This past Monday, the 24th, we had the joy of standing beside our dear friends before the county officials as their witnesses. It was alot of fun to watch their excitement for each other! They looked great too...all new outfits! Then later that day, we hosted a reception in their honor at our house!
Oh I wish we had our laptop and you could see all the pictures...we will post them as soon as we get the laptop back from repairs in the States. Lots of fun! We transformed our house into the best looking banquet hall this side of the ocean!!! Candles and twinkling lights were the main decor. We had a house full of their Aja friends and our teammates, the Prices, were a big help with serving the food and drinks as well as helping us with our kids! The reception was in full swing and demanded every bit of our attention right around 6:30p until well after 9p! For any of your other parents, is that not your busiest time of the day, too?? Thanks to our SDAWA for your help!! I got to share with them some words of encouragement and counsel. I usually do this in Aja...with lots of errors...but this time I did it in French...AND with a video camera staring right at me (we helped them hire this videographer to help them have a great memory of this day). I was so nervous. I was so flustered that toward the end, I was wanting to work in some line about having them display their love for us by asking them to hug or kiss or something...they hugged at the civil ceremony in the morning and I wanted every one to see that...but I did not have that phrase well translated nor written in my notes...I got so flustered with the video guy literally two feet from...all my mind could begin to think of was saying something that, IN FRENCH, would have come out something like:
FOR THE PLEASURE OF ALL US SEATED HERE IN FRONT OF YOU, PLEASE MAKE LOVE TO ONE ANOTHER IN A WAY THAT DEMONSTRATES TO ALL OF US THAT YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER.....Yikes!!!!! Thank goodness I DID NOT say that....just one of those POTENTIAL language blunders!!!!!
In spite of my errors, it was a fun night and all their African friends had a blast. There was a moment when our friend, Ega, launched into about 30 minutes of Aja praise songs and the whole place erupted in dancing ... uh, except for us Americans! It was so much fun to see their joy!
It will be a few weeks late, but we will post some pictures of the day!
On another note: Daddy Boot Camp arrives in about 2 weeks to the day....the other day, Timo said: "DADDY, WHAT WE GONNA DO AT DADDY POOP PAN?"
Love that guy! Have a great day...Happy Birthday to our niece, Garyn, on Saturday!!
-Randy