Happy New Year Lovelies!

Thank God for allowing us to see into 2014. May He continue to bless you all and keep you and your families.

We pray that 2014 will welcome you with sound health, joy, peace and love. May this be the year that all your dreams come through in Jesus mighty name. Amen! 

Love,

African Sweetheart.

xoxo

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Nollywood Actress Tonto Dikeh Is Titled 2013's Most Beautiful Nollywood Actress

Nollywood actress Tonto Dikeh tweeted the news earlier today that she had been crowned the most beautiful Nollywood actress for 2013.

We are not sure who awarded her the title however we are happy for the actress after the challenging year she seemed to have faced. 

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Do Childhood Sweetheart's Ever Live Happily Ever After? -Read The Story Of Siohvaughn Funches-Wade

A decade ago, Siohvaughn Funches-Wade was broke and living with her high school sweetheart and their newborn son in a cramped apartment in Marquette, Wisconsin. But she was content.

Then in 2003, her husband's name, Dwyane Wade, was called fifth in the NBA draft – propelling them to a life of red carpets and hangers-on. And while the fame meant they could enjoy a life of unimaginable wealth, it quickly sent their marriage plummeting to irrecoverable depths.

Now for the first time, Siohvaughn, who divorced Wade in 2007, has revealed in detail her heartbreak at the disintegration of their five-year marriage.

She has spoken about the crushing moment she found out she had lost custody of their two sons after a four-year battle and how her ex-husband even accused her of kidnapping the boys when she failed to hand them over after a visit in June.

The couple married in 2002 after Siohvaughn gave birth to their first son, Zaire. Here they are pictured in early 2006 on the beach in Florida

She felt moved to publicly reveal her torment weeks after Wade, who has enjoyed a ten-year career as shooting guard with the Miami Heat and accrued a fortune of $65 million, released his book, A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger Than Basketball.

The memoir's portrayal of Wade, 31, is fiercely disputed by his ex-wife, who said she saw him harshly discipline their eldest son, Zaire, now 11, in a repeat of the own emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of his strict father.

Siohvaughn begged Wade not to enter the 2002 draft as they were only just married and settling into family life. Here they are pictured in 2004, shortly after he was picked in the 2003 draft

The couple are pictured before the prom in Siohvaughn's mother's house, which Wade shared. After they started a family, they moved to a cramped apartment in Marquette, where he was at college

Wade and Siohvaughn are pictured in Hollywood, California in 2006 - a year before their divorce. It led to a nearly four-year battle for custody of their sons

Wade and Siohvaughn are pictured in Hollywood, California in 2006 - a year before their divorce. It led to a nearly four-year battle for custody of their sons

'I was concerned,' Siohvaughn, 31, said. 'There was not a time out or anything. Zaire was small in age and small in size.

'I would remind Dwyane of the things that had happened to him when I noticed him doing it to his sons. If this sort of thing was happening inside the house what was happening when I wasn't there?'
She passed on her fears at custody evaluations during their lengthy dispute over who would get their two children, Zaire, 10, and Zion, five, but her concerns were ignored, she said.

Wade was granted sole custody in March 2011 - two weeks before they were pictured with his teammate LeBron James (R) and tennis players Kei Nishhikori (L) and Rafael Nadal

Despite an expert witness concluding that the children would be best placed with their mother in Chicago – with two visits to their father’s Miami home each month – the court gave Wade custody of the youngsters on March 11, 2011, a decision she puts down to his 'celebrity, influence and money'.

Siohvaughn said it is a battle every day for her to see her sons and said her ex-husband's celebrity status means he gets away with not adhering to the court rules

He was granted sole custody of the children, with two visits a month from their mother. The judge also ordered no contact between Siohvaughn and the boys for 30 days.
News of the ruling came through just hours after Siohvaughn had kissed her sons goodbye as they boarded a plane for their fortnightly trip to Miami.

The decision came even though a custody evaluator noted the boys had a strong support system with their mother in Chicago, including her best friend Nadgee, pictured left

'I promised them I would see them on Sunday; I learned from that not to make children promises,' she said, tearfully.
'When my lawyer called, I knew it was bad news but I begged him to tell me. I remember taking a moment to pause. I could break down at that moment or I could say, "God help me". There's no money that can buy that kind of strength.

Siohvaughn holds her youngest son, Zion, who was born a year before the divorce

'In the hours and weeks after, I cried and cried and I remember being scared when I’d see them again. Would they look different? Would their clothes still fit them? Would they still love me? I worried that they would think I wanted them to go away. There's nothing anyone could have done for me to say, "Get me away from them".'

