We're getting married!

April 2003: Twelve year old Nicole returned to LA from her first visit to mainland China enamored with the culture and people. She told her parents she would learn Mandarin the first chance she got, and when she grew up, she was going to marry a Chinese guy. Her parents nodded and smiled, "Sounds great!" Sosho was wrapping up his high school career in Northern California as a successful scholar, athlete, video game connoisseur, and loyal friend. September 2004: Nicole attacked Mandarin class her freshman year of high school with gusto. She studied for hours most nights. When she grew tired, she chanted to herself: “Must. Speak. With. [Future] In-Laws!” Sosho reveled in his college life, studying, growing with his community of faith, playing badminton and complex video games with friends. September 2011: Nicole wrote a list of blessings to pray daily for her future husband. The list would eventually grow to include 50 blessings, but in September of 2011, she began simply: “Future Esposo: [to be] a man of prayer, the Word, integrity, humility, and to be filled with the love of God.” Sosho started his career as an engineer. 2012: Late bloomers Nicole (now in the Midwest) and Sosho (still in the Bay Area) began dating (not each other). 2014: While studying abroad in Taiwan, Nicole started to see that many of the characteristics she admired most in her father (his kindness, humility, conscientiousness) were often recognizable in Taiwanese friends and residents of Northern California (her own father had spent his teen years in NorCal). She did some quick math and arrived at a winning formula: perhaps she ought to find a Taiwanese (kind!) engineer (detail-oriented!) from NorCal (down-to-earth!). She shared this latest update with her family and friends. Her parents remained supportive, but her friends looked quizzically at her oddly specific vision of an ideal life mate. Nicole was undeterred and smiled happily to herself. She knew her formula was a good one. Meanwhile, Sosho was plugging away at his own formulas at work and in his dating life. 2017-2020: Nicole became a teacher, continued to go on dates-and laid her formula to rest. “You will probably marry a guy who is the exact opposite of what you expected!” some said sagely. Nicole nodded in understanding. Life often seemed to unfold that way. She continued praying for her future spouse and hoped for a kind, prayerful one. Sosho made some changes himself. After years as a mechanical engineer, he switched to software engineering. 2021: Sosho worked remotely from Taiwan-and encountered God! His prayer life strengthened & he started to pray in earnest for his future wife. September 2022: Sosho “liked” Nicole on Coffee Meets Bagel. The next day, Nicole saw his profile. The first line read: “I am working on becoming a man of integrity, humility, prayer, the word, loving God, and loving others.” Her eyebrows furrowed and her jaw dropped. She re-read the sentence. Was this Taiwanese engineer from NorCal "working on becoming" the exact person she had been praying for for 11 years?! “Too good to be true,” she mumbled in disbelief, but she “liked” him back anyway just in case he was real. October 2022-Present Over the following months, Sosho and Nicole discovered their mutual passion for truth and adventure, and a shared hunger for a life of whole-hearted faith, along with many differences that stretched their capacity for love and endurance in ways that had never been tested before. Loved ones surrounded them with prayers, counsel, listening ears, encouragement, and wiped away tears. Slowly, as fall turned to winter, and winter to spring, Sosho and Nicole found their tears replaced with peace, easy laughter, tenderness in their rapport, deeper trust in God’s love for them, joy in each other's presence, patience with and appreciation for each other's differences, and hope for their future together. April 2024: Sosho proposed. Nicole jumped for joy.