It all started with a harmless friend request I sent Alai on Facebook two years before we actually ever met.. Although nothing came about from our facebook friendship, It wasn't until that faithful summer when I was helping the youth at a South Sudanese BBQ event that I finally got to speak to her. Alai's older sister was there selling red velvet cake-bites. Me being the "philanthropist" I was, I opted to purchase one. After one bite, I asked, "Did you make these, because they're delicious?" She laughed and said, "no these were from Alai!" I then responded, Alai? who is that? She responded, my younger sister of course, suddenly my mind flashed back to the beautiful young woman I had friend requested a couple of years back. I knew it was fate, that her cake bites were the gateway to us finally getting to meet in person...haha! Anywho, Alai ended up coming by later, we discussed the purpose of her cake bites which were actually for her fundraiser to a medical mission trip. Understanding of the opportunity to provide support, I asked for her number and well...

I first saw him on Instagram and me being intrigued, I showed it to my sister and asked "who is this", she then replied, "oh it's Amol." Two years went by with no thought of him until a South Sudanese community barbecue where we finally ran into each other. While I was standing in line getting ready to grab some food, along came a man who I didn't recognize and offered to get me food. Me not thinking much into it, I accepted. He then proceeded to ask me about my cake-bites......and our story began.

April of 2014 was a wonderful month. A short trip to San Antonio to go look at Schools turned out to be the perfect weekend to ask my sweet Alai to finally be my girlfriend. April 12, was the day I solidified my intentions to pursue a dating relationship.

"Amol, planned the most memorable engagement ever. Oh how he knows me very well. He started out by inviting all of my dearest and closest friends to a surprised brunch, then followed that up with getting all the girls together for a day at the nail salon with pedicures and manicures. A couple of hours later we arrived at my best friends house and he had laid out my entire outfit for the evening. Next my friends took me to an enchanting/beautiful park in Irving. There my friends prayed over me, and then I started walking through the park with stations set up along the way with images and quotes from our 3+ years of dating. What was so amazing was the fact that all these images were a collection of memories I've posted on social media during our relationship. And you know me, I love images. After walking through the park, I reached the end and saw my love waiting on me in the middle of a candle-lit bridge. I couldn't help but run into his arms. With tears of Joy, Amol started letting me know how much he loved me and how he was ready to call me his wife. The moment he said that he pointed me to the banks of the park’s pond and I saw the words “Will you Marry Me?” spelled out in candles. I couldn’t help but scream with joy, but then he told me to walk with him towards the bank of the pond. Which surprised me because I thought he was about to get on his knees right there on the bridge. However, what was about to happen next was even more special. As we walked towards the edge of the pond, my love had a beautiful arrangement of rose petals and candles on a silk cloth with the back drop of the bridge and a majestic fountain in the middle of the pond. With my face in awe and eyes still teary, he got on one knee and asked those memorable words “Alai Mayar would you take the honor of becoming my wife.....Will you Marry Me??” I said Yes, and the Rest was history....