We hope you enjoy reading our lengthy story as much as we enjoyed writing it!

I can’t say I remember the first time I met Grace in August 2011, but If there was one thing that stood out to me during that time, it’s that Grace’s glasses were always broken in some way and there was either tape or some cotton on her face. I never really interacted with her that much during her first year of college or so, but we had many of the same college fellowship (CCF) events on a weekly basis and would see each other more often. She was a kind and kindred spirit, and had a deep love for the Lord and his people and I definitely admire that about her to this day.

Fast forward to 2016, I had been church hopping a few months and finally started coming out to KPCW late winter where Grace attended. I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but after hanging out in group settings, I realized Grace had a different aura about her than in college. She blossomed. I can’t put into words what exactly I mean by that. I always knew I had a fondness of her and I thought we got along pretty well. If you know anything about me, I’m pretty timid when it comes to the female race. There was definitely a sense of comfort with her where I could be myself. It wasn’t just that she blossomed, but I think I became more aware of my thoughts and actions. I realized I enjoyed her presence more and would find myself looking for more group fellowship opportunities with her.

In March 2017, only 3 people knew I had a slight interest in Grace, I kept it very low key. We had this one hangout in particular where my CG at the time had an outing at Whole Foods plus a few others that were invited including Grace.. Lo and behold, Chris (1 of the 3 that knew) and some other VT school friends were there eating dinner as well and we had our share of greetings and handshakes. On their way out, Chris saw that Grace was with our group and while I was waving goodbye to them, Chris gave me this unforgettable thumbs up with a sizable grin on his face. Our CG outing numbers started to dwindle as time passed until it was just me walking Grace to her car in the parking lot. I felt nervous for some reason and I realized that we are NEVER alone together and are always surrounded with other friends. My gut told me now is as good a time as ever, especially because the freaking thumbs up from Chris that kept coming up in my head the entire night. As she leaned on her car door, I told her my feelings for her and asked her out on a dinner date. Yes, I asked out Grace to a date on Thursday, August 17th 2017 in front of fair lakes Whole Foods in the parking lot. I asked her to be my girlfriend at the dinner date on August 25th and the rest is history. Not exactly how I intended it to go, but thank God He operates on His timing and not my own.

Once upon a time in 2011, I assumably met Sam at a college fellowship event at Virginia Tech (unfortunately, I don't remember ever actually meeting him). A few months upon meeting, I had out of the blue (God?) started to take notice of the reserved &, awkwardly humorous Samuel. And at some point in my freshmen year, I developed an “upperclassmen crush” on Samuel. My friends and I even gave him the nickname “Green Bean” because he reminded us of Green the Giant on the green bean cans. Because we were in different years and friend groups, most our minimal interactions were through CCF(fellowship) events, or when Michelle (Hwang) and I would go over to hang out with Sam’s roommate, Jon Wang, at their apartment.

Sam and I gradually and naturally got to know each other over the years. It wasn’t until Sam had graduated and started staffing in CCF that we were sort of friends. The more I spent time with him and talked with him through car rides and ministry related things, the more I grew to see his maturity and appreciate his character. Although I was “over” crushing on him, after becoming actually friends, I actually grew a comforting fondness toward him. Upon graduating, I honestly didn’t think we would really see each other...but what do you know?! He ended up coming to the church that I was attending back at home (KPCW). Not only did Sam and I see each other regularly through church, but we hung out a lot b/c we shared many mutual friends. One day in 2016, our friend Kathy created a group chat b/w 4 of us buddies (sam and I included), to treat us out to dinner for her graduation. Moving forward, the group conversed everyday, met up regularly, and became really good friends-- friends who got REAL comfortable around one another. One random day in 2017, a couple of us friends were hanging out at Crafthouse, talking about silly things, and the topic of interests came up. I said “Sam doesn’t like girls!”, and our friend Jon slyly said “i know who Sam likes”. I remember being cross at Sam for never mentioning anything about this girl, because I thought we were tight. Another part of me felt sad realizing that someday I wouldn’t be able to be this closely friends with Sam when he eventually started dating. That’s probably when I realized I might kinda-maybe-sorta be interested in Sam.

Then one late evening, in August, Sam randomly asked me on a dinner date in the parking lot of whole foods. I was completely shocked because Sam had expressed absolutely no hint of interest in me for the entirety of our friendship-- plus we never had a ‘Talking phase’-- we never talked, chatted, or hung out exclusively outside of groups. I also surprised myself when I replied yes so quickly without hesitation. If you know me, you know how indecisive I am. For the decision to have been so quick i guess says a lot. Fast forward to now, and YAY! Here we are! And just like a Korean Drama, that’s the story of how a girl gets married to her “childhood” crush. Jk. No but really, God sure has a sense of humor! HAHEM, and I just want to give a quick shout out to Joanna Choi, for convincing me to apply to VT on the application deadline day. And lastly to Hope Song for randomly & secretly praying 5 years ago that Sam and I would end up together.