and...
And the saga begins...
Our relationship began with Jesus, literally and artistically! We got to know each other doing a production of "The Cotton Patch Gospel" in which I played Jesus!
This was Sidonie's first show, and she was fabulous! Here she is singing her heart out!
Here we are at Christmas in 2004, we'd been "long-distance dating" for about a semseter at this point. After 4 days of officially dating, I moved 12 hours away to grad school. It was a very long 10 months!
Can you feel the love tonight?
2005 was the first Christmas we spent together! We decided that since we were engaged, we really wanted to be together on Christmas morning. Sidonie spent her first Christmas morning away from home, and we were happy to introduce her to all our Christmas morning traditions - including the Christmas morning picture! ;)
This was the first time that Sidonie was able to come visit me in VA (where I was going to grad school.) She rode up with my parents to see my last production of my first year: "Guys and Dolls" Here we are laughing at something in my sunroom - the best part of that house...
The next fall, after Sidonie had graduated FSU, she decided to look for a job in VA so we wouldn't be long distance any more! (Thanks, Babe!) She found one and moved up! Sidonie's Bestie, Julie May, came up to VA for a visit a couple months after she moved. We had lots of fun on the swings outside Sidonie's house. Good times!
We ended up using this photo on the bookmarks that one of my childhood friend's Mom made us as a gift to use as wedding favors!
The night of our engagement! Sidonie had no clue, but didn't she look stunning?
We were just a little happy to be engaged! Can you tell?
Skip forward 6 months or so...We had a wonderful "Pre-wedding reception" at my parent's house in Tallahassee for all the folks who couldn't make it down to Miami for the big event! It was loads of fun! :D
I think we were just a little excited about the upcoming week...can you see our Wisdom Teeth?
Here we are rehearsing for our grand exit!
One of the most important parts of the ceremony (after the actual union bit and the communion, of course) was when our parents all prayed a prayer of blessing over us! It was beautiful! Thanks guys.
We had to make our kiss dramatic - no one would have expected anything less from the two of us!
As rehearsed, we ran out to the steel drums playing "Under the Sea!" Hehe!
The grannies were hot (with reason) so we decided to take our granny pic sitting down. Nana thought Sidonie was giving the flowers to her! ;) So cute, aren't they?
Here we are with my Ma and Pop!
Here we are with Sidonie's Momma and Daddy!
The closest to a "Wedding Portrait" we wanted to get ;) Don't we look schannzy?
After we got engaged, literally the FIRST call we made in wedding prep was to our friend Kenneth Pietrobono - a brilliant photographer - to book him for the event!
Sidonie's childhood friend, Ms. Sullivan, as she's known to her students ;) was terrific as our wedding stage manager!!!
I think this may be one of my favorite wedding pictures! We were having such a great time! :D
We had a wonderful honeymoon in Jamaica! It was my first time there, and we soaked up lots of sun and ate plenty of YUMMY Jamaican food!
Just after we got back to VA from Jamaica, Sidonie and I worked on a musical theatre summer camp together hosted by my grad school. We did a production of "Once On This Island" which I costumed (with my friend Heidi) and Sidonie music directed! Sidonie also worked as a guest artist playing Asaka. What a fun experience pouring into the lives of all these very talented youngsters!
During the "Once on This Island" run, I directed a one act play called "Craving" (by Heather Hargrave-Roberts) And Sidonie had an occasion to wear her wedding dress again - she played Esther! Here I am with my "Craving" cast - they were terrific!
More fun with some of the "Craving" cast and good friends, Desiree and Beth!
At the beginning of my last year in Grad School, I got to play Lloyd Dalles in Noises Off for my Thesis Role! It was a blast, and, as you can see, it was set in the good ol' 80s!
My family got to come up and see the show! We had an all-round wonderful time!
Our friends Anna and Justin threw a Halloween party and we went as Kip and Lafawnduh! We were a smash hit! We've come up with several other killer costumes since then, but I think these were our all time best!
On our way down to Miami, we stopped at a fast food restaurant and met our first "nephew" from the Brannon Family - Iain!
He was an adorable sweetie pie!
During Thanksgiving break, Cousin Deb (yes, that's what we really call her - she likes it ;) took family portraits for us! Woohoo!
We decorated our very own Christmas Tree together for the first time in 2006!
My Mom graciously (and tearfully) parted with many of my childhood ornaments and Christmas decorations for us to use on our tree! (Thanks Ma! ;)
We also went out for a nice relaxing dinner with some friends at a Mexican restaurant just before we left for home that Christmas!
Our first children, Fred and Ginger, the Ferrets, came to live with us at Christmas in 2006 - we soon found they had very strange sleeping habits!
On our trip to see family for the holidays, we enjoyed true FL weather!
We saw a movie with some friends in Tally, and...
Went to Animal Kingdom with Mom in Miami!
In early 2007, we hosted an Oscar party at our apartment in VA Beach - it was loads of fun, complete with Sidonie's fully sequined Oscar-gold dress ;) Fun memories of times with good friends who now live many, many miles away!
We recorded our first song together in 2007, with the help of the very talented and extremely resourceful Jimmy Smithson!
