Ballantyne Wedding I

Laetitia saw our friends, Esther Jacobsen and Andy Ballantyne, at the end of June. A fortnight before their wedding, she had gone to visit them at their new townhouse to discuss which album coverset and what type of pages to give them as a wedding present.

A week later we bought tickets for flights down to the wedding. The next day we received a phone call from a distressed, but calm, Ruth Parker, Esther's sister. The conversation went something like this for Laetitia:

Ruth: Have you heard about Andy and Esther?

Laetitia: No? (They can't have broken up; I just saw them last week!)

Ruth: Andy's in hospital - he had to have his leg removed.

Laetitia: Pardon?

Ruth: He had one of those flesh destroying bacteria that attacked his leg. They've had to remove the whole leg. So you don't need to come down now because there isn't going to be a wedding next weekend.

Laetitia: Oh, my! (Pardon, have I heard all this correctly?!) Well, we've already got plane tickets so you still might see us...umm. (Someone pinch me, please?)

So we joined with the rest of their family in prayer, got Andy added to our and our families' churches' prayer lists and went to Brisbane anyway.

And the wedding went ahead - in the hospital chapel. It was the first day that Andy had without an operation. We didn't get to see it though - it was family and bridal party only. Oh, and Women's Day.

When Andy went in for the original op, all the preparations for the wedding (florist, photographer, caterers...) were cancelled. Then when they decided that it was back on (the day before), Andy's dad called WD and offered the story in return for some funding of expenses (evidently has a head for business, that man). So WD provided photographer, afternoon tea reception, flowers etc. and according to the wedding party were all very nice.

So now the story has come out in WD and we got to see the wedding that way. We did also see Ruth and family on the day, even though we didn't get to see Andy and Esther. Andy's been in and out of hospital since for some 'mopping-up' operations and seems to be recovering ok.

It still seems rather surreal - it's one of those things that one reads about happening to "some guy in the US" or other far-off place, not to someone one knows.