First (and probably last) Wedding Shoot

As mentioned in the previous post, I was asked to shoot a wedding. All my co-worker wanted was a CD that he could take to Lusaka to get prints. Today I attended with quite a few others from Chodort. I felt it was both laid-back and high-energy...so a good mix. The front yard garden was a perfect location, though small. While not an official ceremony, it was close enough; according to local sources, it's called a Traditional Wedding or A Getting Together of the Families.

The bride and groom are not supposed to smile during the first part. I think it's okay once the food, dancing, and gifts come out! So a lot of my pictures looked kind of glum. But I ended up with 139 decent shots, and photoshopped three of them for style; otherwise I left them alone. There were quite a few of family and friends, greetings and gifts, so I don't know how many will actually get printed.

This Kindness

I felt a bit like Forrest Gump this afternoon as I finished off the book with the same name (it's a bit different than the movie, from what I remember). But the character is the same: the 'idiot savant' who, despite making lots of bloopers, succeeds big time in his many endeavors. Not that I regard myself as an idiot savant, a big blooper-maker, or a great success...but today I felt on the receiving end of Kindness, much like Forrest seems to be.

I've been batching and single-parenting this week...does that even mix? My better half is in Kenya sharing and learning about Education in Africa. I've never had both kids on my own this long before...and so far it's going fine. Today, particularly, I faced with a little trepidation, because I was leaving the kids at home with our maid while I went to work. Which I've done before, but I worry about their fighting or hunger or other things they're not used to reaching out to others about. But when I checked in on them at tea time, lunch, and after work, they were happily playing together. In fact before supper they went outside on a 'hike' where they packed a backpack and rode their bikes around the yard, making stops to play with toys or dig in the dirt. I made pancakes for supper and slipped them outside and they gobbled them up and kept playing until a few stars had come out. It was just cool to see them independent like that.

Then I was asked to photograph a co-worker's wedding this Sunday (and was able to arrange child care with an MCC friend) and I was also asked by a neighbourhood boy we know to make a cake for him on Saturday, because it's his birthday. I said yes to these things, not because my photography and cake making skills are great (my wife is superior in both areas) but because of the Kindness of being asked, and I know that it means a great deal to both guys.

Where does this Kindness come from? Perhaps it is an evolutionary anomaly inherited from our surival-of-the-fittest, fish-turned-lizard ancestors. But I think it comes from the Lord. Thanks for your prayers this week, you know who you are!