You can see Jimmy in the background here - he was in the booth listening to us as we worked!
For my birthday, we went on a very fun trip to Busch Gardens in VA and listened to a new cast recording on the way - The Scarlet Pimpernel (which I would be fight directing later that year!)
We got someone to take our picture on the kiddy-roller-coaster (it turned out not to be so "kiddy!")
We got to celebrate our first anniversary with the wedding of our dear friends, Lindsey and Todd. We also decided to go on a date when we got down to FL - here we are all dolled up!
Sidonie got a cool new haircut from her favorite hair dresser in Tally! Faux-hawk all the way! ;)
We decided to take the family portrait a bit randomly since we had so many family members at my parent's at the same time! My immediate family + my Aunt, Uncle, 2 Cousins and one of their wives (and dog) + Sidonie's Mom and brother! Lots of fun!
In the summer of 2007 Sidonie and I got to work together to plan, teach, and direct a summer musical theatre camp for kids! It was an awesome experience, and we've even found out that several of those kids have gone on to continue a pursuit of musical theatre! We couldn't be happier!
Since we were in town to direct the musical theatre camp, and for me to fight direct "The Scarlet Pimpernel," we decided to audition for the show as well! :D
We deemed the show's subtitle: "A Gentleman Always Changes!"
And that we did! It was the show of a million costumes!
On our way to Orlando for Sidonie to begin grad school at UCF, we stopped off to meet our new "nephew," Joshua (son of my "sister" Chasity)! He was such a smiley, sweet baby!
When we got to UCF, Sidonie landed her first straight theatre lead! She played (brilliantly, I might add) the lead in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson!" I was so proud of her!
During 2007, Sidonie and I spent quite a lot of time auditioning for good ol' Walt. Here is a photo to attest to the hours we spent on the floor of the audition building!
Sidonie got a job with Disney, and got her Equity Card through it!
We decided that we wanted to host family Thanksgiving at our house for the first time - it was WONDERFUL!
Thanksgiving weekend, we took more family photos!
Mom and Dad tried to get into character for the silly shot! ;)
Just after Thanksgiving, we moved into our first house! We had a very cool place in E Orlando, and we had a blast decorating it together! (I'll spare you the photos ;)
Right before Christmas break 2007, we went with Sidonie's UCF colleagues to one of the Disney Resort restaurants. It was DELICIOUS! AND, we had a staff member personally walk the Vegans among us down the buffet letting us know what was Vegan-friendly! What a yummy treat!
2007 Cleveland family photo at Mom's house in Miami! :D
Fred and Ginger enjoying the Season of Celebration!
For Christmas 2007 my Hunny got me the most thoughtful of gifts ;) I had an entirely Sweeny Todd-themed gift! I even got to see the Broadway tour of the show when we got to Miami!!!
Meeting our newest Brannon "nephew" Corrin!
Such a sweet and peaceful little boy!
We went down to Miami for a visit, and Nana was staying with Mom! :D
Early Spring 2008 brought performances of "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" where I got to play Mr. Tumnus - so much fun - and make lots of great friends!
For my birthday, Sidonie got free tickets for us to go to Universal Studios (from a friend we sang with at church - Thanks Todd!)
It was a beautifully sunny FL morning, and we were set for a fun-filled day!
We got to meet Curious George (and the Man in the Yellow Hat too, of course!!!)
We were ESPECIALLY thankful for the sun after we rode the water ride! Brrr...
Birthday excitement continued as we took a trip to Disney!
Speaking of Disney, not only were we able to go for free, but we were able to bring some folks along with us! Here's Sid with my little cousin, Megan on her first trip to Epcot!
Megan was absolutely enthralled with the fireworks!
Post fireworks glow/waiting around so that the traffic leaving Epcot would clear! ;)
We were also able to bring our friends Brit and Joshua. Sidonie met Brit at UCF, and we had lots of fun together during our time in Orlando!
We got to take our good friends Desiree and Josh (who had never been to Disney and were on their honeymoon at a beach house not too far away) as well! It was great because we hadn't been able to go to the wedding! What a blessing that Disney job was!
During our time in Orlando, I taught and designed for several colleges in the area. Here is one of my Costume Design classes with their final project - an apron. Can you pick out the student who didn't come to class very often?
In the summer of 2008 we went on our first mission trip together!
We had an amazing time loving on a lot of kids who were from fatherless homes of drug addicted mothers (who most likely sold themselves to afford their addictions.)
This little boy, Jeffrey, wouldn't let go of me after I "rescued" him from a tarantula (the first one Sidonie and I'd ever seen!) We wanted to take him home with us!
Our church sent backpacks for all the children with lots of necessities as well as some toys and candy. This little girl was absolutely enraptured by her Dora doll. This was a wonderful experience for us to both grow together, closer to our friends who also went on the trip, and most importantly, to minister the Lord's Love to these hurting young ones!
Just after we got back from the D.R., Sidonie left for a study trip to beautiful Bavaria! Not only did she have a great time and learn a lot, but she was also invited to attend Joop van Den Ende Academy in Hamburg, and, after praying about it, we decided to make the move to Germany. One great adventure led to an even greater one!
