God, My Savior Forever: Love

My sweet friend Sandy shared a post about how her and her husband met and in honor of Valentine's Day I wanted to share how my husband and I met.

It all started one Wednesday evening on Feb. 2004 when I got home from church and started working on my Nutrition homework. I was living with my parents at the time in Orlando, Florida and was really focused on finishing up my required classes to get into the nursing program. Before I continue though I must share that a few months back I wanted to find pen pals since I love to write and learn about other culture. Well, the first website that popped up was Loveandseek.com a website for Christian singles. Little did I know that minutes after navigating through this foreign site..I would have a full profile picture and all. Not what I had in mind at all. God was definitely up to something. After about a few months of pretty much meeting people and going absolutely nowhere, I was determined to cancel my subscription and using the money wiser. But every time I tried something came up. Which brings us back to that famous Wednesday:D

As I tried to do homework..two different guys messaged me...I needed a break so decided to respond. Oh boy...that was quite an experience...one was all into his hair..I mean not one sentence from him without the phrase "my hair" lol...yes girls...there are guys very into themselves lol. The other guy was what you would call a gangsta...the type of of guy I had had grown out of. Hat to the side, pants held up with a belt and the language...ooooh boy the language lol. HUGE turnoff. I was beginning to think that maybe I logged into the wrong site. Right before I logged off though...this I noticed I got another message and said "now what?" As I look up at the screen, I see the sweetest smile I've ever seen in my entire life...it was captivating. He said a simple "hello" and that was enough for me. Not hair convos, no baggy pants lol...boy was I relieved. To make a long story short...we talked online for 2 hrs about everything. We shared our testimonies and quickly realized that we were both coming from he same path and were truly ready to do things right and to finally find "the one". We wanted something real! We felt very comfortable with each other very quickly and even gave each other pet names...Lollipop (he dedicated the 50's lollipop song to me so that was to be my nickname..he would sing this song to me all the time.) I nicknamed him Mr. Bubble Gum and he loved it. From there are we talked almost every day online until we moved on to phone calls. We maintained a strong long distance friendship. He was stationed in TN and I was living in FL. I can honestly tell you though that aside from his sweet smile...what truly got my heart was that he was in the military and was a strong Christian! I loved hearing about his awesome relationship with the Lord! It was very refreshing and it's what I was looking for in that special guy!
We remained friends for 4 months and finally met in person in May 2004...we've been inseparable since then:D

We laugh every time we share our love story because we never know what kind of reaction we're going to get since some people are either old-school or are afraid/hesitant with the whole meeting online thing. BUT this goes to show that God does work in mysterious ways and wanted it to happen this way! Funny is I say that God has a sense of humor cause my husband's from San Diego and I was raised in Orlando....completely opposites on the map..you can actually draw a straight line across..nothing is impossible for our Lord! He is the one I longed to meet for so long..that faceless shadow I saw in my mind as I envisioned my wedding day. This love story has in existence for 5 yrs and 3 months and it's been an amazing journey. Manuel changed my life the day we met online. I can't remember my life before him and don't want to...he makes me laugh every day! It hasn't always been easy but the Lord's hand has been upon us guiding our every step. Together we've accomplished our dreams, our goals, experienced many firsts, battled many trials, enjoyed our many blessings and most important..have grown closer to the Lord! And now....we are about to embark in a whole new journey...the amazing journey of parenting which we are so excited and eager to begin! I pray we remain together until the Lord calls us home. We hope to go home together and walk through the gates of Heaven holding each other's hand!