4 years ago...

Four years ago today I was teaching an ESL class of Somalis in Arlington on Collins Street. This guy who I worked with at Catholic Charities had been volunteering to help me in my ESL classes some after he had worked a full day. I was oblivious to the fact that volunteering in an ESL class after having already worked 8 hours that day with refugees was probably a sign that this guy had some interest in me. Until....he started emaling me pretty regularly - like, every morning before work and sometimes in the evening, responding to whatever I had replied to him, or inviting me to play tennis with him, or inviting me to hang out at the house where he lived with 7-8 other guys who were a part of a discipleship program at his church. And then, he invited me to meet him at Starbucks on Hulen in Fort Worth. Originally, we were supposed to meet later that weekend because his brother was moving to Arlington that particular October 13th. However, his brother was gonna be late getting in, so he asked if I wanted to bump up the coffee date a couple of days. YES! I did! I was fascinated by this guy. I hadn't really figured him out to this point (and even 4 years later, I'm not sure that I have either!) but I was interested in learning more about him.

That October evening he invited me to dive deep into the mystery of knowing him. He asked me to be his girlfriend! And, I said yes...and the rest was history!

3 months and 3 weeks later, he asked me to be his wife...

Almost 5 months later, we stood at the altar and promised our lives to each other...

Now, 4 years later, we have an 11 month old and I'm 7 months pregnant with our 2nd child, another son.

Tonight we returned to that same Starbucks and enjoyed another coffee together. Daniel worte me a note 4 years ago asking me to be his girlfriend. Tonight I got a note again, an on it were his thoughts of the past 4 years, his wonder at the Lord's works in us these past four years.

How could we have ever known 4 years ago all that would be in store for us at this point? We couldn't. But, the Lord has filled our lives, our marriage, with many, many blessings. And, today we celebrate that great day when He began this story - the story of the Audis!