Siohvaughn said the judge ordered she not contact the boys for a month as they settled in with their father – a ruling that horrified her.

She hugs her eldest son, Zaire, who she claims was disciplined by his father 'with a closed fist'

'How devastating and traumatic for these two small boys,' she said, sobbing. 'Zion was a baby. To tell your baby that I’m going to see them in two days and that turns into two months. I can't describe what it felt like to speak to them after 30 days. They were crying so hard they couldn’t even talk.'
While she does not speak to Wade directly and has no judgment on his parenting, she said she was concerned about her children living with their father.

She added that she also has no opinion on his relationship with actress Gabrielle Union, who at 39, is almost 10 years his senior. The couple met when they were co-hosting a Superbowl party in 2007.

Wade acknowledges in his book that Siohvaughn, pictured with Zion, is a fantastic mother

'I was worried,' Siovhaughn said of his parenting. 'The things that [the children] went through - I feared they would be hurt. I was worried that I failed at protecting [Zaire]. I was worried about their emotional well being because I knew how it felt and I couldn’t imagine how that would be as a child. It was devastating.'
Despite these fears – as well as claims he was physically abusive with Siohvaughn – Wade was granted sole custody, and his ex-wife is certain the courts were seduced by his celebrity.
'I think influence had a lot to do with it,' she said. 'Celebrity had a lot to do with it. Money had a lot to do with it.'

Siohvaughn, pictured with her sons and Nadgee left and with Zion right, said Wade has made it hard for her to see her boys - and faces no punishment if he does not keep to court orders

Her attorney, Brian Hurst, agreed. 'You can’t help but wonder if the celebrity and the notoriety and the money had an impact on [the case],' he said.
'Mr Wade's attorneys were very successful in creating a negative portrayal of Siohvaughn in the media. They were successful in making that stick. It has been a real ordeal for her.'

He added that the case was 'unusual'.
'There was a supportive family for the children [in Chicago],' he said. 'Mr Wade has a career and a schedule which is not amenable to small children [as a single parent].'

Siohvaughn was arrested for child abduction in July after she failed to hand the children over, but the charges were later dropped. She is now working towards her law degree in Chicago

This bitter battle is a far cry from the once loving relationship the couple, who met when Siohvaughn was in fifth grade, once shared.
Soon after they began dating at age 15, Wade quickly began treating her home, which she shared with her mother, as a place of solace from his drug-addicted mother and strict father.

'He was like nothing I see now,' she recounted. 'He was very humble, very shy.'
In his book, Wade writes of the burden of a committed relationship at such a tender age, revealing how he had often planned to end it, wished he had 'played the field' and thought it was too much 'too young'.
'I don't believe that’s the truth,' she disputed. 'It was at that time a very meaningful relationship, a very loving one.'

When Wade was just 20 and at college in Marquette, Wisconsin, Siohvaughn fell pregnant with their first son, Zaire. Even though his coaches suggested he be put forward for the draft in 2002, Siohvaughn pleaded with him to wait, she said.
'I'd practically begged him,' she said. 'We had just got married and had a child. I wanted time to settle, to build as a family. I asked him to choose between his family or him and he chose his family.'
The following year, he chose his career. While Siohvaughn said she willed him to do well, she was 'terrified' about how it would affect their marriage, despite her husband's assurances.

Her fears were justified: After the draft in 2003, he signed a three-year $8.5 million contract and he was thrown into the world of celebrity – and his marriage began to crack.

'When [NBA commissioner] David Stern called his name, that changed everything,' she said. 'Our circumstances were so drastically different. We went from living in in this two-bedroom apartment in Marquette to these places overlooking the ocean in Miami. Everybody said yes to us.

'I was seduced, too. I lost sight of some of my values. The further I got into that lifestyle, the further I got away from God. I just woke up sooner than he did.'
Siohvaughn said she saw her husband slipping from her as he revelled in his fame and fortune – staying out all night, surrounding himself with new friends and arguing with her, she said.

'I was very sad because this was not the person I dated,' she said. 'This was my very best friend and I couldn't reach him anymore – without question it was because of the money.
'I think Dwyane had been rejected a lot when he was younger and then suddenly people started cheering and clapping and wanting to be around him. I think he overindulged in that. It was disgusting to me.'
Wade acknowledges that the relationship was falling apart and that he was desperate for it to work and, aware that the birth of their first son had brought them together, thought he had a solution.


