About Rachal

I am a daughter of two Army Veteran's, my dad was a Vietnam Vet, and my mom was State Side Vietnam Era Vet as the war ended. My Grandfather was a Purple Heart Recipient in the Korean War. My parents and my grandparents were hard working and led by example for work ethics and doing your part to help others in need. Education was most important for my parents and grandparents. I am currently finishing my degree at St. Catharine's University.

My husband Chris and I were high school sweethearts and have been married for 28 years. We have three children, two of which are biological and one we were blessed with. Tayler is 28 and lives in Bemidji, Tyler is 26 and lives in Ramsey, and our bonus child Shelby lives in Blaine. We also have two wonderful grandchildren, Remi who is three and Mason who is two.

We started out living on the East Side of St. Paul, but after our house flooded the city bought our house (a little fun fact as they city bought 2 blocks of houses that was in the same bill as the Excel Energy Center). So, our house hunt began. We started looking on the side of town we lived in, but we were able to get more land on this side of town. We also have no neighbors behind or across from us. We built 23 years ago, over those 23 years we have seen the city grow and still enjoy the hometown feel.

Our kids went to Peter Enich Kindergarten Center, Ramsey Elementary, Sandberg Middle School, Anoka High School, and Hamline University. Tayler was a Psychology and Religion Major, and Tyler is a Business Administration Major. Tayler went on to St. Mary's for her doctorate (but took a break when I was sick) she has her master’s now and is close to her Doctorate. Tayler was our dancer (GO TWISTERS) and Tyler was in Youth Hockey (GO Tornado's). Our bonus child Shelby came into our life at the end of high school. She is one of the best mom’s and daughters. We met so many wonderful families. I am an advocate of helping the kids for school supplies and for activities. It was a huge expense and not always easy for people to afford, but if there is a fundraiser, I am all for it. I believe that all kids should be able to be in activities and it should not be a burden, but many schools had to reduce money to them. If I could fund them all I would be happy too, I just do what I can, when I can.

We are a dedicated family to The Minnesota Epilepsy Foundation, we found them after our daughter Tayler was diagnosed Periventricular Bi-nodular Heterotopia on December 26th, 2006. So, what is that? It is a form of Epilepsy. We wanted to wrap Tayler in a bubble to protect her, but The EFMN helped us understand how she could live a great life. She was also The Winning Kid in 2009. She threw the first pitch at the Twins game (at the dome) was on TV for a news segment, represented MN in Washington D.C. and met our Senators and Representatives. She learned to advocate for herself and others. She was also on the Youth Council and has written poems for the Epilogs. Again, we have met amazing families. We spent out Day at the Capitol with Jim Abler every year. He has always been so generous to us and the EFMN.

We live on a WONDERFUL Lane, 148th Lane. We are all at different stages in life, but we always seem to make it work for our get togethers. We celebrate everything from a birth of a baby to when we are in need. On Christmas Eve 2019 we received the worst news we could imagine. I had Stage 3 grade 3 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma and it was Triple Negative. The prognosis was dim. The day before my first chemo treatment we had a dinner at the Reimer’s house. It was amazing all the love and support from twelve families. They gave me all sorts of things to help me with my journey. When we went to go home all the houses had pink lights. I finished chemo on May 26th, 2020, and once again they were all cheering me on and decorated the house for my return. I would later find out that chemo did the job, and I was CANCER FREE. I still had to have a few surgeries and deal with some long-term side effects, but with the help from my AMAZING husband and children along with many families and friends it was much easier than it could have been. The best events we have done yearly is the 4th of July, Nite to Unite, Labor Day, and Pumpkin Carving. When we know the kids on the block have an event, we love it. It does not matter what it is we attend games, dance events, or whatever they are up to. We make it a date night and have so much fun.