To Whom It May Concern

Today is June 6th here in Shanghai (I know it's still the 5th for some of you), the day we celebrate 6 years of marriage!

It was 6 years ago today when I married Tim in the Salt Lake City Temple.

I was about 6 months off of my mission when I met Emily, Tim's sister at work. She said she had a "mandarin speaking brother". The first thought was that I was dating someone else, and didn't pursue it.

Then, on November 3rd, I looked up from the shelf stocking I was doing to see Em talking to a tall good looking guy. I was sure it was her husband so I got back to stocking. Then she called over to me and told me it was Tim her brother. Our very first conversation was in Chinese. So I guess you could say he had me at Nihao. Only one problem. I was dating someone else. But immediately I started to think of friends. I thought he was too good to pass up, and probably too good for a sporadic girl like me anyway. I honestly remember trying to set him up with Kim Goalen. Tim and Kim, catchy, I thought.

Behind the scenes Tim had finished his BA, and was hired with GM and ready for his first day at work for them on September 12th, 2001 out of state. Of course because of 9-11, there was a huge hiring freeze and Tim was basically laid off before his first day at work. So one day his mom mentioned "you should go visit Em at work, it's her birthday". So he brought Emily a candle and it was a good excuse for him to meet me. After all, Emily had been checking my schedule for Tim to make sure things matched up perfectly.

Next thing I knew I was working and Tim came rushing in. "There's a chinese family that moved in on my street, and they don't speak any english. They want to tour Temple Square." The missionary memories of Taiwan flooded in my mind and I couldn't say no. I didn't know his intention. But apparently, he sat in his little red truck conjuring up this plot. He had just met this family that week while they were taking a walk. And because he knew (thanks Emily) I'd be in that afternoon, he made the first proposal. I said "Of course! And I have some other chinese speaking friends in the area". So I gathered up Michelle Rock and Cheyanne Cameron to come with me. Then Tim had to find two chinese speaking friends too, Josh and James to balance the ratios.

The whole first date was in mandarin, and we barely made eye contact. Then I was too nervous to talk to him, since I was already committed, so every time his name flashed on my caller ID, my heart would stop. He left a voice message that went like this "Suzanne! That Chinese couple owns a restaurant, and would like to return the favor by treating us to dinner." Well of course I wasn't going to answer the phone then! I didn't want to lose him, but I wanted to be true to my commitments. For two weeks he called. For two weeks I searched for worthy friends.

Then things dissipated with this other "commitment", and my brother flew in town. Because I had to work, I set up things for my brother to do to keep him busy. I sent him to hang out with some guy friends. Then Tim, as a last ditch effort called during that very weekend. It was perfect, and I asked him to entertain Todd. So one guy hung out in the area with Todd, another took him to the family's cabin for skiing and snowmobiling. And Tim, true to his name, took Todd to the Chinese Acrobat performance. I thought this was perfect, my brother could sort them out for me. Kind of like a "first round elimination", totally recommend this to my single friends.

Tim said I was "hard to get". But truth be told, I was just overwhelmed at how lucky I would be to be the gal at his side. And while I am careful not to paint a too rosy of a picture, I will say that we are well balanced.

We work like the gears on a watch, his strengths fill the holes of my weaknesses and he would tell you the same for my strengths and his weaknesses. He is perfect with the checkbook, and I know how to paint. He is very left-brained and I am very right-brained. He is very methodical and completes things on a task by task basis. I open every drawer in the house and create something. We both love: our boys, sci-fi movies, Hawaii, New York, Chinese and China, Kaula Pig, our families, tall glasses of water, adopted children, our church, Hummers, our friends, and a few others.

He may not be "God's gift to women", but he's God's gift to me. A perfect gift just for me. Just enough to keep me on my toes and keep me from being too obsessive about the small stuff