We met 10 years ago when Javier came to my church. He was a part of the church my church was planted from. I was not part of that church, so we had never met before, but he knew a lot of the same people I hold extremely dear. He was instrumental to our food pantry. He helped me better communicate with the large Spanish community we served. We worked closely together and hit it off right away. We were only friends back then. Maybe we were supposed to be more, but neither of us saw it or were ready. Fast forward to a funeral service at my church that I was serving at, he attended. We got to talking and I found out he was now a carpenter. My mother had just recently passed, and my father was moving in with me, so I was overwhelmed with the thought of getting things prepared for him. Javier offered his services, and he started working on my house to get an apartment ready for my dad. We first worked on the barn, because I was unaware of his level of phenomenal talent. He was pleasantly surprised at my skill level with carpentry. We worked together fixing my house, and my daughter's camper for a few months before we decided we should give it a go. We both come from hurtful pasts and broken hearts. It was rough in the beginning, but I could see the amazing heart he had for God, even though he was struggling with his faith. We forged ahead anyway and overcame emotional baggage and, only with the help of God, we are here blissfully waiting to share our lives together and shout out from the rooftops that no matter your past, or present, if you look to find Joy in life, and allow God to guide your path, He WILL give you your hearts desires in his timing and in multitudes!