Yesterday, my friend Valia and her daughter Lyra and son Vanya (yes, he's the one in pink that I'm holding) came over to make pizzas with me for Katia's wedding today. It was fun to have the time talking, and it was a blessing to have help because our electricity was out again in all of our apartment except for the refrigerator and oven! What a blessing that they worked! Anyways, it was so nice to have them because we were able to finish just as it was getting dark. Then we made dinner and ate by candlelight. Leif tried to fiddle around in the fuse box, but it was glowing and he almost died a few weeks ago trying to fix the wires (it burned a hole in our pliers!) so he decided to leave it alone. An electrician came last night and fixed it, so now all is well . Hooray!
I was thinking about how much work it would be to plan a wedding in Russia. Some things are more simple- there's one gov't office that everyone goes to get married. There are standard locations that everyone gets their pictures taken, etc. But Katia had to go to a bizillion different stores to find 10 candles that all matched! And to find a few yards of ribbon all the same color! She borrowed our dishes, since they are red and her wedding color was red. And she had different people prepare pizza and desserts and sandwiches. It was really neat to see how loved she (and her husband, Sasha) are and how many people in their lives support them.
Sasha and Katia radiated joy and many people sang, gave words of inspiration and encouragement, showed videos, and acted in skits (Leif was in a couple and I was even in one... I just didn't know it until they called me up there. Ha!). For one part, the emcee read different love letters and women in the audience had to yell out if they thought their husband wrote it. I didn't know that Leif had written one, but when I heard a letter, I knew it was from him. I yelled out and was relieved that I was right! The service was about 5 hours long, and this didn't include the trip to the government office to become official. Katia and Sasha's day began at 9:00am with the "buying of the bride", where Sasha proved his love for her, and ended at about 7:30pm. They must be so tired! But happy. It was fun to be a part of this special day.
2 comments:
jami, you have the best stories. that is so funny about the love letters and how you have to yell out! and you are such a good sport about no electricity in your house. man, i say this everytime but i SO wish we were living in the same location and 'enjoying' the craziness of foreign living together. I feel like you'd help my attitude SO much. OH MAN. love, gina
It is so nice to see pictures of Valia, Lyra and Vanya.
Yes, your days are so full of...what's the word???
Still praying for protection and praise the Lord that Leif is ok! Baba
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