Silver Anniversary Celebrating X 2

On a bright sunny Pennsylvanian Saturday, October 15, 1988, Katy and Randy were wed. Since both fathers were preachers both performed the ceremony and signed the marriage certificate. This led to confusion here in Germany because the names on the certificate were all the same. 25 years have gone by since then – very quickly!

We celebrated our 25th two different ways. On our actual anniversary we were on our trip to Santorini, Greece to celebrate just the 2 of us. Then when we returned home, the church threw a party for us.

1. We flew from Hannover at 6 am with a 4-hour layover in Vienna. There we had breakfast and celebrated because we met for the first time in Vienna 32 years ago. When we landed on the island of Santorini we asked ourselves what had we done. It was dry, brown and rocky. But when we arrived at our hotel across a little street from the black sand beach and the sea, we fell in love with the island.
We spent 6 nights on the black beach exploring the southern part of the isle. Then we spent 5 nights on the cliffs of the Caldera seeing the northern part of the island. The longest distance driving is about 40 miles; it is a small island. We took a boat cruise of the Caldera on our 25th, relaxing, swimming, exploring the volcano, enjoying the views and spending time with each other. The island had archeological sites, museums, beaches and coves, volcano, cliffs and views, narrow little alleys and towns of white washed buildings and churches of blue domes to investigate. The food was great, Greek and also Venetian influences, and local specialties.
A picture is worth a thousand words so check our albums…

2. The second celebration was at the church building with the church people and other friends. About 60 attended. The best thing for us was that we did not have to plan it ourselves. Normally in our part of Germany you throw your own parties but Kirstin, a woman in the church, took on the task and allowed us to nothing but appear. Two of the kids came up the stairs to get us and escort us to the party, where we were greeted and Joachim, our missionary and friend from the days of the youth group in Hannover, said a few words. The church building was decorated and cake was waiting for the first half of the party. Then there was a short program and after that finger food and salads for supper. Dear friends from Hildesheim, Roehrkasses und Bratchers, sang “These are Few of My Favorite Things” but changed the words to tell our story and memories. We then played a game to see how well we knew each other by answering questions. At the wedding in Lock Haven, PA Burkhard read I Corinthians 13 in German. Then Burkhard who was the only person who had been at the wedding and now at the 25th, did this again at our 25th. Randy had prepared a slide program with pictures of our meeting in 1981 and then all the years together. At the end the background music was Steve and Lisa singing “Household of Faith” original recording from the wedding. We would have loved it if they could have come and sang live but…
Pictures of the celebration also in an album; have a look.

25 years have gone so fast. A couple of things have made it possible. We have great examples in our parents. Katy has shown so much grace and Randy has really learned what grace means through her (Randy is writing this). We have not seen differences as bad but as completing each other. We appreciate each other’s strengths and are not threatened by them. We both can set aside our own wants for the needs of the other or wants of the other. We laugh together. We do not have to everything together; we have freedom to have other interests. Christ is the middle point of each of lives and we strive to die to self daily. Sweet 25 years and we look forward to another 25.

To see more pictures click here