Weddings, babies, and airplane flights

We went to Victor's son Denis'  wedding on Saturday, what a lovely day, with a church ceremony followed by many traditional customs, a wonderful banquet and hearing both the bride and groom sing at the reception. We were privileged to be invited to both parts of the day.

 I finished packing my suitcase and Sunday after church Garry dropped me and three of the SEI teachers off at the Dnepro airport to catch flights heading back to North America. After a long day/night/day (I overnighted in a chair in the pre security section of Heathrow 2  with a lady from Pennsylvania until 5 am when it re-opened since our Vienna flight was delayed) I was happy to be on the ground in Winnipeg, even if it took 35 minutes to deplane because of a thunderstorm!

Now I am here and ready to see our new grand baby arrive! Meanwhile I have been cleaning house- nothing like four 20 something guys living in your house for six months and only Max Boradin cleans... he is looking forward to the start of classes in a month. I had fun Tuesday morning with almost one year old Isaac and then babysat the girls while their parents celebrated their anniversary by going out to dinner.

Wednesday morning I drove to Morden to hang out with our very pregnant daughter, and got to experience a big thunderstorm/ monsoon event just as we finished eating dinner; with high winds (111 km/hour officially) and torrential driving rain which changed direction mid-storm and found its way into the house around the picture window and onto the new hardwood floors. We were all running around with towels trying to sop up water in the dark as the power went out around the time we realized the water was streaming down the inside of the window... and then checked the basement with a flashlight (leaving James trying to stem the flooding down the window with a towel) and had a puddle forming down there too, in the room with the sump pump. Mopping by flashlight followed. Afterwards, we discovered there had been a tornado warning while we were doing all this. James went outside as the rain slowed and the sun came back out before setting. There were branches down outside and while our power came back on pretty soon, across the street they were out long after it was fully dark. Some people still had no electricity the next day, and a few unlucky people had trees go throught their roof in town, Morden had the highest winds in the storm, it really looked like a hurricane.

Meanwhile Garry and our friend Clay went on their post SEI trip to the sea. It is disappointing that they can't visit Alupka in Crimea, like in  years past, but it was a shorter drive to the Sea of Azov. They found one of our student friends and her husband at the sea, and had lunch together.
 Sounds like they are enjoying swimming, sunning, reading and relaxing and took a fast boat ride. They will be heading back to the farm today, and then to Kiev on Saturday so Garry can catch his flight Sunday morning and Clay's on Monday.

In Nikoliapolia on the farm they have finished third cut hay and are started to make corn silage. Max Rudei's family and some of the group home parents and students will be going to church camp for a week by the sea for a week while Garry is gone. He will have a busy time Friday getting everything ready for his departure for a couple weeks. He arrives here Sunday evening with a doctor's  appointment to look at his bad ankle Monday afternoon, a week later we are on our way to his family reunion in Pennsylvania. Then he plans to fly back to Ukraine, unless by some miracle he can get that ankle operated on immediately.