The Wedding!

So the wedding was in a town about 45 minutes away near a river! beautiful location, except it was SO hot! i was quickly sweating through my beautiful "jili kurdi" it's a delightful combination of some kind of fake satin under material and a very itchy lacy overlay fabric. but i actually had fun wearing it! i did feel a little bit too pink for my taste though! so i actually am dancing here, but i used jesse as my decoy and pretended to be helping him so no one would notice my very faulty steps. there is nothing to the dancing really, just 4 steps and shrugging your shoulders, but if you know me, you know i can hardly walk and chew gum at the same time, let alone wear heels, sweat buckets, try to hold up my dress and look cool all at the same time. i don't think it will happen in this lifetime, although i would love to be graceful...
this is beautiful leila giving her brother a last kiss. so this is the "wedding" party, but apparently she was married 2 years ago by the mullah. so this was purely for fun! this morning little Aram woke up looking all over the house for his sweet sister...but to no avail! he cried and cried all morning. it was so heart breaking!
Leila is actually half iranian, half turkish...so she is really quite tall. her new husband is really tall, well over 6 feet! you know i was loving that!
this is leila's momma...Nazeela...the one on the left and her grandma lighting up the cigarette! the best part, that i could not get a picture of was that she kept her pack tucked into her knee highs under her dress and had pants tucked into the knee highs as well. she cracked me up! Nazeela is actually 7 months pregnant! Leila will be greatly missed for many reasons, but Nazeela will need some Strength if she is to survive a 2 year old, Aram and a new baby girl!
Just looking at this picture makes me cry all over again! which is forbidden and shameful, but i don't care...Leila will live over an hour away which will mean she will not get to visit very often. So leaving her family is very, very hard! she is only 19 and going to live in her mother in law's home with her husband that is 10 years her senior. he is a kind, gentle man, but still it would be scary for anyone. there were so many emotions for me, none of which i could express in words they would understand, but primarily i never got to tell her about my Friend! i have no words and it is SO frustrating! so i can only intercede for her! my heart goes out to her mom and the empty spot she will leave. there is still a brother around 20 and another sister who is 12, who will now fill the role Leila played, which is hard to think that girlhood is OVER for her! she will not get to run and play with annie anymore. she will have to help her momma cook and clean and take care of the babies. it's good, this family is so loving and it is not bad, it's just a harsh reality coming from my soft american view point. but zeelan is a beautiful and gracious girl and will play her role wonderfully. i hope i can help out by taking aram. he doesn't trust me yet, but he loves our toys, so i can usually coax him into our house with a car or ball! every time he passes near enough for me to touch him, i do and i ask my Friend to fix his arm. i can't wait for that day!