It all started in summer 2023. Brooke was home from Iowa on summer break from college and Jared was very involved at Grace Bible Church, especially in the young adult ministry, CORE. During that summer, Brooke got involved with CORE herself. As she started to go to more hangouts and events, she couldn’t help but start to notice a certain gentleman. He, however, paid little attention to her… So when did things start for Jared, you might ask. There are three events that stand out in his mind: 1) late night frisbee in the parking lot, he remembers that being one of the first nights they hung out. 2) A group from CORE went to Buffalo Wild Wings and Brooke joined, this was a little out of character for her and Jared picked up on it. 3) And lastly, a group went fishing and played games for the evening and this was the turning point for Jared in knowing that he liked her. But, Jared felt like the timing wasn’t right with her moving back to Iowa. So, no action was taken on his end, and Brooke was still unsure how he felt. By the end of the summer, Brooke knew she liked him, yet was slightly annoyed because 1) she was about to move back to Iowa and 2) Jared had not asked for her number. Once Brooke got back to Iowa, she decided she wasn’t going to do anything about Jared, and put it in the Lord’s hands. Jared, too, decided to trust the Lord’s timing if He wanted something more to come from a relationship with Brooke. Skip to January 2024, Brooke, Jared, and some others from CORE went to the CROSSCON in Kentucky. They hung out as a group and got to know each other a little more, but the significant moment of that trip was the 10 hour road trip back home sitting by each other (which was strategically planned by Brooke and her friend). By the end of the trip, Jared was confident that he was going to ask for her number, but he chickened out. So, the next best thing, he was going to give Brooke and her twin, Bradi, a ride home; he even had Brooke’s stuff in his car. Bradi, however, thought the three mile detour was TOO far out of his way and insisted they go with someone else who was “more on the route” (which was still a three mile detour). So, Jared unloads Brooke luggage and someone else takes Brooke and her dear sister home. So did Jared ever get her number before she went back to Iowa? No. After taking a little bit of time to pray about it (and type a message for three days), Jared reached out to Brooke through GroupMe once she was back at Emmaus. Brooke receives this well crafted message in an inopportune time, leaving Brooke the hard task of trying to focus on what she was doing and not the message she’d been hoping for. Once she was finally able to look at the message, she was excited to see he had confessed his love for her (ok, maybe he just said he liked her) and asked if they could stay in touch! And that was the start of their relationship. They got to know each other over the phone, first texting, then phone calls, and finally facetime (neither of them miss this stage of getting to know each other–there were several awkward calls). They started officially dating in May of 2024 when Jared came up for Brooke’s graduation. Since then, many flower bouquets have been sent to Brooke’s work, Jared still has yet to beat Brooke at slap jack, countless amounts of time has been spent talking on the phone, and they reached their record call length of 6+ hours! August 21, 2025 Jared drove up to Iowa on a random Thursday to surprise Brooke with a proposal! With the help of Brooke’s friend and weeks of planning by Jared, Brooke went to the arboretum with said friend to find Jared waiting with flowers, pictures, and a ring! With an overjoyed YES, they were engaged!