He did ask me to have another child,' she said. 'I was very hesitant to do so, not because I didn’t want another child but because there was so much that Dwyane had swept under the rug.
'There were so many things that were so serious, like other women. It's my belief that that was happening. But it was part of the lifestyle – going out late, travelling, being with different people.'
In 2006, she gave birth to their second son, Zion, but the excitement of his birth did little to save the struggling marriage. Wade's anger towards her escalated, she said, at one point she ended up falling onto a marble floor following a heated argument while she was pregnant.

She recounted the alleged incident from 2006, when she was in her first trimester with Zion. When she woke in the middle of the night, she found her husband gone from their home.
'He would say to me: "This is the lifestyle. Look at the house you live in, look at the car you drive",' she said. 'There was no car he could’ve bought me at that point that could have made up for the disrespect. When he came home, I told him as much.

'I remember my back and head hitting the marble floor in the bathroom and furniture breaking into four pieces and shattering by my body.

'I tried to call the police but the violence turned up a notch. I went for the cordless phone; Dwyane came and grabbed it and threw the phone and it literally broke. I knew that telling on him wasn't going to go well.'
Siohvaughn suffered back and neck pain after the incident and complications with her pregnancy – but could not be certain they stemmed from the alleged outburst, she said.
In his book, Wade disputes her claims of physical violence. She never made a complaint to police and charges have never been brought against her ex-husband for assaulting her.

After the alleged incidents, she moved from their home in Miami back to live with her mother in Chicago, she said. She filed for divorce in 2007 and began the long legal battle for her children.
Now Siohvaughn, who is working towards a law degree near her home in Chicago, says she is locked in a new struggle – just trying to see her sons.
She said there has been incident after incident of her ex-husband keeping the children from her – at one point even sending them to Illinois when she was about to fly to Florida to see them in July. As the courts ruled she is only allowed to see them in Florida, she was unable to visit the youngsters even though they were just 25 minutes away from her Chicago home, she said.

Another time, her husband flew the boys to the London Olympics, meaning she did not see them for more than a month. At this point, she has not seen them since July, she said.
The courts have granted her no visits between August and November 8, her attorney added.

Wade signs his new book for crowds at The Grove in Los Angeles, California

'Dwyane was on Oprah [in July] expressing how he gets excited when the children get to see their mom,' she said. 'At that very same time I was fighting to have the time I was given.'

But she claims the court's leniency towards her ex-husband is not extended to her.

Wade recounts the custody battle in his book, which came out this month

.

In June, she was arrested for child abduction after she failed to give the boys over to their father at the end of a visit. In reality, she said, one of Wade's sisters who is not allowed to transport the children arrived at the house to take them – and did not even ring the bell to say she was waiting.
The charges have since been dropped but she still faces charges of resisting arrest 'in a case where she never should have been arrested in the first place', her attorney said.

'I was hours late with one of my visitations, but he was weeks late with his and he didn't even get a punishment,' Siohvaughn said. 'There was no enforcement when it came to Dwyane.'
For his part, Wade argues in his book that he felt it was his ex-wife that was doing her best to disobey court orders, including claims the children were ill or making the boys say things they didn't want to.

Happier times

'Siohvaughn is a most loving, caring mother and the boys love and adore her just as they do me,' he wrote. 'But it had become clear to me... that she was going to disregard orders and throw up every and any excuse to keep me from seeing them.'

Wade, 31, is now dating actress Gabrielle Union, who is almost ten years his senior

One thing they both agree on is that the children should be able to see both of their parents.
'Not seeing their mother could have a very negative effect,' Siohvaughn continued. 'We know what happened to Dwyane without his mom in his life and how he turned to my family.'
But she was happy when he came to her door, she said, and still resents how she lost him to a life of fame and fortune.

She also has the support of her mother, Darlene Funches, pictured with the boys

'The way it broke down was heartbreaking,' Siohvaughn said, her voice cracking. 'It was a mourning to me rather than a divorce. This person I had loved was literally dead. I felt the way a wife feels when her husband dies. That person was literally gone.'

Now she is single, working towards her law degree and receiving minimal spousal support from Wade, which 'isn’t enough to pay my bills', she said. His salary is $17.1 million.
She revealed that, if she had known then what she knows now, she would have asked him to never go for the draft at all.
'I wish he would've stayed,' she said. 'If I had to choose between the money and the love, I would have chosen the love. But I can't choose.'




Source: MailOnline

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'We Were On A Break': Dwyane Wade Had Secret Baby With Mystery Woman Before Proposing To Gabrielle Union

It emerged on Monday that the Miami Heat star recently had a child with an unnamed woman, according to E! News.
The event occurred while the couple were on a break and before the 31-year-old proposed to the Bring It On star on December 21.

