Whew, the holiday season is finally over. It’s good to be back in my apartment tonight and looking forward to my regular weekly schedule starting tomorrow morning. Between my travels to Pennsylvania for Christmas and Texarkana for New Years, I have a lot of stories to update here on my blog. Among the most pressing stories, however, is the fact that Dana and I are officially back together. She wrote about it briefly on her blog if you wanna know how I asked her out, but here I’ll summarize our story of the past two years.

Dana and I have been friends for the past 10 years or so, but it wasn’t until 2003 that we re-connected here in Dallas and started dating. After a year and a half, I ended the relationship due to a pattern of struggles that became pretty draining for me. From that time in April of 2005 to this past week we’ve tried very hard to remain friends, which honestly at some times was very difficult. There was clearly a lot of necessary growing and maturing on both our parts that needed to take place before either of us could be in a position to date anyone.

Over the course of the summer and this past semester, I saw a lot of impressive growth taking place in her life. I also saw the Lord doing a lot in me to change my heart in certain ways. By the time August came around, it appeared that there could still be a future for the two of us together. Our pastor invited us to meet with him twice a month for a time of processing and evaluation, an invitation we gladly accepted. Three months later, the love Dana and I have for each other has completely resurfaced and brought us into 2006 together as a couple.

I’ll admit that I was pretty nervous last Thursday when I asked her about solidifying our relationship again, but I know our relationship this second time will be much different than it was the first time. We both understand each other infinitely better, we know how to respond more appropriately to each other, and how to handle conflict. According to Pastor Rol, some married couples don’t learn these lessons until they’re several years into a marriage, so he’s very optimistic about the learning and growing Dana and I have gone through this past year.

What the future holds for us is unknown — we’re taking it one step at a time and learning the lessons that come one by one. At the present, we are very much enjoying each other again and are happy to see a new level of health in our new relationship. Thanks to everyone who prayed for us this year, who supported us, and imparted their Godly wisdom and advice!

Posted on January 3, 2006