Kate's Oxford Shower

Kate's 4th and final shower was on October 2nd, in my hometown. My family has been a part of Lakeview Baptist Church since I was in the 8th grade, and it meant so much for the LBC ladies to throw this shower for us!

All of our showers have been beautiful and so special... and I loved this one because my family (and a lot of the church family and family friends I grew up with) were there! There were people from Lakeview Baptist Church, others from DeArmanville First Baptist Church, and family friends from Oxford High School too. A lot of these ladies helped raise me, and it meant the world to me to have them all come together and celebrate our little girl. (I tried to get a group picture and family photo before anyone left but I know we're missing some. I loved seeing each of you there though! I just wish we could have visited longer!)

We got so many beautiful things, including Kate's first pairs of ruffled pants and her first two items with her full monogram - from her sweet cousins Elaine, Megan, and Mary Beth! 

[ PHOTOS :: 

Top Left - A family photo - Left to Right, my Aunt Beverly, Aunt Tammy, myself, Mom, and Aunt Angie. Love these special ladies! Also in attendance (but they left before I could snap a picture) were my Great Aunt Juanita and cousin Renee. // Top Right - A glimpse of all the beautiful things Kate was given! There were also TONS of gift cards - which allowed us to get things we needed from her registry. Thank you friends! // Bottom Left - Kate's first items with her full monogram. So sweet! // Middle Right - A timeline of all Kate's baby pictures. (Sorry that we have to blur her sweet face out for the blog!) // Bottom Right - A group pic of (almost) everyone who came to this special shower. ]

Thank you to everyone who came, sent gifts, and helped host this shower! 

We're grateful, and we can't wait for you all to meet our sweet Kate!

Kate's Birmingham Shower

Our sweet Kate's 3rd Baby Shower was thrown by some of my closest friends, and held in our neighborhood (Crestwood) on August 7th.

Every one of our showers were beautiful and special for different reasons. This one meant the world to me, because it was thrown by my best friend from high school and three of my closest Birmingham friends (who are also our neighbors!) They went all out for this special day... and every little piece of decor was perfect, down to the last detail! It looked like something straight out of Pinterest! ;)

I loved the map connecting Alabama and Thailand on the mantle, and the pink "ultrasound" with Thailand on it too. There were little touches all around like bunnies and elephants - that showed just how much these friends know and love me! They even printed out some photos from my blog to display of us throughout our adoption journey!

The food was delicious, and the decor was absolutely lovely! But what surprised me the most was the sweet craft idea the hostesses came up with. I have seen many craft stations at baby showers... to "create your own onesie", or burp cloth, or something else special for the baby. I had no idea my amazing friends would come up with something that would work for an adoption shower though! I almost cried when I saw this spot set up in the kitchen. 

Every one who attended was invited to write out a prayer for Kate on a prayer flag, that was later turned into a banner for her room. Neither Rusty, nor I, could hold back the tears when we read the touching words of our friends, lifted up to God on behalf of our daughter. This little "craft" was such a special addition to Kate's room!

Pictured below are my 4 amazing hostesses: To the left is Kristian (my best friend since the 8th grade), Heather (a dear neighbor-friend and fellow adoptive mom... and her new baby girl she is pregnant with is technically "pictured" here too! Her sweet kids Mason and Karis came as well. I loved the gift Karis picked out for Kate, and Mason was an awesome little 5 year old photographer when we needed a group pic!) To the right in this photo is Stefanie (a neighbor-friend who has been such a great support system to me), and Katie (a neighbor friend and church friend I have been so blessed to have in my life... and her sweet baby boy Harp!) I love these girls to pieces! There aren't enough words to say what they each mean to me, and I cannot wait for the day Kate gets to meet them! 

Once again, Kate received a car full of beautiful gifts! Her Aunt Kristian is already spoiling her rotten - by giving her dozes of gifts, including a princess doll, a princess castle tent, and a working microphone (the perfect gift from the friend I sang with for years and years! Her daddy was our choir director too, and I know he would have loved that gift!) My dear friend Erin got her the most adorable little gray upholstered chair for our living room (not pictured) that is just Kate's size! Our neighbors got her so many sweet things from her registry, including the cutest little kaleidoscope camera (so she can be a photographer like daddy!), and lots of Thai books that we will enjoy reading to her. And we love her little backpack from our across the street neighbors, which I know we're going to use a lot on this trip to Thailand! 

I got emotional several times throughout this shower... because the people who attended are the ones who have seen so much our our journey up close. They have witnessed the tears and the hard days first hand... and prayed and cried alongside us. They have cheered us on, held us up, and been the best support system we ever could have asked for. They are the ones who celebrated in person with us when we were finally matched, and the ones I know I will call when I need support once our baby girl is home. I loved every moment of this beautiful day with all of these beautiful ladies in the same room!

