How Scott and Jette Met

(A "whirlwind romance" of only 14 years)
As told by Jette and approved by Scott

Scott and I met in 1982 at the Valley Vineyard Christian Fellowship in San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles County, California); we actually dated briefly but things didn't work out, although we remained friends and saw each other often at church-related functions. [NOTE: This photo of us was taken by our friend Terri Uyehara at Disneyland's Blue Bayou Restaurant in 1985; can you believe that we ever looked this young?! I was still wearing braces.] In November 1989, Scott moved to Sunnyvale to become a computer programmer in Silicon Valley for Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin); in 1992, I moved to Anaheim to work for Pastor Kevin Springer at the Anaheim Vineyard.

In late 1994, I became the administrator for the Desert Springs Vineyard Christian Fellowship (DSVCF), a new church being planted in Palm Desert, California by Kevin and Suzanne Springer. I was assigned to purchase a new computer for the church, but I don't know anything about buying computers (just how to use them). Scott knows all about these things, so I called him for help. Scott then assembled and purchased a system in Sunnyvale (cheaper prices), and drove nine hours from Sunnyvale to Palm Desert to set it up in the DSVCF office. Up until this point, he used to drive to Southern California perhaps two or three times a year to visit his family in Orange County, but now — being the responsible person he is — he started visiting every couple of months to check on the DSVCF computer, install new software, help me with any problems, etc..

Well, it turns out that Pastor Kevin was observing all this but not saying anything. Finally, in late fall 1995, Kevin said to me, "Jette, Scott likes you," and I said, "Oh no, we're just friends," and Kevin said, "No, Jette; friends don't drive nine hours from Sunnyvale to Palm Desert just to fix a friend's church computer," and I said, "I would do that for a friend," and Kevin said, "No, Jette: guys don't do that for friends. I'm a guy, I know these things." Kevin pointed out a few things to me (from a guy's perspective) and started me thinking.

On Superbowl Sunday on January 28, 1996, Scott celebrated his birthday with family and friends at Disneyland. He began holding my hand (!!). That night, while we were driving together to Palm Desert (Scott was staying there overnight with our good friend Dennis Balloy, who was asleep in the back seat), I asked Scott how he felt about our relationship, and he surprised me with a very deep, thoughtful answer. So, we decided to investigate matters further. We started phoning each other every few days, then every other day, then daily. I knew it was pretty serious when he stopped watching "Star Trek" reruns in order to talk with me on the phone.

And then Scott and I attended the Marriage Renewal Conference that the Springers did at VCF Anaheim in March. It opened up lots of topics for discussion, and Pastor Kevin counseled us that Sunday. He also gave us a premarital inventory test to help determine compatibility, and said (as only Kevin can): "You guys, at your ages, none of this long-term business. You need to step it up!" (Scott and I have known each other for 14 years and have never before been married, even though we weren't getting any younger.) So we decided that we should see each other every month instead of every other month.

So, in April 1996, I flew up to visit Scott, see his apartment, visit his church, meet some of his friends, etc. I also took along the VCF Anaheim premarital training class materials (teachers' manual) that Kevin and Suzanne Springer helped create; Scott and I did half of the homework and classroom exercises on that visit. On Tuesday night, Scott finally decided he had to decide, so he took a sheet of paper with the list of all qualities he wanted in a wife, and he scored me on each quality (1 to 5 points), then calculated the percentages so that a "perfect" wife is 100%. I scored 91.25%, but he wanted to be surer than that, so he took a second sheet of paper and listed all the reasons to not marry me, and the reasons to marry me that he couldn't figure out points for (reasons such as "because she's Jette"). The positive list was longer than the negative list. So he told me Wednesday morning that he had made his decision (although he didn't tell me about the process until after we were engaged). I told him to not tell me what his decision was until he was absolutely sure (because I didn't want to go on a roller-coaster of emotions while he was deciding and un-deciding).

On Thursday morning, April 11, Scott picked me up from where I was staying, to drive me to San Jose for my return flight to the desert. But on our way to the San Jose Airport, he stopped at the Palo Alto Airport, rented a small plane from the flying club where he is a member (he flies as a hobby), took me for a tour of San Francisco Bay, and proposed over Alcatraz Prison Island. Quite a surprise!! (And romantic, since I'm in ministry to HIV-infected prisoners.)

Kevin and Suzanne Springer were engaged for six weeks before their own wedding in 1969, so they were very supportive of our decision to get married in just ten weeks, on June 22. We picked the first weekend after school was out (so my nephews in Oregon could fly down for the wedding). As it turns out, Scott's employer (Lockheed Martin) decided in May to send him to New Jersey for a short-term assignment — immediately — so we had to get married soon so that we could travel together. But we decided to have a "real" wedding so all our friends and family could come, although it was tempting to just get married at the county clerk's office with an Elvis impersonator. Photos are on the wedding page!