Marriage

I am really nervous as I write this blog. Today I will ask Cris Ann’s father for her hand in marriage. Traditionally, our families would gather together for a dinner that would end with the man asking for the blessing of the father. Since I do not have my family here to join, I will bring my Filipino family with me. Cris Ann will cook the dinner, which she is getting ready to do and I will try really hard not to throw up while waiting to talk with her dad. Her family is big and there are several uncles who will be there as well. They are all tough fishermen and tree climbers but they are friendly and we have had some time in the last couple weeks to build a bound. I walked Cris Ann home every day before dark, which is about two miles, have dinner, see her family and walk home. They appreciated the care and even though we can’t talk, actions spoke louder than words; in this case they had to.

We will not have a wedding ceremony, which is kinda sad, but it is common here to get married civilly because most people here do not have the money for a wedding ceremony. I am praying that we can have a ceremony later with my family and her's but this is no easy task. Cris Ann, as any other women, wants to walk down the aisle in white and it is my heart’s desire for her father to get to see this as well. But we are very far from my family and there is no financial support for a wedding. Cris Ann understands the situation however and our thankfulness to the Lord for each other is unaffected.

So, God willing, I will we will be married in two, maybe three weeks! I am so nervous :D and excited because once we have her father’s blessing, it is only a matter of being recognized legally. But for me, tonight is the night that our union is completed in the sight of God, when Cris Ann’s father gives his first born daughter to me forever. The legal part is only a matter of paper work, tonight I will receive my wife.