church wedding...

Imagine that! Annikah's teacher got married last weekend and it was a BIG to-do. Anni and I were invited and she talked about what she would wear for days. Wearing dress up jewelry to all big events is one reason Anni dearly loves this place. You can never have too much bling. Impossible really. And that suits my Anni Joy quite well.

The wedding itself was in a the big Catholic church in the center of town and Anni and I went with all the other teachers from the school crammed into teh head teacher's car. We arrived early (by about 10 minutes) and were the only ones in the huge church so Anni had plenty of time to explore. She was amazed at the vastness of the building and kept pointing out the pictures of Jesus everywhere. One of the reasons I love having children is they remind me to really look at things. To appreciate that which I take for granted as existing in my grown up world. She took it all in.


Anni could not get enough of the church and her wonder was infectious. After chatting with everyone that arrived slowly we our seats and watched the wedding. And it was LONG. Around hour 3 I was exceedingly thankful I had made the decision to leave Evy at home with J. Annikah did amazingly well as she is quite used to waiting and waiting and waiting some more. One of her friends from school was the flower girl and they entertained themselves the entire time; sitting next to each other in the pews, changing seats, comparing bling, swinging their feet, playing with their offering money, and telling secrets.




And I love a culture where complete silence is not expected or demanded. After almost 3 hours as I felt sweat drip down my legs and back under my satin and polyester get-up I looked over to where Anni had decided to sit and saw her dead asleep on her teacher from last year's lap.

She quickly awoke when it was time to greet the couple and dance your way to the front though. She kept telling me over and over again "my teacher is so pretty!"

After about 3 hours the last pronouncement was made (no kissing but they did exchange rings...so different from the predominant culture here I felt like I was learning everything all over again) and the processional started to exit the church only Anni could not be left out and quickly made her way to the front of the wedding party! I motioned to her and she started to come back only to have the bride and groom insist she stay and lead everyone out of the church. She then posed for about 30 minutes of pictures outside the church and even helped lead the processional through the streets dancing to the choir still going strong after all those hours! It was the talk of the car ride home (and the week) let me tell you.