Sidonie actually had her birthday in Bavaria, but I had a surprise party for her with our Orlando friends when she got back. It was also a bit of a good-bye party as we only had 2 weeks from Sidonie's return to the States to our Big Move!
We, of course, had to eat at our favorite Pizza place in O-town before we headed out as well!
Upon our arrival in Germany (with our 10 bags in tow!) we met Afsaneh (af-sahn-uh), our wonderfully loving host (who, by the way, offered to host complete strangers in her home because we are friends with someone who met one of Afsaneh's friends at a ministry conference!) Communicating with Afsaneh was interesting because our German skills were MINUSCULE and her's are not much better. We learned a few Persian words along the way!
We shared a twin bed in Afsaneh's home for the first month of our life in Germany. During this time Sidonie was starting school (in a, then, foreign language) and I was daily pounding the streets looking for a job!
About two weeks after we arrived, Afsaneh managed to communicate to us that we were invited to the wedding of some good friends of her daughter.
This was our first Afghan wedding, and we found that dancing was compulsory (even for folks who didn't know what they were doing!) We had a blast, and when we left at 2 AM the bride said it was too bad we had to leave so early! They really do throw a party :D
About a month after we arrived, Afsaneh had planned some re-modeling in the room where we were staying, so we had to find another accommodation, and quickly! Some other friends from church set it up for us to stay in the church until we could find an open apartment. We only stayed there for one night before some other friends from church said that they had an apartment that they were looking for tenants for as they had just gotten married!
Our apartment in Glinde (a suburb of Hamburg) was a perfect place for us to host THANKSGIVING for Sidonie's colleagues from school! This is Sam the Turkey ;)
Our second time hosting Thanksgiving was very different from the first time we hosted, but it was so much fun to share such a special day with Sidonie's colleagues!
I even made a turkey so that they would have the full American Thanksgiving experience!
Because of budget and time shortages, we had Christmas in Glinde. Our Christmas tree was VERY small, but cute none the less! ;)
We celebrated New Year's with some great friends from our church in Hamburg, the Wiesenbergs (Lili's parents ;)
In early 2009 we began attending a cell group at the Wiesenberg's. Such wonderful times of worship and sharing together!
In late spring we were able to work on a show together again! I was hired to direct a show for one of the English Language Theatres in HH, and I "hired" Sidonie to be my stage manager! We had an absolute blast working together again, and we had a super cast and a wonderful show to boot!
We also got to spend time with good friends at the fair that comes to Hamburg every quarter!
At the end of the spring semester, Sidonie got her job in "Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story" which meant we were leaving the school, and HH. She got to sing a song of her choice at the end of the year showcase, and tore it up with Blessed!
After leaving HH and before heading home to the States for the summer, we went to Bavaria and taught workshops for the musical theatre program that Sidonie had attended the previous summer! Bavaria is BEAUTIFUL!
When we got home, we got to see lots of friends...
...visit familiar places (like the garden where we got married)...
...and catch up with all of our family! We were in Miami for Nana's birthday (Sidonie's Grandma) and got to go see her. She turned 97 and when we asked her if she knew how old she was she said: "hundred and something..."! We love you Nana, and we'll miss you until we see you again with Jesus!
We also got to meet many little ones who came into the world while we were in Deutschland! This is London - he was not interested in smiling for the camera although he did plenty of smiling when I wasn't taking a photo!
We got to meet my Cousin's new little one: Brionna!
See my "Sister Chasity's" adorable little boys: Joshua,
and Landon! We had lots of fun playing with blocks!
At the end of our wonderful, but short, trip home to the States, we came back to Essen in time for Sidonie to begin rehearsals for Buddy. I was on the job hunt again, and amidst all of that, we managed to decorate our apartment! I love decorating with you Sid!
I got a job playing Tom in The Glass Menagerie.
Unfortunately, this job meant that I had to tour! ;(
My apartment on wheels!
We've treasured the moments we've had together since I've been on tour, and we have both learned to value one another even more than we previously did! For out two week Christmas break, we decided to take a vacation to London!
Neither of us had been to London, and we had an absolutely marvelous time relaxing, being together, and seeing lots of theatre! This is Sidonie with the London star of Sister Act: Patina Miller.
We also got to see many of the very cool London sights: behind Sidonie are the London Eye (Ferris Wheel), Big Ben, and Parliament!
We also walked over the river to see Shakespeare's Globe Theatre! Surreal!
We walked through Hyde Park...
peeped the Queen's digs,
And saw a show in the theatre where Buddy played in London!
Speaking of Buddy, Sidonie show opened just as my rehearsals for my tour began!
She was fabulous in the show and fierce at the premier after party!
The Buddy Premier party lasted well into the night (we're starting to fade here! ;)
At one of Sidonie's Buddy events, there was the possibility to dress up at have your picture taken "as Buddy!" Who could have resisted? ;)
Valentine's Day 2010. I got to come home for Valentine's Day this year which was a bit of a surprise! We had a great time at our favorite restaurant just being together!Happy 4th anniversary, my Love! I look forward to spending many, many more years with you by my side. I'm so thankful for the gift of you! With all my love.