Thank you dear friends, for helping to shower us and Kate with so much love! 

SaveSave

Kate's Arkansas Shower

Kate's 2nd baby shower was held in Arkansas at her "Tutu's" church - First United Methodist Church of Monticello, on July 31st.

It was a beautiful event that just happened to be all pink and aqua - the colors we're decorating Kate's room with! Now you know you are loved when you have more than a dozen "hostesses" at your shower! (Only 8 are shown below, but there were more than 12!) These ladies put together a lovely event, and they all went in together to get us a top of the line carseat to keep Kate safe! We were thrilled to have that item checked off our list. Thank you ladies!



Kate's "Tutu" (Rusty's mom) has waited a long time to be a grandmother, and I know this shower was really special to her too! She has the sweetest friends and church family, and I had a wonderful time with them! There was lots of laughter and overflowing JOY at this shower (as you can see from these photos!)



At this shower Kate got her very first CareBear (and as an 80's kid, I loved that!), lots of cute clothes, games, and books, and some really special items all the way from Alaska from Rusty's mom. She even got a "moose-keteer" shirt to match Rusty's mom's group shirts from their trip! So cute!



At the end of the day we had so many gifts that Rusty had to come to the church to help us pack them up! We drove back to Alabama with our car overflowing with gifts, and our hearts overflowing with love and gratitude. Thank you to each and every part of our Arkansas "family" who made this shower so special! We look forward to visiting and introducing Kate to you someday soon!

Kate's "Miss Alabama" Shower

I hoped to share these blogs months ago - but this Summer and Fall we kept ourselves busy preparing Kate's room and our home, and dealing with unexpected issues on the adoption front. Now here we are - just days away from meeting our little girl! As many things as I have on my heart to share - I want to first take the time to recap Kate's four beautiful showers here so that someday, when she looks back on this blog, she will see that she was loved by so many who anticipated her homecoming!

_____________________________________________________

I had no idea what to expect when it came to Baby Showers for our little girl. With so many "unknowns" and long wait times with adoption, it is hard to know when or how to plan a shower. I wondered if we would have the opportunity to have any showers for Kate. Imagine my surprise, when mere days after our matching, I was contacted by two sweet friends from my Miss Alabama Pageant days - begging me to let them throw our first shower! I was so touched by their excitement, and soon plans were underway. Our very first shower for Kate was held on July 10th and announced with this beautiful invitation.

My time in the Miss Alabama Pageant and the Miss America Organization impacted my life in extraordinary ways. Growing up without sisters - that void was quickly filled when I began to compete in pageants. It meant the world to me to have so many of my "Mu Alpha Sigma" (Miss America Sorority) sisters, my very first director (from the year I was Miss Gadsden Area), and so many of the Miss Alabama volunteers and pageant moms (who took such good care of me in my competition days) come together to celebrate our little princess! These ladies have helped "pray Kate home" from the moment we announced we were adopting almost 5 years ago. It was so special to celebrate our little girl with them at this beautiful event! 

The "theme" for this shower was "sugar and spice and everything nice" - because that's what little girls are made of you know! 

The decorations were lovely - there were pink roses, pink banners, and pink details everywhere! The food was delicious - and in keeping with the theme everything was sweet and spicy! We had the most delicious cake bites, candied jalepenos and cream cheese, and of course Pad Thai. I loved that so many of our friends got to try this delicious Thai dish for the first time that day!

I loved having 3 of my precious "Impact Award" winners there to celebrate with me too! These girls are so special to me, and I cannot wait for Kate to meet them someday! I am blessed to know so many women through the MAP that I know will be wonderful role models for our little girl (and these are 3 of them!)

This beautiful day was made possible by these two precious ladies below! Katie (left) was one of my very first friends I made the first year I competed in the Miss Alabama Pageant. I just adore her - and have been blessed to stay in touch with her long after we "retired" from pageants. Her incredible mom Laura (right) is the person I lovingly refer to as my "Fairy Godmother". She made the gorgeous custom Belle costume I used for several years in my side job as a "Party Princess"! Both of these women are so beautiful, kind, compassionate, talented, and full of LOVE and JOY! It blessed my heart to have them throw a shower for Kate! Thank you Boyd Ladies! 

At the end of the day, Kate was incredibly spoiled with so many beautiful gifts! She received her very first smocked dress and her very first monogrammed shirt (necessities for any southern lady!)... her very first Auburn dress (from an Alabama fan no less! She is loved!)... fairy tale blocks, princess pajamas, a box full of Princess Belle goodies from my director Amy (she knows me so well) and so many other beautiful things you can see pictured below. She also got an adorable radio flyer tricycle that I couldn't fit into the picture, and lots of gift cards! 

Thank you to my Miss Alabama family for showering our little princess with so much love!