I Do

So, I'm back.  Rosie sent me a friendly reminder that I hadn't blogged in, well, a long time.  So here I am.  I've been thinking about blogging, really, I have been.  Every time I sit down to the computer though, I have nowhere to begin.  So, I guess I'll start with the basics.  I'm married.  Yep, that's right, married!  Wasn't our wedding scheduled for next April 23rd, you might ask?  Why yes, and it still is.  Weren't you going to be married in the US, you're probably wondering?  Yes, we were, but we didn't.  I'll fill you in.

Pablo and I had been trying for months to figure out the best, safest, and quickest way for us to be together, living in the same place.  Which is made oh-so-easy by our government and their immigration laws (please, don't get me started).  We initially decided to take our chances and place our bets on the fiance visa , plan an April wedding, and keep our fingers crossed that he was here in time (sounds a bit like Vegas right?  Feels about the same too, I would venture...).

One Monday morning in May my mom called me to share a conversation she'd had with some friends of hers, friends who have direct experience in the immigration department.  It was their recommendation that we marry in Mexico, that the spouse visa is less of a chance to take.  My mom stated her case and threw the option out to me, knowing I had a trip planned for Mexico in less than 2 weeks.  I chewed it over and talked to my lovely fiance.  By Monday night we were in full plan mode, with me ring shopping with my best bud.  Could this actually work?  We had less than 2 weeks to get everything together. 

It happened to work out that my parents were leaving the very next day to Texas to move me back to Nebraska.  About halfway through Kansas (them, not me) I get a phone call from my mom.  They couldn't miss our wedding, and were coming to Mexico as well!  It was the best surprise.  By the time my parents got to my house (with a fun detour for mom's birthday surprise in Dallas) we had changed my ticket to leave from Texas, booked them tickets for the week, and bought wedding bands.

This was a risk we were taking.  After researching how to get married in Mexico, to a Mexican citizen, we knew the chances might not be good of us actually getting to marry due to immigration requirements and me needing government permission to marry.  But we kept working ahead.  We realized after my parents left that they would need their passports and my birth certificate with a fancy-schmancy apostille on it for international certification.  God works in mysterious ways, I know, because it just so happened that both my BC and my parents passports were sitting in a neat pile, in their NE apartment, on the table, right smack underneath the baby Jesus of my mom's year-long nativity set.  She had just found them a few weeks prior and set them out until she could put them properly away.  So, my great big brother and my sweet niece puppy set out to save the day, pick up the documents, drive to the state capital, get the apostille (which is literally one piece of paper STAPLED to the certificate...), and overnight the documents to TX (thanks Joe!). 

So in the span of four days, we had planned most of a wedding, gotten all documents together, planned international travel, gotten the most important rings and wedding outfit (the fun, white dress is for April), and on top of ALL of this, MOVED me and ALL of my things out of my apartment and into my tiny car and the back of my dad's pickup.  We drove to Houston to leave the truck with family and headed off to Mexico for the maybe-wedding.

Once we get to Mexico, the first thing we had to do was try to get this wedding legalized and moving.  That meant I had to stand in line and wait in downtown Mexico City for two days.  Luckily I had a letter saying that I was a students (thank goodness!) and a nice judge who told me the second day that he would get me the permission by the end of that day, but I had to wait for it.  So we waited, and waited, and waited.  But he was true to his word and gave me the permission I needed.  The next day it was off to the courthouse to schedule the judge and marriage ceremony.  He just so happened to have a travel opening for that Saturday at 2:30 where he could come to us.  Of course we said yes!

So on Saturday, June 5, 2010, at 2:30pm, we gathered with friends and family and a kind judge in the beautiful garden of a friend's house (thanks Ariel!!) and said I Do!  What wonderful words to speak and hear!  It was a beautiful day, with a few sprinkles for good luck, a lot of music and fun!  We were so blessed that everything worked out for us to celebrate the day with our families and move forward with our plans, and we can't wait to share another special day with our loved ones next April.