We technically first met in 2013, and we both started our PhDs at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA, USA) at the same time in 2017, but it wasn't until around COVID that we really became friends. And as time passed our friendship grew into something more. On May 3, 2022, Daniel asked Tze Hui out, and our journey as a couple began :)

‍Two dates and 10 days after our first date, we went to a trampoline park with a bunch of friends from church. We decided to learn how to do backflips. Our friend demonstrated, Tze Hui gestured for Daniel to try first, and Daniel...broke his back.

Cue 2 months of bed rest, another 2 months re-learning to walk, and another 2 months before giving up a cane.

What some might call 'bad luck' was just another part of God's perfect plan. It certainly was not part of our plans. But God used this to show us His goodness and we learned again how all things work together for good to them that love God (Romans 8:28). In the months that ensued, there were tears, there were trying times as Daniel went from being bedridden, to using a wheelchair, to relying on a walking stick. But there was also so much love, and learning to trust not in our own strengths, but in our God, who provided what we needed. We grew deeper in our understanding of each other's characters, and our friendship strengthened. Our brothers-in-Christ and sisters-in-Christ from our church family surrounded us with Christ-like love and support, walking with us through those tough days.

Now, we like to joke that we’ve already experienced a hint of the “in sickness” part of “in sickness and in health.”

Tze Hui's perspective

‍As a surprise, Daniel picked me up from my lab retreat. I wasn’t expecting him at all, so when I glanced in the direction of his car several times, I didn’t register that it was actually him. Wondering why my labmate was lingering and blocking my way to my ride back, I gently guided her to her seat and got into the car as well. As I settled in and texted Daniel that I was leaving the Airbnb, I heard a honk.

I glanced over. There was a red car that looked just like Daniel's, even with the same Cars sunshade. What a coincidence, I thought... but then I paused.

Wait. That's Daniel’s car.

I stepped out cautiously, walking toward it, and there he was—standing by the car, all smiles.

“I guess I’m going home in that car?” I asked, still trying to process what was happening.

Just then, my advisor pulled up and glanced at the roses in the car. “Is it your birthday?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s coming up!” I replied, clearly still clueless.

After a quick goodbye to my labmates, Daniel drove me to a nearby coffee shop—because he knows how much I love coffee. There, he handed me a dress and a bag, asking me to change. It was only then that I began to realize what was happening. A light-colored floor-length dress, the one he had gotten me to buy recently. And that bag? It was the one he had asked me to prepare “for whenever the proposal happens.” My mind raced: But I thought the proposal would be later, in the fall or winter?

As we drove to a little forested area, I prayed silently, asking God for guidance. I had been thinking and praying about this moment for a while. If Daniel proposed today, would I say yes? Here was a man who loves God deeply and consistently points me toward Christ. I love his heart, his gentleness, and how well we complement each other. Yes, I was ready.

When we arrived, Daniel led me down a path into the forest. “Don’t turn around". We walked deeper into the woods until we reached a small clearing with wooden pews and a pulpit. There were only two people nearby, lounging on a picnic blanket—a woman reading and a man relaxing.

Daniel set up in front of me. When I finally turned around, I saw a small table with a guitar and a music box resting on top. He started the music and began to sing, his voice trembling slightly with nerves, but full of emotion. He sings of a million dreams, of waiting, of God's hand in our relationship.

He ended with a song from Anastasia, a musical he likes, called In a Crowd of Thousands. In the final moments of the song, the character kneels as he realizes the woman before him is royalty. And that’s exactly what Daniel did. He knelt.

His words were a blur of emotion, but what stood out was his deep love for me, how I point him to Christ, and the simple yet powerful question: “Will you marry me?”

“Yes.” I answered softly, then, more firmly, “I will.”

P.S. Those "strangers" in the background? They were actually our photographer and videographer, capturing the entire moment, and that's how we have the exact moment captured in the pictures on this page.

Daniel's perspective

Tze Hui is not easy to surprise - so when I heard that her lab would going on a retreat on the mountain an hour's drive away, I figured that would be the perfect time and place to turn up and surprise her. I had planned everything in secret - from asking her parents, to getting the custom ring (there's a funny story there involving plaster hands*), to booking the perfect local photographer & videographer*** to capture the moment, to ordering a custom music box from Taiwan (the Muro Box) and commissioning arrangements of songs that were meaningful to us****, to trucking a carload of equipment out to the middle of the forest and donning hidden microphones.

But the best of men's plans can only go so far. When I woke up at 7AM on the morning of the proposal, the sunny forecast had turned into a storm warning. I conferred rapidly with my photographer who thankfully moved up our schedule.

I drove to the spot and positioned my car in a place where she couldn't miss it... or so I thought. Tze Hui almost drove off from her lab retreat without me. I had asked her friend to make sure that she didn't get on the car. Her friend stood in front of the car door, but Tze Hui deftly moved her out of the way and got into the car. The car was almost out of the parking lot when I decided I didn't want to start a car chase and honked.

Thank God that he indeed did hold the rain at bay for just the right amount of time - the rain finally came pouring down after we took the last photo as we all walked back to our cars, leaving us soaked to the bone (my shoes never recovered). Showers of blessing, indeed.

* To avoid arousing suspicion, when we celebrated our dating anniversary a couple of months earlier, I asked Tze Hui to make one of those plaster hand moulds with me, so that I had a plaster cast of her ring finger. While it certainly impressed everyone at the ring shop, it turns out that it wasn't such a great idea - the size was wildly off!

** Many of our Pittsburgh friends were busy giving birth to babies

*** the most talented Carmen May and Chad Steinbugl who I wrote a LONG email to and asked for an impossible place ("quiet", "good lighting", "decent acoustics", "Picturesque, pretty: water, sky, grass") and she found exactly such a place for me! They are an amazing couple and I'm so thankful to call them friends!

**** I was blessed to work with my friend Chunzhi, a talented composer who sat down with me in the music recording room a few nights before the proposal, and the Muro Box team including Dr. Tsai and Ms. Liu