Yuliya and Bryan's love story actually started 20 years ago, in a town called Escondido, California. There they both attended a small Christian school in the year of 2003.

This was Bryan's last year before graduating from middle school and Yuliya's first year attending as a 6th grader. And although they may have exchanged a smile passing each other in the hallway or were around the same exact teachers - and even had a class period together - you couldn't really call them friends. From what they recall, they never even spoke to one another.

Their very first conversation did not occur until TEN years later when Facebook recommended Bryan to Yuliya as someone she may know. Excitedly to see someone she recognized, she sent him a friend request and followed up with a message, " Hey, how are you doing? This is Yuliya, the Russian girl who went to Light & Life (Christian School) with you." Four days later he replied with, " Hi!!! It has been a while hasn't it lol :) I have been good. Just working a lot. How have you been?" To which unfortunately, he did not receive a response for many years.

It was right person, wrong time. And God was not done working on them yet. They were both in the wrong relationships at that the time and both needed to grow and change before they could really appreciate one another.

It wasn't until Christmas morning of 2021, when Yuliya reached out to Bryan wishing him a very merry Christmas when things really started to change.

You see 2020 and 2021 were such hard times for so many. Our worlds were flipped upside-down with Covid and we all grieved over so many loved ones.

Yuliya used to mail out Christmas cards each year, but in 2021, she was feeling blue and instead of mailing out Christmas cards, she just went through her contacts and social media to wish everyone Merry Christmas. Bryan was among the lucky ones to receive a message.

Bryan, curious as he was, started to investigate her profile and noticed that she was living in North Carolina, not too far from him. This time, Bryan and Yuliya talked day and night. For five days Bryan and Yuliya just messaged each other non-stop. Then they decided to video chat on New Years Eve. At that point, they had not seen each other since middle school. Around 9PM, Yuliya just got done getting ready for her friend's New Year's party, when Bryan messaged her that it was a good time to call. They were both very excited to see each other. While Bryan and Yuliya were video chatting for the first time, Bryan mentioned how he wished Yuliya was there with him to celebrate the New Year's. Without missing a beat, Yuliya said "OKAY, send me your address". Surprised with her response, he did. And on the whole 3 hour drive he was in disbelief that she was actually coming to see him. Like a fairytale, right before the clock struck midnight, Yuliya and Bryan re-met face to face since grade school! A blessing From God! On 2022 New Year's Day, Bryan took his family and Yuliya to a special park where Bryan and Yuliya would fall in love.

Bryan and Yuliya were inseparable. A special bond grew between them. In March of 2023 they bought a house together and Yuliya moved to South Carolina. Bryan proposed to Yuliya on September 16th, 2023, at the same park where they went to on their first New Years Day together.

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