Two Love Stories ~ A Rabbit Rescue & A Proposal in Skagit County!

Catch hope & encouragement with Erica on weekday mornings from 5:00 AM  – 10:00 AM, and Sundays from 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Erica:

Who doesn’t love a love story that involves bunnies? And our special guests today have one. Jenna and Robert are joining us. Welcome to SPIRIT 1053. How are you two doing?

Jenna:

We’re doing great. How are you?

Erica:

I’m just delighted that you’re telling your story this morning, and I believe it’s one you’re going to be telling your grandkids someday.

Jenna:

Yeah, it’s really exciting. Thanks so much for inviting us to call in. It was completely unexpected, but it was just a really beautiful way to mark our union, I think.

Erica:

Oh, I believe so too. So, you all had a really special weekend planned in Skagit County. And what happened?

Jenna:

We were going camping with a group of people and we didn’t book the campground. It was a private campground on somebody’s small farm. So, we just got an address and we brought my dad’s old truck. We were taking some kayaks out. We pulled up to the property and our headlights were beaming under the shed, and we could see all of these little ears popping up. And my fiance, Robert, said, oh, Jenna, there’s bunnies. And when I could see the amount of bunnies in that really small little two by hutch, it’s just like my heart sank. I was like, this isn’t going to be a good situation. So we went up to them and they would get really excited whenever anyone would approach because they were so hungry all the time. I’ve never seen rabbits that hungry. They would, even if I just took a little piece of hay and threw it in there, they would mob it. It was the saddest thing.

Erica:

That is so sad. So you all made an important decision in this moment?

Jenna:

Yeah. We’re on the board of a rabbit rescue, ironically, called Bonanza, that’s based in Lynden. And so, the whole weekend, whenever I could get internet on my phone, I would be texting the other board members and I’d be like, what should we do? And we were, it’s a small home-based rescue, and we’re like, do we have capacity to take all 33? And it’s amazing that our network of volunteers, they just opened up their homes and their hearts and they’re like, we’ll find space for them. Just get them all out of there.

Erica:

Wow. And you all did. You literally emptied the cash out of your pockets, didn’t you?

Jenna:

Yeah, we had gone to another farm to do a trail ride, and while we were going through a town with an ATM, I just stopped by and I just pulled 200 out. And I had already tried to talk to the family about buying the rabbits, and they had told me $20, and I was like, so that’s going to be $600 for all of them. So I was like, let me just get 200. And I had 23 on me already. And the day that we were leaving, I just knocked on their door and I was very polite and said, Hey, this is all the money I have. Can I buy all the rabbits? And I explained to them I wasn’t going to criticize the way they were keeping the rabbits, but just that we were going to take them to a place where they would get fixed and adopted and they would be pet rabbits. And I could tell they didn’t really care. So luckily they agreed to sell them all to us for $223.

Erica:

How wonderful that you were able to show kindness, because that was such an unkind situation that those rabbits were in. Robert, in the meantime, you had a big plan that was supposed to unfold this weekend. So what happened with that?

Robert:

Right. Well, it almost didn’t work out because I wasn’t going to propose on a weekend where it would’ve been tainted by this horrible scene. So, I wanted to be sure that we’re going to rescue all the bunnies before I asked her to marry me. And once I felt like we could pull this off, I went ahead with my plan. I still had to put a lot of faith in it. And it worked out.

Erica:

I mean, you wanted to make sure those bunnies had a happily ever after, before you could start your own, right?

Robert:

Exactly. Yeah.

Erica:

And I’m guessing, Robert, that this is why you asked Jenna to marry you because she has such a beautiful heart.

Robert:

Definitely. She’s taught me a lot about compassion and love.

Erica:

Has she made you a big fan of rabbits too?

Robert:

Very, very. Yeah. I love her bunnies that are now in my life too. We have four beautiful bunnies here at our house.

Erica:

Oh, you guys both have such big hearts. Jenna, when did you fall in love with bunnies? When did you realize they were such amazing little creatures?

Jenna:

I had pet rabbits when I was a kid. My mom, she was a teacher, one of her coworkers had a bunny, had babies, and she just brought one home when the baby was old enough to be separated from his mom. That was my first bunny, Ebony. And so I always loved rabbits. And then as an adult, I kind went through school and I didn’t have any pets, and I was single and in my thirties and I just decided I’d become a rabbit lady. So yeah. And that was actually my first rescue. Somebody posted on Craigslist that she was going to send these bunnies to a butcher that day if nobody wanted them. So I just popped on the ferry and drove down to Port Orchard from Edmonds. And I just went to her house and I was just like, I’ll take them.

Erica:

You’re like a bunny hero and I love that so much. Do you feel like this weekend that you all had in Skagit County was like a divine appointment?

Jenna:

We really did feel like a higher power had guided us there to intercept the fate of those rabbits. Because if we hadn’t gone there, I think that those rabbits, there were six week old babies in there, but none of the rabbits that we pulled out were the moms. The moms had already been eaten. And so those rabbits were the products of generations of suffering in that crowded little hutch. And I really feel like I said a prayer on Friday night when we pulled up there. I hope we can pull this off, that we can get all these babies to safety. And I feel like it’s not a coincidence that we were taken there that weekend to save all those bunnies. And then that was also the weekend that we got engaged. And I feel like God, blessed our union by giving us an opportunity to save 33 rabbits.

Erica:

I believe that too. Jenna and Robert, thank you so much for telling your sweet love story on SPIRIT 1053, and may God continue to bless your union and those adorable bunnies. Thank you.

Robert:

Thank you.

Jenna:

Thank you so much for the opportunity to tell our story, and we really appreciate it.