I remember waving hi to Josh when our friend Xai Lor brought him to volleyball at Toccoa Falls College. I didn't really make any effort to interact with him because I was playing ball and preoccupied with other things on my mind with school/friendships. All I knew of Josh at the time was that he was a friend of Xai, from Missouri, potentially interested in attending TFC and that he was older. Fast forwarding into the year, Josh decided to enroll at TFC for pastoral ministries. During this time we NEVER saw one another. Josh went straight to work after classes and I was focused on passing my classes during my 2nd semester of junior year. I was absolutely certain that I wasn't going to meet my future husband at TFC. But little did I know and believe that God was saving something so special for me. On the night of December 7th, 2019 after HSA's winter banquet God opened the door and brought Josh to me. He greeted,"Hi Amanda. How are you?" and I replied, "I'm good" and suddenly walked away. Later that night I felt bad for disregarding Josh's conversation so I reached out to him on FB to apologize and to ask how he was doing. When winter break was drawing close, Josh and I were messaging one another on Facebook. Casually Josh asks me, "Wanna grab some pho with me some time?" At the time, my older sister Sunshine was sitting with me and told me that Josh was totally into me. I was shocked and couldn't believe it. Sunshine left me with these words, "if you love yourself, you will let a man pursue you." Which lead me to reply back with "Sure." We didn't get the chance to grab pho just because there was no time before his trip back home so we agreed to grab pho when he came back. After winter break, Josh didn't initiate to take me to pho at all, instead he just told me "hey" and gave me a side hug when we saw each other. I had no idea what that meant. I told myself that day, "you don't even like him. Just be his friend and get to know him first. He's nothing more to you." During winter classes Josh and I got to know one another more as friends. It was pretty obvious that he liked me as evidenced by his dorky posture around me and the way he would laugh at EVERYTHING I did. It wasn't until I won a game of online pool that I mentioned I was bummed we never went out to pho. Josh told me "Deal let's go." Now this was no ordinary pho dinner, this was a DATE! I remember spending all afternoon getting ready. I still remember how Josh looked with his pompadour hair style, SALT t-shirt under his black bomber jacket paired with blue jeans and sneakers. Josh was different. He made me feel so special and comfortable. Not to mention this guy asked me over 1000 questions not out of boredom but out of the intention of wanting to know me more. It was after our first date that I thought myself, "Gee I think I like this guy." After our first and second dates, Josh made it clear that he wanted to spend more time with me. On January 23rd, 2020 during our 3rd date, Josh asked me to be his girlfriend. By the grace of God and in his perfect time, Josh then proposed to me on May 15th, 2022.

So, in 2019, me and my friend My both went to visit Xai at Toccoa Falls College, both because I had interests of attending the college and we wanted to see how Xai had been since we haven't seen him since we saw him off a year before. We were invited to play some Volleyball with the students, so I went with the intentions of making good friends there. Everyone there was so engaging and friendly, but there was one super shady girl, she was in an oversized red T-shirt. She seemed so mature, but gave off a vibe like she didn't want to be bothered. We didn't talk much that night, but for some reason I couldn't keep my mind from thinking of her. I remember, after I returned home from the visit, one of her videos appeared on my FB feed and for some reason, even though I was at work, I stopped everything I was doing and watched the whole thing. After it was over, I noticed I had been smiling the whole time, I didn't even realize when I started smiling. You guessed it, that shady girl in the oversized red t-shirt that stole my subconscious fairytale fantasy was Amanda. I, then, told myself that when I go to TFC I'd be going for my Lord, not for myself. I will fast from myself, I will have no ulterior motive. However, it was the Lord that had other plans for me. I had no classes and no reasons to meet with Amanda, but it felt like the Lord kept pushing us together. I was given an assignment to interview a pastor, the only pastor I knew there at the time was the pastor at Victory Hmong Alliance, who happens to be Amanda's dad. the TFC students that served at Victory were taking turns leading Sunday school at the time and when it came to be my turn, the person that was to guide me was Amanda. One of the few times I had to drive to church, Xai called and said to pick up Amanda because she needed a ride back to school. All these things combined made me think that we were good friends, because I had yet to admit that I liked her. On December 7th, I said hi to her as we were cleaning a table after an event and she said hi back. I carried on, but at the suspiciously late hour of 1:39am, she texts me to apologize for what I thought was a normal conversation between two friends. Then my mind began to wonder if this girl liked me. It was then that I realized, we've been texting each other all semester. She was so easy to talk to that I didn't even realize that I spoke to her more than anyone else around me. The days continued and the conversations continued to flow so effortlessly when I was with her. Eventually, I had to take a chance. In one of our texting conversations, I asked her out to pho, hoping to see if she'd allow me to pursue her. After a LONG pause in the conversation, she texted back one word: "Sure"...I was stumped, I thought she meant: "Sure" you wierdo or "sure" but I don't really want to. Defeated, I decided that we could just be friends, after all we do get along really well. So I stopped the pursuit, until Amanda beats me in a bet made over online pool. She was awarded a favor, and she said she was sad I never took her to pho and that the favor was to go on our pho date. I was flabbergasted, but I had no time to waste. I set up the date and we spent the most amazing day together. I still remember her all dressed up in that black, wavy blouse and the terribly washed unicorn tattoo she had on her bicep. I fell for her. So on May 15th, I fell again, to my knees, and she said Yes.