Cinco De Mayo!!!!

We have always thought this day was special...at least for the last 8 years. It really has nothing to do with the Mexican holiday. It is the anniversary in which Marvin asked me to be his wife...officially, with the ring. Granted, we were already planning the wedding we knew would take place, but he was too poor to buy a real engagement ring. On Cinco de Mayo, we had been ring shopping and found the perfect rings for both of us. Mine had hearts engraved and his had a cross. We thought that to be perfect as our marriage was to be a symbol of Christ's love for us. It would be perfect to remind ourselves of that each time we saw the rings. Mine was a set of engagement ring and wedding ring. Even better! The catch, he would not just let me have it, he wanted to do it right, to give me a story. I told him that would be perfect, but he better do it fast, I really wanted that ring on my finger!!!! He took me out to dinner at a Mexican place we went to quite often(it WAS Cinco de Mayo after all!) and then he put a blindfold on me! He led me out to the car, and proceeded to drive like a wild man, purposely so that I had NO idea where we were at or where we were going. Suddenly the car stopped and he came around, opened my door and continued to lead me for quite a ways. When we stopped, he took the blindfold off to reveal we were standing on the Lion's bridge, overlooking the beautiful sunset. I do not have the time to go into the details as to why, but that bridge was a very special place with many good memories for both of us. He got down on his knee and told me that he wanted to honor God in every aspect of our lives and how He wanted His love to be the center of our marriage and family. Then he asked me to marry him. I tried not to giggle, since I had already planned half of our wedding, and looked out over the water to the sun as it was just going down. I answered with an emphatic YES! I asked him last night, on our way t our CRAZY celebration, with 5 children, would he ask that question again, knowing everything he knows now. His answer was,"Most definitely!". I'm glad, because my answer would still be an emphatic YES!!!!

In honor of our celebration, we decided that the Swine Flu was not enough of a threat, we should go look at it smack in the eyes! No, really, I hadn't even thought about it until we got there and the Mexican papers in the restaurant had it plastered all over. We almost turned around and walked out, but after a quick survey, we didn't see anyone sick. That would prove to be a bad choice! We waited FOREVER! They seated family after family and we were still waiting. We finally said, we gotta go, Taco Bell is Mexican too! As we were getting our stuff together(as in 5 screaming, hungry children), the hostess came and said they had a booth ready if we wanted to squeeze. we thought since we were already there, we might as well get good, real food. The problem is that there were 7 of us literally squeezed into this tiny booth, meant for 4! But it smelled so good! We ordered and tried to get settled, which proved nearly impossible! We had to look at each other and laugh, so far from where we were 8 years ago! Miraculously, 2 big tables opened up at the same time. We asked our waiter if it would be okay to move and he said yes. Just as we were taking the first load, the hostess came in and said someone was waiting for that table. They had 6 in their party. Marvin said, we have 7. The lady was not going to let us move and another family got up and said they were leaving, that party could have their table. We piled from our booth and the people behind us were laughing. She said, "How did you all fit? You just keep coming and coming, it is like clowns in a clown car!" I had to laugh, I'm sure that is exactly what it looked like! We stretched out at our new table and waited for our food. Then we waited, and waited, and waited some more. It was dinner time when we got there, by the time our food finally came, it was bedtime! It was delicious, but the screaming kind of took away from relishing the moment! We ate pretty quickly and asked for our check...3 different times!!! Sarah through THE biggest public fit ever when Marvin took the boys to the bathroom and she couldn't go. Thankfully, the people inside the restaurant were very nice about it! It was the first time EVER that I have left somewhere without leaving a tip! Once we got everyone back into the car, we looked at each other and I asked once more, "If you knew then what you know now, would you have still have asked me to marry you?" I am so glad that he didn't even hesitate before answering, "Of course!!!!" My answer would have been the same...although I'm kinda glad He kept nights like last night to Himself then, I would've been REALLY scared!

This whole crazy adventure started just 8 years ago yesterday...kinda hard to believe so much has happened in such a short time. Five kids, and a whole lot of lessons learned later, I would do it all again in a heartbeat! Thank you, Lord for giving me such a wonderful man to share my life with! I pray that He is glorified each and every day that we live!