We start our story way back in 2009 when Ashley Gafkjen attended First Assembly of God's youth group, where Rachel was a leader. Rachel & Ashley had an instant soul connection, they would dare say a divine setup. Many years had gone by and despite the 9 year age difference, they became close friends. In 2013, believing their chance to ever be roommates passed, Rachel was honored to be asked to witness Ashley & Ryan Ham's wedding, as a bridesmaid. However in 2017 Rachel found herself, for the first time ever, without single girlfriends to live with {a significant feat to reach actually}... Ryan & Ashley Ham re-entered the scene! Rachel moved into their home's basement apartment and they three enjoyed watching 'Parks & Rec" while sipping on peppermint herbal tea, almost every evening, before bed. FAST FORWARD to Christmas 2018 : Ashley mentioned Rachel's existence to Janet Gafkjen... plotting for Jared. Jared automatically responded with a "no thank you!" lol... UNTIL Jared's brother, Todd, sat down with Jared and explained how Rachel was one of the best women that he knew of {thanks Todd!} & that Jared would be a fool to not check for chemistry. Several weeks later Jared contacted Rachel via Facebook Messenger. He claimed he was making a baby blanket for Ryan & Ashley's new baby boy, Silas. {white lies} But that he was unaware of the nursery colors, claiming that Todd has been of no help. Rachel, completely guileless, offered to send him photos of the nursery. After a few messages back and forth concerning this guise... Rachel became slightly suspicious. A few days later, Jared asked if he could get to know Rachel better. She nervously agreed. April 5 they finally met in person & by June they were dating! I am so hilariously flabbergasted at how God has been shaping my friendship with Ashley & now I get to be her AUNT!

28 November 2019 : Rachel was over early in the morning to have Jared's help in making the stuffing for the large Wegner Thanksgiving lunch & dinner. Rachel cried her eyes almost swollen shut as she attempted to help Jared mince the 10 onions, with frequent trips outside to escape the pungent onion fumes. After the onions, Rachel finished the stuffing preparation, as Jared prepared them a delicious egg & spinach breakfast. With the stuffing in the oven, they sat down to eat. Once finished eating, Jared started dishes... Rachel began tidying up the kitchen - putting things away in the pantry. Jared then asked Rachel if she was sure she really wanted a future that included 2 toddlers & a domesticated man {a frequent & annoying question posed to her}, Rachel replied "of course Jared" Jared responded with a challenging parry "how certain are you?" Rachel boisterously answered "I'm 1000% certain!", turning to face him, to further jeer him... only this time she found him down on one knee.

Rachel officially moved down to the Rochester area a week earlier than planned, thanks to the awesome snow storm just before New Years. Which closed down all the major highways, in every direction, into Fargo. No one complained about this. Rachel is thankful that she is no longer driving the 10 hour round trip every other weekend - her Jeep has put in over 14,500 miles this past year from Fargo to Rochester. Rachel started inpatient phlebotomy at Mayo Clinic in February. January held lots of wedding planning and the wonderful work of merging their lives together in more visible ways, as Rachel integrated more of her things into their home. {Not yet living there, but still} Rachel has been enjoying daily quality time with Embrick & Aven ... who fill her extra time with giggles, Star Wars sword fights, Nerf gun chases, Transformers battles, hugs and kisses, cartoons, bedtime story books, couch cuddles... and HIKES OUTSIDE! The future looks bright & fun! Rachel is concerned about ONE THING... the loss of her strict 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep regimen. She is accepting prayers now.

Our 70 day engagement season was needless to say... SHORT and sweet. Engaged Thanksgiving morning... married February 7th! February 2 Rachel was sitting at her computer, wedding planning, and she felt the Lord ask her why she was waiting on marrying Jared. Obviously I had lots to say on that, our wedding is in May! I can wait until May. But the Lord kept asking and prodding. Rachel posed the question to Jared on February 3 (same day Rachel started at Mayo). They went to the courthouse to get the liscense on February 4, called Jared’s parents for their consent and help. (Ernie is a retired AG pastor) Called Ginny to ask if her and Jim (& kids) could come over to Ernie & Jan’s on Friday evening for some family time. Eric & Amy (& kids) were staying the weekend for a visit and were already there Friday night... February 7. Jared announced to the room, after a half hour of catching up, that he’d like to invite them all to our wedding. Confused silence filled the room. Everyone in the room had recieved our invitations in the mail that week, and 5 of our wedding party memebers were present... so they knew they were invited. I giggle and announced “well you see, we’ve decided not to wait until May. We’d like to be married tonight.” Surprised, happy & confused noise flooded the room. It was a very joyful cacophony! In hind sight, am I ever glad we listened to Holy Spirit and got hitched ahead of COVID. Especially since our May 17th wedding had to be rescheduled to October 11th.