We meet at Linn Lanes in Lebanon, OR. in September of 1983. By January we were living together and my parents were not happy. They knew for sure that Matt would get me pregnant and leave me. We had been planning on a July wedding but on Monday April 9th we decided to go to the court house on Thursday April 12, 1984 to make it legal. We still fully intended on having the July wedding. However, to our surprise, two weeks later we found out that we were a month pregnant. Anyhow, there was no way I was going to walk down the aisle pregnant so here we are 25 years later. Matt swept me off my feet and he has paid for it ever since. All kidding aside, we credit our happy marriage to the Lord. For we know without a doubt that if it was not for the Lord we would not have each other. God has given us the strength to stay together through thick and thin.

This is our 25th anniversary and we never had a wedding. So we are renewing our vows on April 10th in Lebanon, OR as well as on April 12th on the cruise ship. The ceremony on April 10th will begin at 7:00 pm at the River Center (the old WalMart). David and Bryan (our sons) will be on Matt’s side. Cheryl Kennedy (my sister-in-law) and Krista (Bryan’s wife) will be on Helen’s side. Helen’s dad will be walking her down the aisle. Nevaeh (our granddaughter) will be the flower girl and DJ (our grandson) will be the ring bearer.

The reception will also be at the River Center following the ceremony.

We fly to Houston ,TX on April 11th and will spend the night there. We will be taking a shuttle to Galveston, TX where we board the ship. There will be 9 of us in the party; Matt, Helen, Bryan (our son), Krista (daughter-in-law), Stan and Debra Eades, Joshia (their son) and Dave and Ester Larson. We will spend seven days on the cruise ship and another night in Galveston before we head back to Portland, OR.

Thank you for helping us make this the "wedding we never had". We appreciate the blessings God has given us and count you as one of those blessings.