I'm wearing borrowed clothes from a friend from JAARS (and our regular church). Olivia is wearing a dress from a family at JAARS who lived in Africa. My "headdress" is a long piece of material all wrapped up & tied. Thankfully, my friend had it already fixed, and I just had to sit it on my head like a hat! My dress is made from English wax print material which is considered very fancy in Africa from what I'm told. My dress is made in a Western style though instead of a traditional African style. Olivia's dress is made from Batik fabric. It was very pretty.
...and someplace to go! If you've been reading the blog, you know this month we're attending an African church. Most of the members are from the Republic of Congo which is a French speaking country. Part of our assignment is to attend other functions besides Sunday morning worship if possible. The first Sunday we were there, the pastor announced that one of the members was getting married & the church was invited. He stressed that the wedding was starting at FIVE o'clock... not five o'clock "African time" (meaning it might start at 6 or whenever), but FIVE o'clock. Another lady from our class, Barbara, is also attending this church. She called during the week to see if it would be okay for us to attend the wedding. They were very gracious and welcomed us. I think Barbara asked what to wear or asked if they'd be wearing traditional African clothes or something to that effect. Barbara understood that YES, African clothes would be appropriate. So, my search began.
It didn't take long. I sent out an e-mail Friday afternoon (nothing like waiting to the last minute) to the JAARS yahoo group to see if anyone in the area had any African clothing that Olivia and I could wear. I had responses very quickly since so many missionaries are living here around JAARS. After a few e-mails back & some phone calls, Olivia and I ran some errands and picked up several outfits for us for the wedding and the rest of the Sundays we'll be attending!
Well, Saturday came. This was last Saturday. First the women from our class were having lunch at a Peruvian restaurant. I couldn't miss out on that fun, so I went! It was YUMMY! Then after that I ran to Wal-Mart for some much needed groceries. Well, when I walked in, there were school supplies! I don't know what it is about school supplies, but I just want to buy them. (Is that sad or what?) But who can pass up glue sticks two for 25 cents? I had to look up and down all those aisles and make sure I got what I thought the kids & I would need for our upcoming school year. Then I noticed the 15 cent 70 page spirals were no where to be found. So I had to look up & down the aisles again to make sure I didn't overlook them. Nope... no where! Bummer. Suddenly, I remembered that this was supposed to be a QUICK run into Wal-Mart to grab what we needed to make it through next week! So, off I went to get the rest of the stuff I NEEDED! Then just as I was about to check out, I remembered I should bring a gift to the wedding... I guess! Then I ran into someone from JAARS who was helping me think about a good gift for someone from Africa??? I finally decided on kitchen stuff. Everyone has to eat! Then it took me a while to decide on WHAT to get!
Finally, I finished the school/grocery/wedding gift shopping and checking out. I realized I had put myself in quite the time pinch! (This is actually nothing new... but somehow I'm always shocked when I do it!) I realized I would be arriving HOME at the time I wanted to LEAVE for the wedding!
When I got home, I had to nurse Virginia, get her ready to go with us, get Olivia ready, and change my clothes! If I could do all of this in 3o minutes, then I still might leave in enough time to get to the church by 5 p.m.
Well, it took me just a little bit longer, and we were going outside by a little after 4 p.m. BUT I had to have Dano take pictures of us... well because, you know... how often will I be dressed like this again??? Probably never (unless we go to Africa)! Then I was getting in the truck to leave & my keys had vanished! I think we spent at least 10 minutes looking for them! UGH! I was so frustrated. FINALLY, I found them in the wedding gift!! They had fallen in when I set all my stuff in the truck.
So off we went to the wedding! It was 4:22 p.m. when we pulled out. Hmmmm... would we magically get there before 5 p.m. I didn't think so. If I would have thought long enough, I probably wouldn't have left. I guess something inside of me was hoping (and praying) that this African wedding would start at 5 p.m. "African time."
At last, we were pulling into the church parking lot around 5:20 p.m. Thankfully, there were still a lot of others pulling in and getting out to go inside. I asked a gentleman I recognized from church on Sunday if it was too late to go inside, and he insisted we should go right on in. So, we did!
You'll NEVER guess what I discovered on the inside!
(And you'll have to wait! Since this is already so long, I'm going to do a "to be continued.")
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