Monthly Archive for December, 2007

the proposal to propose

Published
by
DavidLee
on December 21, 2007
in General
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Right.

So .. the proposal!

No, I haven’t. Hah. That’s why the title of the entry is the proposal to propose! Having courted for almost 6 months, it might seem a little too early to be talking about marriage .. but hey, look at me! Setting a whole blog dedicated to our marriage, bought a ring, and writing about proposal plans.

I was planning a trip to climb Mount Kinabalu recently, but called it off due to financial reasons. I thought it would have been great if we could both make it up to the peak, and at that very moment .. I would pop the ring and propose to her on the highest peak in South East Asia. Wouldn’t that be great? Haha.

Now, back to earth .. literally. I don’t know. She seems to love the beaches, so maybe we’ll runaway with a small group and have them help document the moment.

See how la.

spiritual mentors

Published
by
DavidLee
on December 14, 2007
in Counselling
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Liz and I spoke to Kim Ann and Kenneth yesterday. It was odd, cause we both had the desire to talk to them .. but wasn’t really prepared. I was busy at work and we decided quite promptly .. I guess we have talked about getting spiritual mentors once .. but haven’t really gotten down to it.

KimAnn and Kenneth were very receiving of the idea of being overseers, and as guidance. While we were talking, Liz and I found that we were quite similar to them .. in a general sense. Our goals, and values, and most importantly .. our desire to honour God in our relationship and make a difference in the generations. It was freaky .. at one point .. and I got stressed out. I guess it was also my unpreparedness when we approached them.

But .. I searched deeper within myself and found that I am not ready yet. It’s been a long time since I’ve subjected myself to such direct mentorship, and it’ll take a little getting used to. I can foresee that Kenneth might be a little headstrong with his thoughts .. and .. I don’t know how I’ll be able to take that in .. but ..

I’ll try.

I’m not perfect. Neither is he. Neither is anyone else. But with God’s grace and strength, things will be okay.

joint decisions

Published
by
DavidLee
on December 13, 2007
in General
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Gone were the days when I made decisions with only myself in consideration. In the midst of deciding which car to buy, I have considered many aspects to buying a car. Major ones likes being able to own a BMW at 24 years old has been replaced with more responsible priorities like reliability, cost of maintenance, and longevity. Budget is also a major issue, as brought up by Liz. She said,

“Yeah, have to think carefully, whether you wanna spend your money now .. or save up to be spent later.”

Upon hearing that, I realize that she was not just referring to the low cost of ownership but more of the maintenance and spare part replacements that would entail a 12 year old car. And yeah, that I have other more important financial responsibilities like the wedding ring (which .. of course secretly .. she doesn’t know that I have bought .. :p), wedding plans among others.

Even with the choosing an apartment. I referred to her when I decided to rent SiawJiun’s place, as there is a possibility that we will be staying there for the time being, until we are able to manage a property .. of our own. Of course, praise God that I’m getting a great rate for the rent .. thanks to SiawJiun and her mom who’s been such an awesome blessing!

So .. do I say good bye to the liberty of making decisions only for myself? Well, maybe just for the major ones. :p

pre-marital counselling

Published
by
DavidLee
on December 7, 2007
in Counselling
. 0 Comments

I asked Liz,”When’s the next pre-marital counselling session ah?”

She said,”I don’t know ..” and gave me that sheepish smile I love so much.

I think it’s just about time to find out if we are okay for marriage. I mean, from the onstart, we’ve made the commitment to the relationship that one day we will finally be married to each other, but it still requires working towards it and not just assume everything will fall into place.

Especially expectations of each other. I’ve heard that pre-marital counselling (PMC) helps couples know one another better, deal with issues that might arise in the future .. which is cool. But .. I don’t want us to just enrol in PMC and finish it. I hope to have a godly couple overseeing us not just through PMC but in life’s decisions that Liz and I make as a couple .. it’ll be good to be accountable also!

I’ve got Kenneth and Kim Ann in mind, but haven’t spoken to Liz about it. Maybe soon, on separate accounts. I think she’s quite comfortable with Kim Ann. Which is a good sign.

Oh Lord, much guidance needed.

shhh .. she doesn’t know!

Published
by
DavidLee
on December 6, 2007
in General
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Of course she doesn’t know I bought a ring.

The thing about me is .. I can never keep good news to myself. And knowing myself, I am at risk of overspreading the news that I’ve bought the ring, and will pop the question soon. Tell me, if you know something good’s going to happen .. do you have it inside of you to .. keep the secret for .. a few months? It’s difficult, right? That’s why I’ve set this blog up. So that it serves as an outlet for all my pent-up excitement!

Of course, the day will come when this blog will become public and by then we’d be engaged.

first commitment

Published
by
DavidLee
on December 5, 2007
in General
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Yesterday, I took the first step in committing to marrying Elizabeth.

I bought a diamond ring.

ring-thumb.jpg

I was at the Curve, joining my colleagues for a meeting later with a client of ours. They were at CoffeeBean, which was beside Diamond & Platinum. I had a passing thought that I should walk in and see what is the price range of their diamond rings. We then went for our meeting, and it ended early so I decided to succumb to my passing thought earlier and indulge in some eye candy.

After sitting down, the promoter walked me through the range of Estrella Diamond rings which were quite pricey. A month or two ago, I kinda brought Liz window (or should I say glass shelf) shopping .. just to test water. Hehe. So I somewhat knew what design she would like, and kept a Post-It note in my memory bank on it.

I picked those with similar design that I had in mind of what she had in mind and listened to the promoter crunch numbers and provide me a discounted price. Way over budget. The range was RM2XXX, and I did not have intentions to spend that much on a piece of rock.

In fact, Elizabeth did mention to me that it’s not a necessity, and that she didn’t need it .. but I think .. (I don’t know, I might be wrong) that deep down .. every girl’s heart .. there’s always a place for a diamond ring.

I used to have negative perceptions of the whole carat, clarity, c____ and c____ .. and thought that it could all be summarized with on major C, which is ..

CASH.

But .. what’s two thousand ringgit, when it makes the woman of your life happy, feeling that she’s worth the gift of the world’s hardest matter? My perception has changed, taking the view away from the monetary value of the item and placing importance on the IMPACT of which it brings to the person I am giving it to.

Oh how different are my views now, from this entry I wrote a good year and a half ago.

I looked deeper into the glass shelf in front of me, and one diamond ring caught my eye. The design was nice, and I asked to look at it. The promoter was surprised to find that that particular diamond among the larger diamond ring batch. And she immediately commented that at one look .. you can tell that it’s one with the highest value of clarity, which is a “D”. It was not a big diamond, so I could tell that it might just fit into my budget.

Well, it KINDA did. I spent slightly more than I planned, but after a quick comparison, consultation and conversation with my one and only … mother, I decided to buy it. At that point, I felt that I wasn’t prepared to buy it. Even though I could afford it, but .. I wasn’t ready for it.

The thought of .. proposing ..

An entry for another day.