This Sunday will mark six weeks! It has really gone by quickly. I’m sorry for the lack of updates. Rafa has been so busy finishing up school stuff. His last day is next week. I am so proud of him and I can’t wait to see him cross the stage in his cap and gown in June 🙂
As he’s been wrapping up his journey of higher education, we have been embarking on a journey into joint finances. It has been much more pleasant than his homework, trust me. All of my name stuff has come in. I am officially Sarah Soriano. We took my new social security card to the bank to combine our accounts and begin our financial adventure.
There was never a question about if we would combine our finances or not. The “yours, mine and ours” option was never on the table for us. When we got married, we did so under the promise of God in Mark 10:6-9:
“But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female.For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

We firmly believe that we are not two people anymore, but that we have become one flesh. And since we are one flesh, why would we need separate accounts? Some additional benefits are that we can practice unity in our decisions. We can hold each other accountable to our financial goals. We can pray together about our stewardship. And we can keep the possibility of secrecy in our marriage out of the question.
It is a small sacrifice to die to myself in this area. Yes, I do make money, but I trust my husband to manage it with integrity, just as I trust him to be the head of our home. This does not mean that I can mentally check out and leave all the business to him. I can be an active help in our financial process and make sure that I am doing everything I can to help us meet our goals of clearing our debts and becoming homeowners.
So far, we’ve been having weekly date night and separate Finance Time!, which is always said with the exclamation for emphasis on the fun that comes with it. It is a learning process right now, but it will result in a stronger marriage.

We celebrated two weeks of being married along with Valentine’s Day yesterday! These last two weeks have been wonderful. We have been enjoying each other. We have also been learning a lot about what it’s like to live with each other.

For example, last Tuesday I was really tired. The previous night was the first night Oreo (Rafa’s cat) and Hawk (my dog) tried to regain their spots in bed with their respective masters. A 20 pound cat and a 14 pound dog, two newlyweds, and noisy neighbors meant restless sleep for me. So, when the alarm went off of Tuesday morning, I hit the snooze to catch a few more minutes of sleep. Then I hit it again.

And again.

And one more time, just to be sure.

Unsurprisingly, this lead to both of us getting out of bed quite a bit later than we needed to. We managed to get to work on time, but not without a lot of rushing (including sprinting to the bus stop).

I learned a lot that morning. First lesson – When I hit the snooze button, it does not affect just me. Second lesson – Rafa does not like to be rushed in the morning. He feels better during the whole day when his morning starts right. I can appreciate that.

We’re learning, growing and waking together!

These are the vows Rafa and I shared with each other at the wedding. He had them memorized and spoke them to me, firmly and softly, while looking into my eyes.

I had them memorized, but after hearing Rafa say his and getting distracted by the emotions of my future mother-in-law, my mind went blank after the first line. Thankfully, Pastor Karl had them ready to give me a help.

After the ceremony, I just cried. I felt so bad that I didn’t give Rafa my vows in the same beautiful way he gave me his. About 2 minutes after the ceremony, Rafa forgave me for the first time. I love him so much! Our photographer captured the moment we spent talking after the ceremony:

Rafa’s vows

I, Rafa, take you, Sarah, as my wife, for better or for worse, in prosperity and in need, in sickness and in health, from today forward.

With God’s help, and by His grace, I promise to love you, to cherish you, and to treat you with patience and gentleness.

I vow to raise our family up in the Lord. I will honor you and protect you. I promise to be faithful to you, to forgive you, and committed to growing as a man of God in order to lead you.

My promises to you, Sarah, are these, and I am responsible before God if anything but death separates us.

Sarah’s vows

I, Sarah, take you, Rafa, as my husband, for better or for worse, in prosperity and in need, in sickness and in health, from today forward.

With God’s help, and by His grace, I promise to love you , to encourage you, and to respect you.

I vow to follow your leadership. I will affirm you and admire you. I promise to be faithful to you, to forgive you, and remain encouraged in my relationship with God in order to be a helper to you.

My promises to you, Rafa, are these, and I am responsible before God if anything but death separates us.

We’re back! We wrote 50 posts separately about the preparations for our wedding. Well, we are back from our honeymoon now and ready to write 50 more about our entrance into our married life. We’re hoping we (our our kids/grandkids) can look back on these writings 50 years from now and get a good picture of what is important. Faith, hope and love!

Here are a few awesome pictures of the big day, taken by the dearest AJ and Auntie B. We’ll share the awesome ones from chelsey paul photography when we get them!

Here we are – no longer counting down days, but hours. I am excited, calm and content. I am about to make the second-greatest decision (after committing my life to Christ) of my life. Thank you to everyone who read our ramblings and we prepared for our wedding day. Your love and support means so much to us. Please pray for us as we begin our new life together!

