It's all happening!

Highlight the link, click right, and select "Go To" https://youtu.be/uuZE_IRwLNI

In many ways, we have always been in each others lives. We met when we were 14 and by the time we get married we will be 40. Thats 26 years! We both attended Garland High School and by chance shared a Study Skills class together. Raul came rushing in late just as the bell was ringing. As he walked into the room, I turned to the girl next to me and announced, "I'm going to change his life!" --- yea... I had no idea what I was talking about. Our first date was to see Toy Story (the first one... yea... we are old!) our second was to see Titanic. We were just two kids that thought we knew everything about life. We grew up together, made mistakes, and went through our wild years. Life somehow always brought us back together and through our toughest moments, whether it was hard decisions or even deaths in our families— we somehow always found our way back to each other. Now we half-way believe we are adults! In midst of all the years, we adopted our greatest joy, our pitbull, Bailey! She has quite the personality which is 1/2 Raul and 1/2 mine. She shares our love and reminds us everyday that we are the luckiest. In addition, we share one mutual God son and two other God children that we love more than words could express. Honestly, we are best friends. There is no one else we would rather walk alongside this journey. When we are gray and old, we still want to hold each others hands.

We met when we were just 14 years old! I worked at an eye doctors office part-time and he worked at Subway. To say we were broke was an understatement. One particular Sunday, we had $6 between the both of us. That was not going to stop us from having a great time! We ended up going on a date to the dollar movies (pretty sure we saw two movies). We bought one soda and one popcorn (when prices were good), then we went to Jack in the Box (shout out!) for their 2 for $1 tacos. The whole day for $6!!! After that, we had $6 Sundays all the time— going to free museums or whatever free entertainment we could find. I thank you Jack in the Box! You were a huge part of our journey ( I should totally get a plug for this!). We were together when we didn’t have a cent to our names and we grew into adults with real jobs today. If we lost it all tomorrow, we could somehow always make it through —- as long as we have each other. Looking back, those were some of the best days of our lives.

For the first time in our lives, Raul and I found ourselves in the E.R. due to a sudden pain I felt in the middle of the night. A few hours later, I was getting emergency surgery. I remember waking up and being terrified. I did not want Raul to leave my side and he did not want to leave mine either. We asked for another bed to be brought in so he could stay with me. Through our time together, there were many other moments where we always felt we were meant to be but this particular one, of almost losing one another woke us into a new reality. The level of concern in his eyes was clear and although we had spoken of getting married in the past, it was never a "we must do this." In fact, I held out for a long time. This though... was uncharted territory. I knew that if I ever left earth suddenly or if life left me with nothing, I would not want anyone else by my side. As long as Raul was there, everything would be ok. That week, Raul asked my dad for my hand in marriage. They planned and decided that he would propose the following Sunday, May 13th under a guise of a Mother's Day Dinner. My mom, dad, brother, and grandmother were all present. Everyone knew except for myself and my grandmother. It was a really special moment for all of us. Raul was mid proposal while my grandmother who had not looked up was talking and talking and then we all burst into tears. She of course asked who knew and when everyone said they did...she promptly asked why no one had told her.. their response... Because you would tell her! LOL! I love that Raul involved my entire family and that he respected the wishes of my parents to not let my gramma in on the secret. Not because she would tell me but because they wanted it to be a special moment for her as well!

We are excited to share our big day with you! Please know that your attendance means the world to us. We just want to share this moment with a few people that we care about and would like to celebrate our next big chapter! The wedding will be held at The Castle in Rockwall. Additional information to follow.