Baby Shower, Mama Style

Let me say first that I was concerned about the financial aspect of having a child.  So much to buy, and since we are living away from family I really didn't expect those much needed hand-me-downs.  I am very happy to say how mistaken I was.
Rebekah has already received a huge outpouring of love from so many people!  I will do my best to remember everyone, but remember I am pregnant and my brain isn't working as well as it should. (I wonder how long I can continue to ride the "pregnancy brain" excuse...) :D
Because of the great generosity of the Guymans, the Daisleys, the Hughes, the MacDonalds, the Crofts, and Don's work friend Adda, we are now fully set with items not limited to but including:

Boxes of baby clothes
Baby blankets
Swing
Play mat
Exersaucer
Jumper
Baby monitor
Diaper bag
Play yard
Baby bath
Bumbo chair
High chair
Baby Bjorn

This is not to mention the maternity clothes given to me by Sara Snarr and lent to me by Michelle Croft and Jessica Zamek.

How grateful we are for such good people who are so willing to help out.  You have greatly blessed Rebekah's life without asking for anything in return.  Not a day goes by when Don and I don't look around our little living room and say, "we are truly blessed." Thank you.

And if all this wasn't enough, Rebekah was recently thrown a baby shower by Michelle Croft, Kim Hughes, and Jessica Zamek.

It was a fun evening of good food and good people.  Courtney was there, although you don't see her in any of the pictures.  She's the one taking them...

Michelle did a fabulous job playing hostess.

Here's some of the good times:

They had me sit in an office chair, since the couch was too cushion-y and the folding chair too hard... I felt a little like Goldilocks... "This chair was JUST RIGHT..."

However, I still had trouble opening the gifts.  I couldn't reach over my big belly. Eventually I put the bag on the floor and tried to reach into it, but that didn't work either.  Soo...

WHITNEY PIZZA to the rescue!  

I leaned over to her and said, "How about you open the gifts and hand them to me."  She agreed and the rest of the gift giving went totally smooth.  Although there were times when she would lean over to me and say, "I don't know what this is..." and I would lean back and say, "Yeah... I don't either, just look excited...." But we were overheard and every baby item was thoroughly explained.

(By the way - cool story:  My good friend Courtney, being much more social then I, found out that Whitney went to Butler Middle School!  (For those of you that don't know, that's where we use to teach.) We weren't there the same time Whitney was, but she mentioned perhaps we knew her brother.  I put it together and we both said "Taylor Pizza" at the same time. She then texted her brother and asked if he remembered Ms. Stirland or Mrs. Wiese.  He said he remembered Stirland and asked why.  "I'm at her baby shower..." was her reply. Small world!

Here are some more people who attended Rebekah's shower. (The one in green is Michelle the Hostess.)

By the way, this wonderful lady in grey (RuthAnn) took time out of her busy schedule to 

1. take me to a dr's appointment (so Don could save his days off)

2. help me clean up the spare room in preparation for Courtney and Mom Walker's stay.  

What greater gift could one give then one's time.

This if for all you that so desire to see how big my belly has become... Not the most attractive picture I suppose, but I have taken worse...

Here are some of the wonderful gifts laid out.

As I said, we are truly truly blessed.  Thank you all so much!