I Cannot Imagine What This Feels Like...

Introducing, Robert & Keisha...to date I have yet to view, or hear of a marriage proposal as original as Robert's. Their proposal has received over ONE HUNDRED MILLION HITS ONLINE!

:::::::HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!::::::::

Robert & Keisha's story as told by renown photographer,

Ross Oscar Knight :

At the end of April (2007) I had the privilege to shoot the engagement of Robert Gray, Jr. and Keisha Williams.

Robert and Keisha met four years ago at a surprise birthday party for a mutual friend. Two months later Keisha received anonymous flowers with a subtle message attached. It was an additional month before Robert revealed himself as her secret admirer. Robert is a native of Atlanta and Keisha hails from LaGrange,
GA.

This past February Robert contacted me to talk about his engagement plans. We met at a Starbucks in Southwest
Atlanta. The meeting lasted nearly an hour because Robert was so excited to tell me all about what he had been planning for a year. The surprise engagement was to take place at the Ritz Carlton in Buckhead, Georgia. He even had a name for the the proposal ‘Remember the Ritz’ and an email address!!

Robert had arranged for 10 rooms (on different floors) at the hotel to be reserved. The rooms were to be filled with family and friends reading scriptures, roses that had been laced with gold, and unlimited candles!

On the day of the engagement, I started shooting at 4 PM and ended at 12 AM (8 hours!). There is so much more to explain but I wouldn’t do much justice. My suggestion - pop a bag of popcorn, pull out a box of tissues, and find a comfortable seat. This will be the most elaborate proposal you have ever seen.
This commentary was viewed at Brideorama.

The lengths Robert went to:
To save money for a proposal that required ten hotel rooms, 400 roses flown in from South Africa, dozens of candles and a personal photographer, Gray rented out his home for a year and moved in with his sister. When asked why he went to such lengths to propose, Robert said, "It was truly a vision from God." Essence.com

It's not over...watch Robert's sacrificing and meticulous planning come together, as they Remember the Ritz

Song featured is "How Deeply I Need You" by Shekinah Glory.

What's happened since the proposal? Find out at Since The Proposal


**scroll to the bottom and get Recognizd! Sign my "Slide Guestbook!**

Remembering the Million Woman March

10 Years After Philadelphia’s Million Woman March, Commemoration Events Scheduled
source

Photographs from Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway 10 years ago on Oct.25 showed to America and the world a sea of women -- mostly black -- marching together in a call for unity and empowerment to tackle issues plaguing women and their families.

Two separate events this week in the City of Brotherly Love will celebrate the spirit of that day of empowerment and encourage black women to continue the quest for self-improvement and improvement of a people, organizers said.

Beginning Thursday at 3 p.m. at Eakins Oval, more than 5,000 women are expected to go “Back to the Parkway” in the event organized by Sistahs of the Million Woman March. That group includes eight of the organizers of the 1997 march, said Asia Coney, one of the march's original planners.

A smaller crowd is expected this year because they did not issue a national call for women to come to this city for this event.

“To borrow a line from our elders, we needed to clean up our own house before inviting other in,” Coney told BlackAmericaWeb.com. Still, several thousand are expected to participate from the region and a few larger cities, she said.

****

My goodness!

Where has the time gone??

I remember my friends and I packed into the van, and headed to Philly from Detroit. We drove through torrential rains, we were driving blind that's how heavy the rain was. Then we'd follow cars that had "million woman march" signs in their windows, and cars followed ours cuz we had signs in our windows.

My most favorite sign that I placed in the window was

"Million Woman March or bust!"

the camaraderie was electrifying bcuz all of us black sisters knew this trip had purpose.

It was almost a no-go because when we were almost at Philadelphia, we stopped to eat in a suburb, a rural suburb-have no idea of the name, but when we walked inside of Denny's-all conversation ceased and as Tupac would've said...

"all eyes on me!"

I acknowledged the stares, but my stomach reigned supreme, and decided they could stare while i'm eating cuz i'm not leaving out w/out my Chicken Finger Salad.

That night we arrived in Philly and we weren't impressed. As a matter of fact-it was downright, rough!

We all decided we needed a shower and stopped at the first place, a motel, we came to.

Lawd, why did we do that??

It was a motel for crackheads and hookers! We rationalized that we weren't spending the night there, simply taking a shower...so we pressed our way in.

The man at the window was a schmuck, and there was a roach on the wall that froze when he saw us. I guess he thought he was invisible. we still pressed towards the room. it had a funky smell, and went to the bathroom, and it was filthy. that's it....shower can wait til we get to Marriott!

We were there all of 8 min and declared a refund was in order.

The man at the window decided contrary.

Not being one to accept "no" as an answer-I advised him to reverse his decision. We're from Detroit and I don't think he wants any of this!

Not until I threatened to call the police and advise them of drug use did he refund the money!

**skipping** The food was great, the women, young and old were beautiful esp in spirit!!

We had an issue with a waitress who attempted to inflate EVERY BLACK patrons' bill by approx $35-$40!

Can you say revolution?!

We almost turned that place out before the MWM festivities went down. :)

There were lots of hugs, tears, words of exhortation, hand holding, smiles, nods, and respectful salutations by all.

I'll always remember the MWM,and my being a part of history, but i have no desire to go back to Philadelphia!

You better recognize--revolution will always effect change, and change takes courage!

Ivent ;)

Scripture for the day...

Good Morning and God Bless You!!

"The saying is true and worthy of full and universal acceptance, that Christ Jesus (the Messiah) came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am most foremost."

1 Timothy 1: 15 (Amplified Bible)

Father, thank you for giving us your son Christ Jesus

and help us to remember, the wonderful changes we've made in our lives were through power of your Son's blood which was shed on Calvary!!

Thank you for making our sins as white as snow!

You better recognize, it was nothing YOU OR I DID-But Christ!

Ivent