Really?

They do not celebrate Mother's Day in Georgia so May 13th was just another Sunday! We were really busy with church, the missionaries skyping their families at our house, a wedding dinner for Alex and Mari and we were leaving for Kazakhstan on Monday.  It had been raining and we were rushing home from church to start the pancakes for the missionaries.  We had just finished crossing the bridge when a big truck sailed past us.  I felt something sprayed on my face and then I looked at E. Reese - he was covered with black spots.  We just stood there in unbelief looking at each other and then our clothes.  We were covered with a black oily water from the truck.  There were no puddles on the road, we had been very careful to avoid those, so we're not quite sure where the stuff came from.  We went home as quickly as possible and started washing out our clothes.  This was Pres. Reese's only suit - we were concerned that we wouldn't be able to get the oil out!  (We had taken his other suit home because he never wore it!)  Then the missionaries started showing up - they had to make their own pancakes!  We finally got all the clothes in the washer and headed to the dinner with instructions to the missionaries to hang them up as soon as they were done.

 Amazingly enough - they did come out clean and we had a good laugh over how funny we looked!  Ah the adventure of it all!

Another Surprise Wedding

Alex is our 'golden' baptism.  He joined the church last October and has been totally active and involved ever since.  He is Russian but speaks Georgian and perfect English.  He is Pres. Reese's financial clerk and also interprets for him when needed.  They are very close!  He taught English in our MTC and Mari was one of the students.  She is the daughter of Pres. Reese's counselor who went to the temple last year.  Anyway, they decided to get married.  They would have liked to have gone to the temple - but he is not eligible till October, so they had a civil marriage and will go to the temple as soon as they can.  They planned on Saturday, May 12, but at the last minute found out there was a holiday and the office would be closed, so - they stopped by the church on Thursday, May 10, and asked E. Reese if he was available to come be a witness.  We hopped in the car and went to the government building.  It was crowded and busy.  Finally they got to the counter, filled out the paper work and they were married!

They turned around and posed for a shot of the happy couple and the witness'.  That was it.

We went outside the building where her Dad gave her flowers and they exchanged rings.

This is a picture of all of us who were there -  her Dad, her sister, her cousin (witness) her brother-in-law, the happy couple and us.  Then we headed to her parents home where her mom and little girl were waiting with a wedding cake.

We were not able to stay long because we had an appointment that we were already late for.  I can hardly wait for them to go to the temple and experience the difference.  They are a lovely new family!

Mtskheta Memorial Park

Gia from Mtskheta is one of our favorite humanitarian people to work with.  A sister city in Minasota donated a firetruck and equipment to his city.  He wanted to thank them by making a memorial park to honor those firefighters that died in the  9/11 tragedy. He invited us to the dedication of the park.

Greek Clinic

Last year we had a short term vision specialist visit us here in Tbilisi.  He had equipment sent to a clinic here for doing cataract surgery.  The equipment finally arrived and on Saturday the 28th of April we went to the presentation ceremony where they thanked us (church Humanitarian program) for being wonderful.  They are suppose to do free and reduced cost surgery for the poor.  I was excited because it was my first ribbon cutting!  Pres. Reese was asked to say a few words and after viewing the equipment we had refreshments.  The church does amazing things for the needy people of the world!

L

Wedding Surprise!

Peter and Ashlee decided to get married on the 20th of April.  We decided we couldn't let them do that without us.  So we flew into Salt Lake City and drove with E. Reese's parents to Idaho Falls and surprised them.  It was great!  We went out to dinner the night before and then had a lovely ceremony in the Idaho Falls Temple.  Here is the start of the new eternal family of Mr and Mrs Reese!

We were so grateful for all the family that was able to attend - THANK YOU for coming!

We even had a few of the grand kids!

Here they are with the brothers and sisters.  So sad to have missed Connie and Ben who were at home holding down the fort!

The weather was perfect!  Ashlee and her mom planned a really nice reception afterwards.  It was a PERFECT day.

We stayed in Idaho Falls and played with the kids for another day.  Then we headed back to SLC where we spent time with Mom and Dad Reese and the Tatoms.  We were able to run some errands and get some supplies before we returned to Georgia.  It was a lovely week - thank you to everyone who helped to make it so!