Gabrielle was shocked and angry when she learned the truth, a source told E!, and she distanced herself from the basketball player.
But they have since reconciled and his proposal, accompanied by a $1 million 8.5 carat ring, sealed their love.
There has been no comment from either about the child.


The couple began dating in 2009 and, but broke up briefly earlier this year. A source told Gossip Cop that the child - a boy, according to the site - was conceived during that break.

Dwayne with his ex-wife Siovaughn Funche

Dwyane already has two sons, Zaire, 11, and Zion, six, with ex-wife Siovaughn Funches. He has full custody of the boys and also raises his nephew.  Dwayne and Siovaughn divorced in 2010, three years after they split.

Dwyane and Siohvaughn Wade, pictured at her senior prom in 1999, began dating when they were 15. Wade said he now thinks they were 'too young' for such a committed relationship

The settlement was complicated by the fact that Siovaughn filed a $50,000 lawsuit against Gabrielle alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress due to her relationship with her estranged husband.
Dwyane called 2013 a 'big year' for his relationship with Gabrielle during a recent interview with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show.

'She was shooting her show, Being Mary Jane, and gone most of the year. I was dealing with my injuries, trying to win a championship. So we kind of took a step back,' he said.
'At the end of the day, we came back together and said we want to continue this and we want to get better each day.

'She's been with me and I've been with her all summer long. We’re going strong now.'
Being Mary Jane is scheduled to debut on BET in January.
Gabrielle is now filming Finally Famous opposite Rosario Dawson and Chris Rock, who wrote and is directing the comedy.



Source: E!News, Daily Mail

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Daily Inspiration: Entry Way Of Your Home

This is the entry way of our home. What happens inside of these doors is important to me. I guard my home as a wife & a mother.

As God leads me, I make sure that the people that walk through these doors have a heart for Him. I make sure that there's no division & that whoever is within these doors are for my marriage & my family.

I make sure that our friends that walk though these doors know our stance on marriage & family Gods way & I'm not afraid to speak up when I believe our family is being threatened by outside people or things.
And its not insecurity, its protection. Wife: it's important that you pray & know the constant heartbeat of what is going on in your home. Take your families issues to God in prayer on a regular basis. Cry out to God for your husbands sin. Cry out to God for your children's sin. Don't just sit around & leave your doors unlocked as satan tries to have a field day in your life. Lock him out! He wants to destroy your marriage & your family! Fight back! There's a reason why God calls the wife a "keeper of the home." Because you are sensitive & discerning. You know when something isn't right & you are in tune to Christ. Instead of nagging your family, get on your face for them before God. This fight ain't physical, but spiritual. So, are your doors of your home left open or are they guarded from the enemy?

-Heather Lindsey

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Videos Raise More Questions About Missing Michigan Doctor Teleka Patrick

Three weeks ago, Teleka Patrick disappeared.
The 30-year-old doctor in residency failed to show up for work on December 6 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The night before, police 100 miles south in Indiana found her car abandoned but not crashed in a ditch off busy I-94.

Investigators searched but came up empty.
"We looked everywhere," Sgt. Rick Strong of the Indiana State Police told CNN.
Now investigators have more potential evidence, about 20 minutes worth.

Surveillance and home videos uploaded to YouTube provide clues about Patrick's movement in the weeks, days and hours before she vanished.
In a different context, the YouTube videos might be considered sweet or romantic. They feature Patrick talking, cooing and singing to someone unnamed and apparently unknown.

Patrick's mother told CNN she wasn't aware of any romantic relationship her daughter may have had. But the videos have an intimate feel to them.

"Hi, baby," Patrick says in one. "I am just coming to you to say 'hi' and tell you about my day."
In another video, Patrick shows a table set for two with omelets and pancakes.
"If you were here, this is what would be your plate," she coos.

The two videos were posted in early November. It's not completely clear why they only drew attention now.

A third video to surface comes from a local hotel in Kalamazoo. That's where Patrick went on the night of December 5, just hours before police found her car in that ditch.
At a little past 7:30 p.m., Patrick, dressed all in black, showed up at a Radisson hotel not far from the hospital where she worked.


She spent around 10 minutes talking with employees at the reception desk but ultimately left.
There's no audio on the video, and it's not clear why Patrick failed to book a room.

But at 7:48 p.m., she strode across the hotel's tiled floors, out the door and onto a hotel shuttle bus.
Those images provide the last known picture of Patrick.

