Wednesday, February 22, 2023

No Greater Love


In January, Michelle Frew, one of Evangel's besties, got engaged to Morne Hendricks!  Big news!  BIG HAPPY NEWS!  Evangel had told her she'd try to come to the wedding, so she and then we began to make plans.  It turned out that Evangel could come, and bring 17 month old Cadie with her.  So she came 6 days early to visit with us, and get over her jet lag, then I would go with her to help with Cadie while she was busy doing bridesmaid things.  

Whether or not it was going to be an outdoor wedding or not was a cliffhanger right up til the last minute!  It was planned for 5 PM, and it rained off and on all day.  Bucket-loads of rain.  Limpopo has had flooding recently with unusual amounts of rain.  

 It was outdoors, as hoped, and there was no rain for the rest of the evening.  What a beautiful wedding!!!  Cadie and I made it right through without having to leave for any loud noises.  Evangel was amazed (new respect for Mimi  :-)   but really, I think Cadie was fascinated with all the other kids around her, especially the little Ava across the aisle in a pink dress that glittered!  Is there anything prettier in the world?  Cadie was fascinated.  Also Heidi, who sat next to me and translated the Afrikaans, let Cadie wear her bangles and play with them when the thrills of the pink dress wore off.  
 

After it was over, Cadie and Lilia tried out the arch themselves.  Lilia is Michelle's youngest sister.  
Here comes the bridesmaid!  Michelle and her family have been super special to our family since 2006 when we met them.  They have the same heart for adoption that Evangel has, along with many other similar interests.  They made movies together, went to camps together, and cooked donuts together.  they played in mud together in Mokopane.  We were at their house when Evangel's appendix saga began back in 2009.  We have history!  

This is the first wedding I've ever been to where they threw wood shavings instead of rice or birdseed!  This was acknowledging Morne's job at Shayandima School of Tomorow which includes maintenance.  Michelle works there too, as the receptionist at the moment.  
We loved the flowering trees along the road to Shayandima.  
Cadie and I with her plastic dinosaur, made it through the cermony without disgracing ourselves!  

Bridesmaids were friend Melissa, sister Elisa, Evangel, and sister Berdine.  Groomsmen were brother and father of the groom.  
Isn't that the cutest, most original wedding getaway?!?!  Nothing says "good sport" like a bride that will get into a bucket of a little bulldozer.  This bodes well for this couple.  

After the wedding was an amazing reception, under a lapa so no more tension about the rain.  The next tension was loadshedding!  The electricity went off at 9 PM, just as we were getting into the clean up.  Evangel went to put our tired, wired Cadie to bed in her mosquito net, while I helped clean up til she came back.  

Can you imagine a whole big clean-up in the dark?  It was awkward, with lots and lots of helping hands.   Michelle didn't have 6 siblings for nothing!  And the school co-workers did a ton of work.  Some of the romantic little twinkling lights were battery operated, so that helped.  I found a big tray with high sides that was perfect for carting the glasses back to the kitchen.  

I hope they all got Sunday afternoon naps the next day.  Not us!  Evangel and Cadie and I, along with Michelle's grandmother Dot, all headed back to Johannesburg where Evangel flew out for Boston, and I snoozed my way back to Cape Town, thrilled to be back to Paul and the coolness of Muizenberg and our own bed.  

 Marriage in honourable in all...!!!  Hebrews 13:4

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