On July 4th we went to a Nigerian wedding of Dr. Koreand Katherine.  Dr. Kore is a professor at JETS (Jos Evangelical Theological Seminary).  His first wife passed away a few years ago and now he is married to Katherine.  It was quite an experience.

10:30    The hostel staff arrived at the hostel so we could all ride together in one of our vans.  Dr. Kore lives on our compound so we had all been invited to come, but for a Nigerian wedding you do not have to  be invited to something to go.  In fact, the term “wedding crasher” does not exist here since everyone is welcome!

10:45    We loaded up the van and departed for the wedding.  As we were walking into the chapel photographers were snapping our pictures.  We assumed this was for the Bride and Groom but we later found out that these photographers are not invited by the Bride and Groom, they just show up, take pictures, and sell them to guest’s during the reception.

11 ish  We arrived in time to sit in the back- which was great since we knew Caden would not be able to sit for the entire service.  His “kaka” (grandma) sat with us  to help with him (her name is Asabe but for respect we call her Kaka…she helps us with housekeeping and with Caden a few days a week…he loves her and even said “Kaka” for the first time the other day!)  We never asked her to help with Caden as this was not a work day for her, but she insisted…he’s her “grandson” so of course she will help.
The wedding was quite different from Western weddings in many ways.  For one thing, the Bride entered to a very upbeat song…in fact, I didn’t even realize she was entering until we all stood up as she passed by.  Then, rather than standing up for the entire wedding, the Bride and Groom sat on the front pew unless they were participating in something.

The order of the wedding was similar to ours but the solemnization (“I do/I do…I know pronounce you…kiss) was in the middle!  Then, before they signed the certificate, they had many of the JETS pastors come up to pray and after the prayer they all posed for a photo…in the middle of the wedding.
Throughout the entire ceremony photographers were right up at the front taking pictures…and only one of the photographers was hired by the Bride and Groom…the rest were the same freelance photographers (and videographers) who had been outside.  There were at least 8 of them!

The ceremony lasted about an hour.  Toby had to take Caden out after about 20 minutes…he played with his friend Noah outside.  People kept coming and going throughout the entire ceremony so we were constantly scooting to and fro to make room.  By the end of the service there were so many people that it was standing room only!

After the reception everyone piled out of the church.  As we were going through the doors people were handing out bags with favors.  I don’t know what was in all the bags but I know some had the Jesus film in them and mine had an artificial plant.

12 ish    We walked across the yard to the reception.  4 large tents had been set up with chairs beneath.  Then there was a smaller tent in front for the Bride, Groom and family.  We had been told that the reception would probably be long and it would take a while for food to be served.  It was suggested we bring sandwiches.  So, Toby stopped at the van and collected the bag of sandwiches, water, and fruit that I had prepared.  While waiting for the reception to begin we nibbled on PB&J.

The reception actually began quickly.  It consisted of a few people speaking, a little dancing, a prayer, and cake cutting.  Throughout all of this people were passing out boxes of Jollofrice and soda.  Fortunately I had brought our sandwiches because they ran out before getting to us.  The photographers did find us so that we could purchase our photos.  We bought a few of them.

2:30    The reception was over ….very short by Nigerian standards.  So, we piled back into the van and headed home.  Always funny to be a Bature (white man) driving a van load of Nigerian’s, got a ton of strange looks. Caden was so tired!  He crashed as soon as he got in his car seat. What fun it was to experience this with our workers.  Apparently, we still haven’t experienced the typical, traditional Nigerian wedding…we’ll look forward to it another time.

4:00    Our friend John called to invite us to a 4th of July cookout.  Caden was still napping so we said we’d come a little late.

5:30    We get to the pool where the cook-out was to be (or so we thought).  The weather was getting bad so we hadn’t taken our suits…which was good as we arrived everyone departed to go to the school to have the cookout.

6:30    We enjoyed some great burgers and hot dogs (they were bought in town at a meat shop that is run by a German fellow).  Funny thing is we had a Canadian and a British fella cooking the food for us. It was fun to enjoy some time outside, playing Frisbee, watching the kids run around, chasing Caden, and hanging out.  It was also nice to celebrate our country’s Independence Day…granted, half the people at the cook-out were not even American.

7:30    We arrived home in time to set up the projector for the team that was staying at the hostel. Once that was set up we had a little time to talk with family.

10:30    We crawled in to bed…exhausted from a fun-filled day!

6:45am Woke up. Happy Birthday to me! Also Happy Fathers Day as well.

7:00 Got ready for church.

7:30 Alycia asks me to join in the search for a diaper Caden had taken off minutes earlier. A poopy diaper, again that he took off and left somewhere in the house.

7:45 We leave for church.

9:45  Church is over and we hang out in the parking lot with another family from our compound. They have 4 children. Which being baturi (in Hausa this means “White man”) the crowds of young Nigerian kids around had grown. They love the little Baturi boys like Caden with blond hair and blue eyes.

10 Got home and am waiting for my birthday luncheon with our neighbors and a Nigerian family we have been getting to know.

10:15-11:45 Worked on this and another article for our website.

12:15 Our friends the Camiola’s, from our compound, arrive for lunch. Alycia is awesome. She paid for a guy to come in and cook Sesame Chicken for my Birthday meal. We have not had any Chinese food since we have arrived so I was craving Sesame Chick for a while.

12:35 Our language teacher arrived as well. We have gotten to know them and have become friends of ours as well. A great family.  (See photo to the right to see everyone.)  What a great lunch with awesome guests. We sat around and chatted for a long time while all of the kiddo’s (7 in total) ran around the Hostel having fun.

3:45 Left our house to go to the Jos State Prison for their Chapel service. John Camiola, one of our guest’s was going to share his testimony to the prisoners. It also gave me an idea of where Alycia is starting to do ministry once a week with Missy Camiola. They have gone a few times already to minister to the ladies of the prison.
4pm We arrived to the prison and hung around just inside of the gate waiting to be let in.

4:20 or so we were let into the prison yard to go into the Chapel within the prison grounds. It is a Catholic Chapel, even though I am thinking since this service was so late in the afternoon they have multiple services throughout the day.

4:30 Service began. Wow what an awesome testimony John had to share with the prisoners. We have heard many of the stories before but to be able to put them altogether is great. What a story he has to share and especially to the prisoners.

5:30 The service finished with a raucous song. What great enthusiasm these prisoners have for Christ their risen Savior.
We left the prison ground soon after and hung outside for a short while. The ladies took a few gifts to the female prisoners and guards.  It was great to hear our Nigerian friends reaction to the experience of the prison. He was moved from the testimony and never thought he would have ever gone into the prison. Even though his brother worked there up to one month ago.

6:11 or so we got home and thanked our guests for the awesome day we experienced together. Our Nigerian friends have been so helpful in our learning of the Nigerian life and culture. What a great time we have shared so far.

6:35pm Had some left over pizza from a week or so ago and enjoyed that very much. Pizza is a true treat here.

7:10pm Put the boy down to bed. A boy who had not napped all day so he was a very tired young man.

7:30pm We put the projector we just bought from my brother to good use. We sat down and watched Invincible on the wall in our own little movie theater. Good movie and better yet, a great theater when you realize we are still in Africa.

“Ahhh, this is the way to wrap up daddies day. Caden sleeping on my chest.”