There are certain people in the world who love their families but pride themselves in being independent.  And then there are people like Rachel and Garrett, who love their families and pride themselves in being deeply rooted to the people who have made them who they are.  

In fact, Rachel used to live with Garrett's sister during the summers she spent working at Bluewater Bible Camp (a great place to meet your spouse, I might add).  The girls used to joke about how great it would be to be sisters and then one fine day, Garrett started working at camp as well.  Rachel & Garrett connected, not because they were totally free-spirited and individualistic, but because they both had a sense of place and people to which they belonged.  And, as faith and fate would have it, they belonged to people and places that would keep bringing them back together.

So it was no surprise that when Garrett asked Rachel to marry him with a great big banner strung between two trees in an apple picking orchard, it was Rachel's family and friends who helped pull off the big proposal.  And before the two of them headed my way for engagement photos, they had spent a week with Garrett's family for Christmas, not simply passing through but fully immersed in the joy and necessity of good people and loving family.  

When my family and I were back in my hometown of Crookston, MN for New Years, Rachel and Garrett agreed to drive even further north into the cold and flat to do their engagement photos.  Since we were gathering in a place our family is from (Rachel is my cousin) there was one place that required a photo.  The entrance gardens at the local University of Minnesota campus are dedicated to our grandfather, a man whose work ethic, unwavering faith and uncommon kindness has been instilled in generations.