just another day…

just have to share an “Africa day” with all of you. Tsega is getting married on Saturday and we’ve been joining in on some of the pre-wedding fun 🙂 Yesterday we rode along…no wait, we actually became the TAXI for 14 people 🙂 We went to a clothing market here…it was unbelievable…suk after suk of traditional and cultural clothing and then some that looked kind of like bad prom dresses…but we were able to find the girls fancy dresses for Tsega’s wedding and Caleb a traditional outfit (he was the most challenging 🙂 and we had to go to 5 suks for him to find the right fit that wasn’t too long, too itchy..the right color, etc…:) Anyway, yesterday was super successful and so fun to be a part of…Ethiopian weddings can last for days, but I guess Christian weddings generally go for 2 and then much feasting for a week to follow…so Tsega and her sister are getting married together…they have to wear a white gown and veil for the actual wedding day (It looks much like Western style–i’m sure this is not the case down country, but here in Addis…this is the way…) Then on day 2 of the wedding they wear a very fancy gown in their home and visitors come all day…They rented matching dresses for day 2…they are so precious!! We’ve gotten to know their fiancés and they are both wonderful, kind men…Tsega’s youngest sister Hewyot has been helping out this week with the kids during our 2 hours of language while Tsega is busy 🙂 they really love her….

Doesn’t Dave look amazing?!? Check out those legs!!

Look at my pretty girls!!

SO Today, was a series of unfortunate wedding events…and thankfully we’re all in one piece and everyone did AMAZING…Tsega and her sister spent the entire morning until 2 getting beautiful in a salon that lost power for most of the morning…they were running about 2 hours behind schedule and we were heading outside of Addis to do photos in an amazing meadow with mountains, cows, horses and other African beauties in the back drop…however, after driving for nearly an hour–stopping to get flowers, but there weren’t any to be had…seeing a very close car accident, within feet of the back end of our car…with 11 people in our car (2 men in Tuxedos) and the brides in their huge gowns in the car in front of us…we finally arrived near a field…and the RAIN began to pour…the sky grew darker and thunder and lightning began. Oh, it was so sad. Everyone sat quietly waiting and saying “Sorry.” to one another…We waited for a long time. A small boy, maybe Ella’s age was standing with a whip in his hand tending to his cows, he was wearing rags and a large plastic garbage bag for a jacket…it was one of those striking moments here. Dave and another man with us talked with him and shared a bit of food…

Finally surrendering to the fact that the rain was not stopping, the ‘program’, as they call it here, was changed…we decided to drive back to Addis and go to the Studio for photos…Caleb got car sick. We drove only a few minutes and came upon a bad accident between a huge truck and an even bigger bus…thankfully no one was hurt and there were approximately 100 people outside directing the cars away from the jam. We drove again for nearly an hour, arriving at the photo studio where they all tiptoed through the mud and into a studio decorated like a traditional village. Wow. We had been in the car for close to 4 hours…the kids did amazingly well…everyone was patient and so entertained with all the goats, donkeys, dogs and cows around. We did buy bread at a few different suks so the kids maintained…and we decided to go for ice cream cones after we dropped the wedding party off…we didn’t arrive home until close to 8…having had bread and ice cream for dinner. I poured bowls of cereal for this crazy bunch (whom I LOVE so much) …our friend arrived with his son who had an absess on his foot…so kids are hungrily munching bran flakes while poor Levi is screaming as Dave removes a thorn from the bottom of his foot.

Yesterday, our Ethiopian friend here said, “Every day in Africa is a long day.” Today, I say “Amen” to that. Please pray for some sunshine to bless this sweet family this weekend!!