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