Dr Patrick is pictured walking up to the Radisson hotel in Kalamazoo after getting a ride there after work

Patrick's disappearance has, from the beginning, drawn shock from many corners.

Dr Patrick was caught on the hotel's surveillance cameras trying and failing to secure the room with cash

Her family says Patrick, who had just moved to Michigan, bought a plane ticket to come visit them for the holidays in Florida.


Her colleagues called her "part of our family of medical professionals."
And CNN's audience posted by the droves on iReport asking for coverage in the hopes that more information and coverage would propel the case forward.

Teleka Patrick at the front desk of the hotel

The young doctor was described in comments as "wonderful," "beautiful" and "talented."
The newly discovered videos add to the swirl of questions surrounding this case.
Investigators have said they have no evidence of foul play, but they also don't have conclusive evidence that Patrick's movements on December 5 were voluntary.

Police brought out dogs to track Patrick's scent. They led investigators the 30 or so feet out of the ditch where Patrick's car rested to the highway. There, the trace went cold.

The last time Dr Patrick is caught on surveillance cameras, she's seen boarding a complimentary hotel shuttle which took her back to the medical center where her car was parked

"We have scoured, searched and looked at everything we could possibly look at -- all the exits, all the businesses, all the hotels," Strong said. "We posted fliers; we talked to neighbors (who live near the highway). We did a full-blown, on-the-ground search in the wooded area north of where the car was."
Carl Clatterback, a private investigator hired by Patrick's family, told CNN that investigators are looking into the videos. A central question: Who is Patrick talking to in the videos and does that person know anything about what happened to her?

Her family is currently offering a $10,000 reward for information on her disappearance, and have hired their own private investigator.
Anyone with information on Dr Patrick's disappearance are being asked to call the Indiana State Police at 219-696-6242 or the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Department at 269-383-8748.





Source: CNN, DailyMail

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Happy New Year's Eve Sweethearts

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As We Prepare To Enter A Brand New Year...

African Sweetheart wishes you all your best week yet!

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Fact Or Fiction? The Mystery Lake In Nigeria

A mystery lake which has appeared in a town in Enugu State in Nigeria has been hailed as a blessing not only by those travelling in from far and wide to use it, but also the local traders and transport who have since benefited financially from it. 

People believe that the water from the lake can cure many sickness and diseases and therefore travel from all over the country to take a dip in the mucky waters.  Since it was discovered on November 11th 2013 it has grown in popularity with people trooping in daily in their hundreds expecting healing from the now named Orimiri Jordan. We would really like to know what you guys make of this... Is such a thing ever possible?

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Fashion We Like! Week Beginning 29th December

Mimi G

Jadore

A Love Affair With Fashion

Awed By Monica

Swish Styles

Ranti-In-Review

Style Fluency

Style Pantry

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Sunday Sermon: I Am What He Says I Am- 7 Things The Bible Says About You

Mark 11:24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

It is so easy to get caught up in the mundane daily activities of life and even easier to get caught up in hard times of life. 

I used to not know how to combat these feelings and it was only when I really started to study and read The Word that I realized, when I am feeling down I need to remind myself and God of who exactly I am in Christ. The Bible is my manual to life, every situation that could possibly be thrown my way is remedied somewhere, some way, in The Bible. These are (just some of the many) promises that our Heavenly Father has made to us:

1- I am strengthened with His strength, not my own Colossians 1:11

2- I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus 2 Corinthians 5:21

3- I am forgiven of all my sins and redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ Ephesians 1:7

4- I am more than a conqueror through God who loves me Romans 8:37

5- I have no lack, all of my needs are met because God supplies them all Philippians 4:19

6- I am free from the law of sin and death Romans 8:2

7- I am the head and not the tail, I am above and not beneath Deuteronomy 28:13

One thing I know about God is that His word is good as gold and anything that He has said and promised, I can count on. When God tells me that I can do ALL things through Him (Phil 4:13), I believe it and receive it because I know that I am reading truth. His word is truth.

When I read these aloud it reminds me that if Christ is for me, who can be against me? His love is unfailing and unending and I am faultless before him. No matter what fiery darts and thwarted my way throughout the day I can find my strength in The Lord because He is over and above anything that I could ever ask for. Through all the mistakes I have ever made in this life, God has seen me through it all and loved me all the same.

The very start of this walk with God found me reminding myself of these promises and saying them aloud until I actually started to believe them and after I started believing in them, I started to receive them in the natural. Standing on the belief that I am what HE says I am has transformed my mind and my life.






Source: Kait Walla (The Praying Woman)

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