My/Our Anniversary
so mon night (11/26), melissa & i celebrated one year of dating. that may seem like small potatoes to the long-married or the "we've-been-dating-six-years-and-God-knows-why-we're-not-married-or-engaged-yet" set, but it was a significant marker in our journey thus far.
after work, melissa & i went to massimo's, a white-tablecloth fine-dining italian restaurant down in fremont. signficance? a year ago, for our first date, i planned on taking her there. day of, i call, & turns out they're closed on sundays! good job. after some last min quick-thinking, got us into a less fancy-pants italian place, which turned out to be just right for a 1st date (not too casual, not too formal). still, i'm happy to find redemption in finally being able to take her there a year later. i don't know how to describe the fellow, but the waiter was very well-trained... articulate, kind & professional, my epitome for what a waiter should be like. after working our way thru appetizers, wine & very nice entrees, we were too stuffed for dessert. but knowing we were celebrating a one-year anniversary of sorts, the waiter surprised us w/ a free slice of ice cream cake! free cake, you say? i accept. i give the place 2 thumbs up [for service & food].
afterward, we came home & embarked on a cool, creative activity melissa came up with, based on a passage in joshua 3-4. basically, as the israelites prepare to cross the mighty jordan river & take jericho, God causes the waters to part [a la moses] so they can cross, but only when the ark of the covenant [representing His presence] is carried by priests into the middle of the river. [biblical] josh tells the ppl to gather 12 stones, one representing each of the tribes of israel, from the dry ground mid-river. he sets them up at gilgal so that "in the future when your descendants ask their fathers, `what do these stones mean?' tell them, `israel crossed the jordan on dry ground. For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you crossed over... so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful & so that you might always fear the Lord your God" [josh 4:21-24].
in the same way, melissa came up w/ the idea of gathering 12 stones [one representing each month we've been dating], gluing them to cardboard, drawing a rushing river around them, & for each month, describing how the presence of God has gone before us to part rivers for us to cross in our relationship. as we delved into our memories, journals & email history, we were surprised to discover the many ways & cool themes that God developed in our relationship to cross into new territory. each month, there were patterns where He was helping us cross rivers together: ministry synergy, family issues, relational issues, moving closer to each other, seeing God's provision, etc. neat, huh? in this season of thanksgiving, it's always good to look back, see what God has done, & give thanks.
we also tried pulling a practical joke on her housemate annie... to no avail. melissa has a beautiful diamond ring passed down to her by her grandma, so she put it on her engagement finger, & excitedly told her housie that we have something to show her! her reaction? cynical face & "nice try." i was so looking fwd to her saying "OMG, really?!" and me: "no. not really." >=[
i love this girl. pics posted on facebook. =]