Back at the beginning of the year, Richard commented here that after moving out, I'd removed an essential obstacle in my being able to be be attractive to any gal. Well, looks like Rich is something of a prophet then... I think that just about every reader of this blog already knows, but as of a few months ago, God's brought a marvelous young woman into my life.

Ultra Cliff's Notes version of the story (if you want more details... you'll have to ask her, heh)... late 2005, Shally began helping out with youth group at Canaan after starting to attend the English service for half a year. In mid-December, one of our youth Fridays had a sharing question asking about any family Christmas traditions we had. I shared mine (getting together with extended family for hot pot), and everyone else went around. Fast forward to Christmas Eve, I logged online around midnight, noticed she was online, and IM'ed her for the first time to wish her a Merry Christmas. In response, she asked how the family hot pot had gone. The fact that she remembered my sharing from a few weeks prior caught my attention, and we began chatting online regularly. In the spring, we helped each other work through grad school applications/decisions, and since I helped review her entry essays, we began getting together in person to discuss revisions and then as thank-you meals. We began dating around the beginning of summer and then became "official" in late July.

This being my first relationship, we've had our share of ups and downs, but I'm thankful that she's been patient and very, very forgiving. This is new territory for me, and it's been quite the ride not just discovering her, but also learning a lot about myself as well. One significant lesson I've learned so far is that while "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is an apt maxim to apply to most human relationships, it's not quite sufficient to effectively care for someone or build closeness, because the way that you do something - perhaps a way you've done your whole life and seems completely sensible - may mean something different to the other person in a way that you didn't mean at all. I need to go beyond my own understanding and get to "Do unto others as they would have you do unto them." I need to learn to speak her language, not just hammer her with my own, and vice versa.

That being said, it's been both a challenge and a fun experience learning about each other, doing fun things together, praying for each other, and seeing little things like being able to anticipate what the other person is going to say or do, and see it happen. We'll see how God leads us as we move forward.

This past Monday, we celebrated 3 months by cooking dinner. Some pics:
Bacon-wrapped steak:

Super-stuffed potatoes (microwave the potatoes, scoop out the flesh, mash with sour cream, mushrooms, onions, garlic, and thyme, restuff potato shells, and broil):

Prosciutto-wrapped asparagus