"I love my wife! I love my wife! I love my wife! I love my wife! I love my wife! I love my wife!..."

I think you get the picture! I sat down to write my first blog in what seems to be about a year and a half and so I asked Ang what I should write about. The above was her response and because it's true, I decided it was a good place to start.

     You are getting this email because at one point in time you were following my old blogs at bennyv.theworldrace.org. If you were following the whirlwind romance that God used to bring the two of us together, you'll know that we kind of abruptly fell off the face of the blogosphere. After a year and a half of pursuit, marriage and upcoming parenthood, we figured it was time to catch you up on our journey!

         It's crazy and entertaining for Ang and I to think back on how quickly God put us together. I knew I was going to marry her with less than an hour of real time together in life. She knew within the first 3 days of hanging out. We were engaged within the first month. We would have been married within 3 months had God and our government allowed Angie to get into the country sooner! 

         The craziest thing about the whole situation was how the world stopped around us and we were in 

a dimension where there was no rush and no time. Our hearts were at leisure and our minds at rest. We understand how the outside world probably looked at our relationship and wondered if we were taking things too fast or committing too quickly to each other. However, if anything, we felt like kids trying to keep up to their Father's pace. 

          Then the distance began. My life consisted of working, working out and then getting on skype for hours into the middle of the night to work through life with Ang on the other side of the screen which felt like the other side of the world. We probably averaged 4 hours of skype time a day for about 8 months as we plodded our way through government red tape and hoops. There were a lot of times when our fairy tale story didn't feel so much like a fairy tale. However, this season was instrumental for us to actually get to know each other and learn how to verbally communicate through obstacles. In some ways it was a brutal season and in others, the most beautiful of seasons. Either way, we're glad that we walked through it and we're glad we don't have to again :)

-b

Part 2: coming soon