Chinese New Year Greetings

Hello and many blessings to you, family and friends!

2008 has been an amazing, challenging, and…very new kind of year for Karen and I. Marrying each other has been a big change, but actually the many other changes that come along with it have been much more significant than marriage itself. I have been amazed at how normal it feels to be married – I’m still me, Karen is still herself; we’re just together a lot more. It really hasn’t felt like a big adjustment.

What has taken some adjustment has been Karen moving from Taiwan to Oklahoma City, and my moving here from Chicago to take a new job. Being apart from our families for the most extended time so far, and trying to do full-time college online so that I can be more prepared for potentially moving to Asia in the future. New friends, churches, culture – adjusting to all of these has given us the chance to learn new things together and develop our life together from a solid starting point. I really believe it was a good decision to relocate here in preparation for our marriage – just the right balance between slow pace and active travel and social life.

Do we choose to love, or does Love choose us? I’m learning more and more that perhaps the two are not really all that different from each other. Sometimes I am overcome by an involuntary feeling, and sometimes I must willfully choose to act in a loving way. And whenever one of those happens, the other seems to be at the root of it. Experiencing it in such a close and personal way is giving me many new thoughts about God’s relationship with me, with us as people.

Things are going well for us in Oklahoma City, and if any of you are in the area, look us up! May the blessings of Christ be yours this new year!