Our story
How we got here
How we met: Jumoke's POV: The Man I Didn't Know Was a Man 😭
I was brand new to MAP and CCI still figuring out the vibes, still learning the ropes, so naturally, what did they do? They assigned me to help plan a whole meeting. A whole one. Was I ready? Absolutely not, Did I accept the assignment with grace and confidence anyway? Obviously. I'm a champ like that. 💅 So there I was, added to a planning group with two other women and someone named "Ovi." And listen I want to be very transparent with you I had zero reason to believe Ovi was anything other than a woman. The name? Could go either way. The energy in the chat? Very neutral. And since we only ever communicated via text and Ovi was never available for a physical meeting, I simply filed him away in my brain under "fellow woman, ally, sister in planning." I was wrong. So very wrong. The truth revealed itself through a voice note. One day, this "fellow woman" sent a voice note to the group and out came… a man'svoice. A full, unmistakably male voice. I stopped. I replayed it. I stared at my phone like it had personally deceived me. Then I did the only reasonable thing I called him out directly on the group chat. Something along the lines of "I am shocked to find out you are a man." No filter, No apology, Just facts. But okay, moving on, Ovi was quiet on the group. Like, suspiciously quiet the kind of quiet that makes you forget someone is even there. We were doing all the planning, all the coordinating, running around trying to gather funds for the programme and things weren't looking too promising financially. So we, the organizers, decided to just put in what little we could and make it work. Then our silent member woke up out of nowhere, this man resurfaced from the depths of his quietness, dropped a glowing commendation for our hard work, and then casually, like it was nothing, donated a significant amount of money that made my jaw relocate temporarily. Sir. It's MAP, a small, intimate gathering. I was not prepared for that level of generosity. I was so taken aback that I reported it straight to the MAP leader, half expecting her to be equally shocked. Instead, she looked at me very calmly and said, "This is how he does." So apparently this was just him, just a regular Tuesday for Ovi, Noted. Then the day of the MAP finally arrived, and I met him in person for the first time. Now, I had built a certain image in my mind based on the quiet-guy-in-the-group-chat energy. I was expecting… I don't know, Just a person, a regular, forgettable person. What I was NOT expecting was a tall, handsome man to appear before me like the universe was trying to make a point. I saw him and I will be honest I was impressed. Visually, Objectively, as a human being with functioning eyes. But, and this is important that alone wasn't enough to make me catch feelings. I want to be very clear about that. I am not so shallow that a handsome face and a generous wallet just sweeps me off my feet immediately. It was a process, a slow, gradual, God-ordained process. And I'm really, truly glad it happened the way it did. Because looking back now, every little moment the voice note shock, the generous surprise, the tall-man-at-the-bottom-of-the-stairs reveal, it was all quietly building something I didn't even see coming. God really said: Trust the process and He wasn't lying.
How we met: Ovi's POV: The Day I Met My Angel in a Black Gown
I didn't know it then, but the day we decided to host the monthly MAP meeting (Meet and Pray Berger chapter) was quietly setting the stage for the rest of my life. It started simply enough, a DM slid into my inbox. A lady named Jumoke was organizing the MAP meeting with two other ladies and wanted me in the planning group. She dropped the WhatsApp link, introduced herself with the kind of warmth that makes you feel like you've known someone for years, and just like that I was in. Now, I thought I was just joining a planning group. What I didn't expect was to be completely floored by this woman's writing. Her eloquence? Immaculate, Her words on that screen flowed with a precision and grace that made me stop mid-scroll more than once, I'm not easily impressed, but she had me quietly impressed. Then came the day of the meeting we agreed to arrive an hour before everyone else. I was there, composed, unbothered or so I thought. Then she appeared at the top of the stairs. She began to descend, draped in a black gown, and I kid you not time slowed down. My brain short-circuited, my heart filed a formal complaint, I looked at this woman and somewhere deep in my chest, a quiet but certain voice said "That is your wife." Just like that, No negotiation, No debate, Case closed. I managed to keep it together throughout the programme you know, being responsible and present but let's be honest, I was doing a lot of very subtle admiring from across the room, very subtle, completely professional, Mostly. After the event wrapped up, I did what any smart man would do, I took the organizers out on a group date. Jumoke included, of course. We ate good food, shared great conversations, and talked about life in the way that only happens when the right people are in the room. No pretense, no performancejust real, genuine connection. By the end of that evening, I had all the clues I needed about the kind of woman she was. And from that point on, we just kept getting closer. The rest, as they say is history.😊