Ready for War or a date with mommy, hmmmm!

I have been waiting for this moment to take my little man out on a date. I think he understood what we were doing. You can be the judge of that.
Last night I was explaining to him that tomorrow we were going on a date. I asked him "Do you want to go on a date with mommy?" His response: Ummmmmm, Mommy I will fall down and get a stomach ache." I am thinking what is he talking about. So I explained again and then he says" Mommy I don't want to go on a GATE I will fall down and get a stomache." So I knew from previous experience that semantics is not an argument you will win with a toddler.
So this morning he woke up excited and ran to my room and said "Mommy let's go on our date". Ahhhh, so it is true we do learn in our sleep. 5p.m. comes around and Ethan says to me in a serious voice and face "Mommy it's time to go on our date". So off we went to get ready.
Ethan comes out in his battle field clothes. Ben and most of you guys will probably find this to be hilarious because I am sure many times you wish you had a shield, sword and helmet for some of your dates. He apparently didn't think this was going to be such a great date. He's ready for war!
Well, our date included Barney, everyones favorite (sarcasm)Teletubbies, Bob the Builder and Chucky Cheese. We started off the evening at Chucky Cheese and then we ate dinner and then we ended at the movies. We saw Horton Hears a Who. He was soooo sweet in the movies holding my hand and kissing it. Sweet Boy!(I do need to explain he can only do that to his mommy on a date)(Because of course my boy is going to hold hands and have his first kiss at the altar with his bride) Pinch me!

At the end of our date I asked him if he had fun. He said with a big smile on his face "let's do it again, mommy!" It was truly a special time.

Interview with Aiden

Our morning ritual usually consist of deep talks concerning our society, theology, politics etc.. (grin)
Here is Aiden sharing his thoughts. He's very animated and emotional as he shares!

Delightfully Surprised!

I was soooo proud of Ben for planning waaaay in advance something special for Mothers day and for our anniversary.
We had a missions conference to attend in Minneapolis on Mothers day and our anniversary weekend so I wasn't too excited about that. Thankfully, Ben had something up his sleeve. Shortly after we arrived into Minneapolis he told me I needed to put on some dancing shoes and wear something nice. Hmmmmm, I wondered. Whatever this is if it involves getting dressed up and dancing I am going to love it. Well, we arrived at this elegant restaraunt in upscale downtown Minneapolis. It was the perfect ambience of elegance and coolness. We sat down and had dinner and then a Latin/Brazilian band opened up the show. There was salsa lessons and then dancing to take your breath away. It was Fabulous!

Well, little did Ben know that I had something also. So half way through our meal I get on one knee and propose to him. He "lost" his wedding band about a month ago. We think Ethan flushed it down the toilet. So my surprise was to get another ordered and then propose. It was fun and we both laughed.

My Mothers day surprise was that he planned with the husbands of two of my good friends to get us all a pedicure so that we could enjoy it together. Another fabulous idea.

What impressed me the most of both of these gifts is the time and effort it took for him to think of something that I love and then put it together! Ahhhh, what a great husband God has blessed me with.
Minneapolis is not just the home of Mall of America but of 10,000 lakes. Here we are out on the dock of one of the 10,000 lakes!

Mother's day outing spent in the Car!

I really had gone out of the way to set up something for my mother for Mothers day this year because this would be the last time in awhile we would be near her around this time of the year.
My plans were time sensitive but if you know anything about Hispanics we are not time driven so we didn't get out of the house until 9:00a.m. when we should of left at 7:30a.m. My plan was to have breakfast at a nice little cafe near Bayou City and then take her on a scenic nature boat ride. Well, our leaving the house late changed my plans a bit. To make a long story short I got lost I was on the wrong side of the river and it took 40min to figure out how to get on the right side. When we finally did there were 18 people ahead of us waiting for the boat ride. Due to our time constraints we headed home. Then it took me another 25min to figure out how to get back home. Fortunately, we were able to eat brunch in a nice little cafe though. I felt so bad that my mom spent most of her mothers day outing in the car. She was a good sport.

At Last My Love Has Come Along

We had an outdoor wedding at a historical southern plantation home. It was a sweet mix of my Mexican culture and Ben's southern heritage. We laughed, we cried, we danced and we ate! Now that's a wedding! We had a live band playing outside and later we had a dj playing inside the house and we danced the night away. We had an authentic Mexican sit down dinner and inside their were southern sweets compliments of Ben's grandmother.
My good friend sang this song for us At Last by Etta James. It's our song! We could not have pulled this day off with out the help of our families, friends and God's provision. Five years later were still very thankful for you all.

Celebrating 5 years of God's Goodness!

In college I was one of those girls who had lots of guy friends and was happy with that. I was really fine being single. It took 2yrs before my heart starting pounding and my tummy got butterflies at the thought of him sitting near me. For Ben it was totally different it was love at first sight. He got dizzy the first time he saw me and there was an inner voice telling him "she's the one".
Our friendship all changed one beautiful Fall evening when he took me out on the river in his kayak. (at this point were just friends) So this was no big deal were just two friends hanging out. Ben had this nervous, weird look and a couple of times he began to tell me something and then he would stop. Well finally he said in his nervous voice. "Mari I wanted to know if we could date?" I was shocked! I was silent! I was silent for a long time. I couldn't believe it and then I said "Ben, I don't know I really need to think about this." So 2 months later I realized that I did like him so I said "Okay".
His perseverance, strength, faith and patience for 2yrs as he waited patiently for me to come around really got me. He didn't rush and try to conquer me he just waited and was himself until I realized that he was exactly what I wanted and what I needed. Unfortunately, for him I wasn't an easy catch. Once we began dating I pretty much broke up with him every month(I had issues). Each time he gently and rationally helped me see that I was acting on my fears. This really helped our marriage because we had already gone through so much communicating and talking through things.
Well two years later we both agreed that we needed to break up and think about whether this was going to work. So we took a hiatus and prayed and sought the Lord for guidance. A month later he picked me up at the airport. Were still broken up and have spoken to each other in a month. I am nervously looking for him in the airport. I finally spotted him and we began to walk towards each other. The butterflies begin and the heart is racing. We finally get close enough to talk. I said "hi" and he doesn't say anything he bends down and kisses me. I thought wow! that was brave as far as he knew the Lord could of been telling me to end it. Well the Lord did the exact opposite. In my prayer and fasting time he shared with me that I was not alone in this, that He would be my strength, that I just needed to trust Him. And the end of my prayer time I was shouting "I LOVE BEN! Eureka! He is the one! Ben's time with the Lord was similar but different. So we both knew and it was confirmed by the Lord! Two months later we were engaged (which I actually thought he was breaking up with me when he took me out by the lake to propose because he looked so serious and worried)and two months later we were married.
Now 5 years later we are blessed. My heart is amazed at how the Lord prepared us for each other. He was preparing Ben for me and me for Ben years before I even knew him. He is everything I wanted in a guy from character to the physical aspect! Ben was my first boyfriend and the last! This is our story in brief.