The Wedding- part one

Yesterday was the wedding we have been getting ready for for the last three weeks. I have been making food and decorations for the last couple days seemingly non-stop- I even put my crocheting away! It seemed like every night we had someone in for a while, mostly Vasha (and Nelly) who was going to be master of ceremonies for the reception.

New Vasha 

Max had started with getting Kolya's documents straightened out so he could get married before we leave for Canada this week. With Max's father dying from cancer last week, Max has spent the week helping get his mother ready to move here. He even missed the wedding. Garry had to take Kolya for some of the final trips to get the documents done for his Ukrainian "passport" (it is the official ID of anyone over 16 here and has one with their official address on). The whole process was complicated by having to de-register him in Kirvoy Rog, where he came from three years ago and register him here in the village and get him current for the draft with the military. One of the documents was wrong so they had extra trips in the last week, to the village office and to Zaporosia. Finally everything was going to be done Wednesday morning (the village office was closed Tuesday for a training meeting) so they made an appointment for the civil wedding and document signing for Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday morning Garry was supposed to go back to court, they said they had a translator coming. However when we woke up Wednesday morning, our world was covered in a sheet of ice. A very slippery sheet of ice. Tuesday evening's rain had changed to freezing rain. 

Garry tried to go feed the cows, but could not get up the incline past the shop to go to the new barn. He was supposed to get a delivery of brewers grain that morning and he was all out, so he decided to wait until it came.  He realized that it would be too dangerous to drive to court but when he got back to the house and talked to Victor on the phone, he found out his lawyer was going to phone when he got to the Zaporosia sign at the city limits and would then pick Garry up to go to court, since he didn't want to drive. However, the lawyer called to say he was turning back; he had discovered that he could not drive at any speed to get to Solone, either, it was too slippery.

Garry decided to teach the nine o'clock class, since his brewers grain was supposed to arrive at ten. He had to do something with Kolya's registration at the village office at nine, they needed to photocopy Garry's passport, since he is the official owner of  the house Kolya was registering as living in. Meanwhile everything was still covered with ice. Garry thought it would melt by noon, if the sun came out. 


While Garry teaching I prepped some crepe paper for making flowers for wedding decorations, and got the students to make them in my class.  I walked down to the classroom with two plastic bags of supplies; it was drizzling rain and it was like skating on the road, the grass beside the road crunched underfoot and gave some traction for walking.

By 11:20 it was not better, although Garry had gotten the cows cows fed, without brewers grain, since the truck never arrived in the village. Kolya  changed their marriage appointment in Zap to Thursday morning. I slipped and hit the back of my head walking back to the house with Garry's computer. Saved the briefcase with the camera and computer in, but I was a little dizzy all afternoon. I had planned to start making desserts for the wedding, but did not start until that evening. I baked brownies and cookies then started my tuna macaroni salad by midnight. I put it in the fridge and put the finishing touches on it in  the morning.



Thursday morning I baked a lot of apple pies (four cookie sheet size ones) while Garry drove with Nelly, Kolya and Oksana to Zap to get them married officially so they could get married in church Saturday. They managed to get all the papers signed and back home by the time I finished pies and had some salads started. Thursday afternoon it was the staff meeting but I continued cooking while they talked in the living room. Sometimes our open concept space is not ideal. I was making meatballs in case we didn't have enough food, since we were expecting about 50 people. Yana (our milker lady) Vova (group home parent) Nelly (our translator) all were making a dish or two for the wedding and Victor was bringing oranges and candies.

Thursday night we went in Zap for our small group meeting, Nelly came with us, and we bought all the last things we needed for the wedding. When we got home I made several layers of cake for the wedding cake, and a 9x13 colorful cake because it was Sasha who came back's birthday on December first (and he asked for a colorful cake when I asked if he wanted chocolate). I mixed portions of batter with food coloring and plopped them in the pan.


Friday morning baked a couple more layers of wedding cake and I iced the birthday cake and found plates, forks, cups, a bottle of Pepsi, the present and a box of matches to light the candles, then when Garry came in from making feed for the cows, we went down for break time after Nelly's English class. 



 Afterwards, I finished making stuff and cleaning house for our guests. We were hosting the Rays of Love team that Kolya had invited for the wedding. He knew them all before he came here. They had planned to come in their van but its in for repairs, so Adam, Daryl and a couple of the them came in his car, and Curtis and the rest came by marshtutka and Garry picked them up in Dnepro. He had a meeting and taught one last English class and almost remembered all the other last minute things he was supposed to pick up.


The students and Nelly helped decorate the classroom for the banquet after the wedding, which was scheduled for Saturday, December 2nd at noon. We were supposed to start at three and when I walked there at 3:20 (with four bags of stuff), no one was there. Eventually I had a crew that finished decorating with Nelly after I went home at 4:30 to get dinner on for my guests. Daryl Porter  (the minister Kolya requested from the Bridge church) arrived with part of the Rays of Love crew  half an hour later and they visited with the happy couple. The girls from Rays were recruited to be Oksana's hair and makeup crew in the morning and Roma to be best man. Oksana was hoping to have Ira or Kristina (her best friends here, both left this summer after finishing the two year program) for her maid of honor, and everyday, or hour it changed as to which was coming... at this point she was hoping for Kristina because Ira couldn't come last minute. Garry had been going to pick her up in Dnepro, too.

When Garry got back with the rest of the team, Oksana and Kolya and a translator from their team were in one of the bedrooms for a pre-marriage counselling session (once again the living room/kitchen space was a little too busy). Garry had met with the two them several times in the last couple weeks, with Nelly translating.

Then we had soup and dangerous cherry cake (there were a few pits in it), and the team helped make open faced sandwiches for the wedding and cleaned up while I finally got around to putting the cake together. The heart and butterflies were from the chocolate store. I painted the letters with food coloring. Yes, it was the OK wedding, and I was glad the cake stayed together. Afterwards the team played board games until long after we went to bed  around eleven pm.