We’re getting married!

Juan was looking for a room to rent & scavenging the online ads. He saw one that had a picture with a cross in it & felt hopeful. When he went to meet the landlord they connected well, over their Christian faith, shared life verse (Matt 19:26), & both had been a part of Celebrate Recovery, but had never met! I guess we all know by now, the landlord was Shalene! When Juan moved in, Shalene was going through a lot. Her brother Chris had just been diagnosed with Aplastic anemia and the prognosis was not good. Shalene ended up being his bone marrow donor, which did end up saving his life; however, this was a very emotional time for her & her family. Juan was very supportive of her from the very beginning. He moved in the day after Thanksgiving, 2019. He found himself wanting to talk to her, get to know her & be around her more often. So he asked her out on a date for New Year’s Eve. She said yes. January 23, 2020 was their first kiss & they continued going on dates. By the first week of March, she was going to meet his daughter Kanisha for her birthday & the very next day the entire country shut down for the pandemic. So now they were isolated together at a time when the whole world was in chaos from COVID-19. They experienced the grief of the pandemic together & during this time Kanisha was coming over often for weekend visits. So they all grew close & connected in a short period of time. By July 2020 Shalene decided to foster 2 children; & Juan was on board with helping. So together, they fostered 2 emotionally broken children that had been living in subpar conditions. That was a challenge to say the least. By this time, it had been a few months since Shalene had given bone marrow to her brother; it was still a rocky situation with him, but he seemed to be getting healthier & stronger day by day. At the time, Juan was working at Frito-Lay delivering chips; and Shalene‘s job had been cut out because of the pandemic. So he used his Nobhill connections & got her a job in the Salinas Nobhill, working in the ecart department. After a couple months, one day, she was not feeling well & ended up blacking out at work. They called Juan to come get her & an ambulance was called. This led to a hospitalization & her being diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder. This was on December 26, 2020. They had had a wonderful Christmas together & now things were not looking so good. Shalene went to the hospital, unable to move & completely unable to speak or communicate. The next two years were very challenging. Shalene required total care. Juan stepped up to the challenge & took care of all her needs. It was a big learning curve for both of them & Shalene continued to struggle with her new diagnosis. Within the first week of being home from the hospital, Shalene‘s dog Diesel passed away. That was an extremely hard process for her & even for Juan & Kanisha. Juan & his daughter were a part of the process every step of the way with her. Also, within that week, Juan’s car broke down & was not drivable. With no funds to get it fixed, Shalene decided to let Juan use her car full-time. After all, she couldn’t drive with her new health struggles. They continued to struggle, they had ups & downs, it was not easy for either of them, but they didn’t give up on each other. Even after she slowly started to get better, they continued to struggle. Thankfully, they had Celebrate Recovery to work on any anger or resentments that had bubbled up for them. Putting their full trust in the Lord Jesus, & really focusing on their own individual recovery allowed them to let go of the struggles from their past together & instead focus on the love they had between them. By 2023 things were looking really good for them. Juan knew he wanted to marry her, & started thinking of popping the question. He asked her to marry him on March 10, 2024. And now we will be celebrating their love for each other December 7, 2024!