*January 31, 2010*

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Tonight I made the seating chart for the reception. I was sadly reminded of those who won’t be there celebrating with us.

My dear cousins won’t be there. Unfortunately, I just have too many! Inviting 20-odd cousins, their spouses and their kids would have doubled the guest list. Plus, asking them to travel from Iowa and parts even farther in the middle of Minnesota winter wouldn’t be very kind. I will miss having them there to celebrate with me.

I will miss my church family members I wasn’t able to invite. With a limited budget comes a limited guest list. I know they understand, but I hope they also understand that I would invite every member of The Rock if I could.

Cecy, Rafa’s sister-in-law, isn’t going to be able to come. She has been so welcoming to me and invited me into the family. I was really looking forward to seeing her (and eating her pupusas, of course!). Unfortunately, she is ill and will need to stay in Winnipeg, near her doctor.

I will miss those who aren’t with us anymore. I will also miss my grandpa Mel. He was always such a source of joy for our family. Celebrations just don’t seem all the way complete without him there adding his hearty laugh and giving us his bear hugs.

Finally, I will miss Rafa’s dad, who I only know through the stories Rafa tells me about him. I am proud to wear a piece of what he left behind on my left hand ring finger. I know he would be very proud of the amazing man his son has become. I know he would be celebrating right along with us.

Tonight, I enjoyed a girl night: me, Hawkie, exfoliating and to-do lists. I figured a little solo time was in order, since this is my last weekend as a single woman.

It’s so strange. There was a time not that long ago that I never thought I would be married again. I thought that I has ruined my chance at happiness. I didn’t see any of this in God’s plan for me – but it was! And as happy as I am, I was looking forward to one last night alone. I ate chips and salsa in bed. I watched and sang with Lawrence Welk. I drank Reisling while I folded laundry. I spent too much time with a mirror, beautifying. That’s a pretty rockin’ weekend in my book.

And as much as I enjoyed my music, wine and lotions, I am so looking forward to having Rafa here with me. Things are just better when he is around and I know that will continue when we get to start staying together during every weekend. I can’t wait!

Dress update: I found a tailor right by work that will have the first round of alterations done by Tuesday morning! There will be time for a second fitting and I will have the finished, fitted dress by Friday 🙂 Yay!

My dress finally came in today. I’m happy to have it, but I’m less than impressed with the place I shopped at. First of all, NEVER set foot in The Bridal Center, Plymouth, or The Bridal Center Outlet, West St. Paul. I ordered my dress from the outlet location in West Saint Paul. They promised me I would have the dress within 12 weeks (only three weeks to spare before the wedding). 12 weeks came and went and my dress wasn’t in. I kept calling, but they ignored my calls. They kept telling me they would call me back, but they didn’t. When they said they needed to research something (like where my dress was) they would tell me they would call me back in an hour, or on Monday, etc. Finally the manager told me my dress was in NY (already a week late) and he made a big deal about paying for rush shipping. I told him I didn’t understand – why wouldn’t my dress be on rush anyway since it was already late??

So I finally got the call today that my dress was in. I met the manager and told her what had happened. She couldn’t care less. I asked for my “rush” shipping charge to be refunded and she told me I was lucky to get my dress when I did – two weeks after the “guaranteed” date. She said she would talk with the people at the other store and then she hid in the back of the store and I never saw her again. We tried warning some other customers on our way out. My dear friend (who made this all bearable!) said, “Be careful, we just got horrible customer service here.” The lady said, “I know, that’s what we’re dealing with now.”

So, I have the dress with me now. I am going to get emergency tailoring tomorrow. I am really hoping this goes well!

While I was off at a retreat in Wisconsin with my fabulous small group girls, Rafa was working hard in Minneapolis! I left him with a list about as long as his arm to complete while I was away. He served me by doing it all and more. (More!)

Rafa took care of our wedding announcements and finished up his wardrobe. He got photo frames ready and ran errands. The bonus is that he got my car started after two weeks of sitting as a worthless hunk of metal in the pseudo-driveway.

I like to sing the Salt n Pepa song to him – Whatta Man. He is such a good guy and a good person. I don’t know what I did to deserve this kind of treatment – nothing, I suppose. I don’t think there’s anything I could have done right enough to be served like this, but I like it. Having is relationship where the other person is so invested in my happiness is still unfamiliar sometimes. He’s committed in the little things and it helps me trust that he will be committed in the big promises he will be making to me soon.

Our church, The Rock (http://www.rockthechurch.com/) is part of a movement of churches called Great Commission Ministries. Every December, GCM holds a conference for all the churches called Faithwalkers. Rafa and I went to Faithwalkers, held in Omaha, for the first time this year.

Rafa made the decision to follow the example of Jesus and be baptized. I am so blessed to be following a man whose goal is following Christ.

Here are a few pics: