So, our story ended with us recognizing God's hand in the midst of our trial.
What seemed to be something to divide our friendship, the Lord called us closer to Him and than closer to one another. We became official about a week before our birthdays, which are only 4 days apart! Prior to our "issue" I had been planning something fun to do for Carlos's birthday, but felt disappointed at the thought that I wouldn't get to treat him to a nice birthday. Turns out, I was wrong and we had WONDERFUL birthdays!
His came first and I took him to breakfast at this house-turned-restaurant we'd seen a dozen times. It's called "The Cottage Cafe". It was a cute place and we had great food! We than decided to let our food settle and we just watched an old black and white movie at my house before heading out and grabbing a Hot Apple Cider from the infamous Greenbluff Orchards! I took Carlos to the Garland Theatre where they have $3 movies and we watched "Wall-E" which was a cute, animated show about a computer. It was pretty cute!
Carlos had always wanted to learn how to make lasagna, so I had bought everything needed to assemble a fabulous homemade lasagna the day before this, so we went back to my house again and thus, the cooking lesson began. And not to toot my own horn, but "BEEP" "BEEP"......my....OUR lasagna turned out SO GOOD! The best I.......WE had ever made, let alone, had for a long time.
Final stop.....I took him into Coeur D'Alene and we went to a place called The Wine Cellar. Little did he know, his best friend and his wife (Jason and Hannah) would be there waiting for us. We all shared some laughs and dessert and listened to some live music.
Needless to say, I went all out for his birthday and we had a GREAT time. He said it was the best birthday he had ever had. We had been joking all along about how he would "out-do" me for my birthday, but after this day, he had his doubts. =)
My birthday fell on a Wednesday, so Carlos told me that he'd do a little something for me on my actual day, but the real deal would be on Saturday. So, Wednesday rolls around and I get home and I'm waiting for him to come pick me up. I'm sitting at my computer in my front office and I hear him come in the front door. But what a racket he was making! I thought he had some plastic bags in his hand or something, I only heard the noise, but didn't see him.
I come out of my office to see him with a dozen roses in his hand and the biggest Birthday balloon I think I've ever seen! I was laughing so hard! He then took me out to a place that we had never been before called the Steamplant Grill in Downtown Spokane. We had a great dinner there and shared a dessert. Let's not fail to mention that this is the first time he told me that he loved me!! It was very sweet and a wonderful birthday. Carlos seemed worried that this still hadn't been enough and assured me that Saturday was the big day! I would have been content with this, but part of me wanted to see what he was made of, so I was anxious for Saturday. So were all my co-workers. They heard me talking about his surprise but wanted to know so bad what it was!
Saturday rolls around and Carlos took me to breakfast at The Old European. We than did one of my favorite activities and just strolled around the Dollar Store. Carlos wasn't feeling so great, so I told him to amend his plans and not push himself. He wanted to do more and keep going with Plan A, but we opted to rest for awhile and proceed with the rest of his ideas in the afternoon.
Afternoon rolls in and he takes me to the well known and classy Clinkerdaggers! I had the most amazing Crab Sandwich. It was SO rich and delicious! He then takes me to Coeur D'Alene and I have no idea what we're doing next..........
We are now standing in line by the docks and the waterfront. Before too long, we are boarding a Riverboat and going on what I thought was just a cruise along Lake Couer D'Alene to see some Christmas Lights as I had heard they had a great display. And they did and I saw what I thought was all we were set out to observe.
The boat continued out into the dark and I was thinking that this cruise was becoming a little weird. Especially when we stop and I can vaguely see houses with their lights off on the shore in front of us.
All of a sudden all these lights flash on and right before my eyes is The North Pole!!! It had lights for the 12 Days of Christmas and than more lights come on and it's Santa and Mrs. Clause and they are live characters who are shouting out their list of the Naughty and Nice and asking everyone what they want for Christmas. It was pretty amazing.
This birthday marked a wonderful beginning of many memories like these that we've continued to share and hope to have thousands more like it!
