I thank the Lord for sending Brian to Japan. We met in the hallway, not as students, but as teachers, at school in Japan where we both worked. We didn't meet each other until right before our first class together. My first impression of Brian was that he was a cold scientist from Britain. Who could have guessed he is from America, especially from TX. His first impression of me was that he thought I was a young, shy student teacher. We planned and gave lessons together as an English teacher and an assistant language teacher. (FYI, dating a fellow teacher was a big NO NO in his company.) Some of the coworkers stated noticing the love beam that Brian was sending me in the office and asked me if something is going on. Back then, I only saw him as one of my coworkers, but someone that I can enjoy talking to in English about random American or worldly things. Even when I asked for his number at one of the work parties or on our "first date" (according to Brian), I only saw him as a coworker. Our first date was pretty success. I still remember every second of that night. He took me to the cajun restaurant in Osaka and we kept talking and talking until we had to leave. We still wanted to talk more. We went to the starbucks and talked more. The night has changed the image of him 180°. We spend more time together both at work and outside of work. We got closer and closer and the rest is how y'all know :) I'm thankful everyday that Brian found his way to me. I always think what if I didn't take the job at that school.. what if Brian decided not to go to Japan... but we found our way to each other!

Planning a proposal when both people work and study from home and always know what the other is doing isn’t the easiest thing. But after some unfortunately necessary lies, we were off on a romantic (I hope) scavenger hunt picnic. Going from restaurant to restaurant and picking up food was a fun way to explore the city, but was also just an excuse to get out and go to the park. Though she had no idea what would happen then. A final clue once we got there pretty heavy-handedly pointed to an engagement ring. I was a bit nervous about how the engagement would go, would it be romantic enough? Would she remember it fondly? But I at least knew she would say yes! She said no. Not just once, many times. Full panic washed over her face as she laughed and cried and possibly even smiled. All she could say was “no” and “wait”. It was exactly what I wanted to hear. I thought she was ready, right? Luckily, after 30-40 minutes, I was able to calm her down and she finally realized she was actually happy. And then eventually she said “yes”.