Some people have asked me about this through emails and/or private messages, so I guess its time to make an official announcement... Yes, I am Ecstatically Married! :DÂ Â (Happy just isn't a strong enough word!).
I spent 41 days in Barranquilla (BAQ), Colombia on my first trip, from April 2005 – May 2005.  Being a devout Christian (and preacher) I had told the agency owner, Jamie, that I wanted to meet only devout Christian women (Non-Catholic or Catholic), which posed a challenge for him that he did a pretty good job of meeting.  This information of course was in my profile, so the women had a chance to screen me, just as I was screening them.
I sent him a list of 300 women from his website that I wanted to meet, expecting that only about 10% of them would claim to be devout Christians AND want to meet me.  Jamie thought the ratio would be higher, but I was about right.
During this time I met 39 women through the “International Introductions†agency.  By “meetingâ€, this means that I had the opportunity to sit down with these women for at least an hour, sometimes one-on-one, and sometimes in groups of 3 to 7 women, to get to know a little about each other to decide whether or not we had a mutual interest in dating.  I dated 10 women in total, 5 of which I considered seriously as wife candidates.
I made a subsequent, 5-day trip over Memorial Day weekend to spend time with Girl # 39.  A short time after arriving back in the USA... Despite our strong attraction and feelings for each other, it was apparent to me that a relationship with her just would not work… love just shouldn’t be that hard...
Since I was now back in the USA, my first contact with lady # 40 was over the phone.  I prefer to meet women in person, so I was reluctant to initiate a contact over the phone.  I definitely was not prepared for what was about to happen...
I will never forget the first day, date, and time I talked with my wife-to-be on the phone.  It was Sunday, 7/10/2005 at 7:30 PM, with the help of an agency translator.  We fell in love instantly over the phone.  Of course we both had the opportunity to review each other’s photos and informational profiles before deciding if we wanted to contact each other.
Previous to talking to her, I wasn’t planning to return to Barranquilla for another 3 months, (i.e. October 2005) to visit a “girlfriend†(Girl # Thirty-Eight), for which it was understood that we were both free to date other people.  Although Girl # Thirty-Eight was crazy about me, my excitement level for her just wasn’t high enough to warrant traveling another 3,000 miles prior to October…
However after talking to the woman who would become my wife on a daily basis, I found myself greeting her in the airport in Barranquilla within 2 weeks of our initial phone conversation!
Unlike any woman I have ever dated in the USA or Colombia, being with her was effortless.  Of course since then, I’ve seen that she is definitely NOT perfect... she’s ONLY an angel
Two days after our first phone conversation, she wrote me the most beautiful letter I had ever received.  I have been writing professional quality love songs since age 12, so I am used to impressing women with romantic lyrics, poems, etc.  However, I have never received anything on the poetic level that “this woman†(my wife to be), put together.  To this day, she surprises me with impromptu poetic words and thoughts that once seemed like I could only give, but never receive...
After the magnetic attraction, and intoxicating chemistry was a foregone conclusion…  We did a lot of preparation prior to marriage to get to know each other better.  We used resources such as
www.MarriageBuilders.com (Emotional Needs Questionnaire), books by the same author (Willard Harley), and we asked each other a lot of questions (75-100) from a book called “Don’t You Dare Get Married Until You Read Thisâ€.  I used the book as a guide and tailored most of the questions to our situation.
A happy (ecstatic) marriage, like anything else we want to be good at in life, including making money, golf, careers, sports, etc., requires preparation, practice, and asking the right questions both in the beginning and as we go along…  Unfortunately most of us put much more detail in planning our weddings than our marriages... (I know, since I did it without proper preparation once before...)
I married my Colombian Queen on the beach at Pradomar Hotel in Barranquilla, on 1/21/2006, against the backdrop of the Caribbean Sea.  She wanted to get married on the beach because she said her love for me “is as big as the seaâ€.  Awwwww shucks!
Before making an official announcement, I wanted to wait until I at least started the immigration process which I did Friday, 6/30/2006... if all goes well, I hope to have her in the USA by Christmas, or by the end of March (for her birthday) at the latest.
Meanwhile, I visit my wife regularly (about every 60 days), and I would highly encourage this (if at all possible) for anyone that is trying to maintain an international relationship...
Thanks to all those who have shared their experiences and advice in an effort to help others on the Latin wife search.
My prayers and best wishes for all those still searching for wives, and for the continued success of those already married...
Photos can be viewed (for a limited time?) by clicking on the following link:
NOTE:Â Â The Case Sensitive Password = jaM5DtfR
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=11248408&uid=3044078TE AMO MI ESPOSA !!!
