WE ARE THE WORLD!

Yesterday I attended an awesome

event where my niece Ruby was

formally bethrothed to Gaddi.

Gaddi's mother is from the Congo

and currently lives in South Africa.

His late father was from Rwanda and

some family members still reside there.

Ruby is my husband's sister's child and

she was born here in Indianapolis.

Old Glory flies amidst the Flag of the congo
with the smiling sun as well as the flag of
Rwanda.

Ruby and Gaddi met at IU and both graduated

and now live in Fairfield california where they

moved to plant a Christian Church. As you can

see Gaddi is a tall, handsome young man whose

family came from Africa and Brussells to

formally meet the Hughes-Knouse family and

ask for their daughter's hand. They also wanted to make their intentions clear that they would take Ruby as part of their family and wishing for the same commitment from our family.



The degree of their commitment can be shown

by the distance from which they traveled.

They wanted to assure our family of the upright

character of their son and requested our family to

speak of Ruby's qualities. This was very easy as

Ruby loves God, is a very caring person who is the

rock of her family. Her brother Hank spoke for the

family. Marie Claude the eldest cousin spoke for the

Mother's side and Uncle Albert, the father's brother

represented him.

We all could say something to support our family's

good intentions and even I was inspired to say how

accepted I was by the Hughes family and how loving

and good they were. After some tears as we do have

loose tear ducts (inherited from my mother), they

presented the Hughes-Knouse family with gifts.

First they presented many bottles of wine, beer and

liquors and a beautiful framed african art piece which

had 3 woven baskets representing prosperity. They

also gave Christina a beautiful original ostrich leather

purse.

Ruby presented Gaddi's Mom with chocolates,

bracelets and a beautiful scarf.

We had to sample some of the drinks

they had brought and we all agreed

that would not be a hardship.

Then we were served a wonderful meal made

mostly by Ruby and her Dad Ed who is

a professional caterer.

Other friends and family came by

later and it was a lovely warm

evening on the deck.

We will be all looking forward

to the wedding in September when

many more will celebrate the union

and we are promised more

African wedding traditions and music.