Pinterest Inspired Baby Shower

It is no secret that I love Pinterest ~ I greatly appreciate the folks that come up with imaginative ways to celebrate occasions and holidays and then share their ideas for everyone to use.  I took many of these ideas and personalized them for Aiden's baby shower.  Here are our interpretations of these ideas ~

cute game idea ~ care to guess?  (Both bottles combined)

my bonus daughter, Amy Kate made me these cute wrappers for microwave popcorn ~ these were shower favors

way to include the daddy!  Allens basket contained embroidered baby bib plus a box of disposable bibs, wipes, Tylenol (for him), giraffe stuffed toy, nuk pacifiers, baby nail clipper & comb, clothespins (nose plugs for stinky diapers), dirty diaper disposable bags

decorated with toys & books on the food table ~

found all these cute little trucks at Kroger after Christmas on clearance

I included the following little poem in the invites ~ " Just one request.....we hope its not too hard.  Please bring a book instead of a card.  By signing your name they can remember and share, this special gift with their baby even when you are not there!" 

Our games were *guess the number of m & m's in the baby bottles, *baby shower bingo where the guests fill in the grid with baby items & then check them off if/when she opens that item ~ Greg made the board, *and a "check off the items in your purse" game that Amy recreated for me from pinterest.  The game prizes were little vinyl bags from Dollar Tree that came with scented lotion & bath gel, I attached a bath scrunchie and a card that said "From our shower to yours". 

Do ya have a guess on the m & m's?  I will tell the answer tomorrow!

Allen & Jennifer ready for their blessing to arrive!


 

Saturday

Saturday morning dawned way TOO early this past weekend.  Amy, Greg, and I got up before the sun did and left for Hattiesburg to do training for the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Team.  The training started at 8, we left at 6 so that we had plenty of time.  The first hour was an orientation to how the team developed and the different disasters they responded too.  They were at Ground Zero, Hurricane Katrina, Sandy Hook, and others.  Plus all the tornado disasters that have plagued the South for decades.

We did the Meal Prep training.  And for real on the job training ~ the team cooked lunch for all the folks training in different areas ~ about 150 people.  In the emergency scenarios, you could be serving 10,000 ~ 20,000 meals a day ~ gulp!  The Big Rig tractor trailer truck has all the equipment.  And you don't actually "cook"...for a big disaster like the 9/11 or Katrina ~ its more of heating canned food and the Red Cross picks it up and delivers it to the feeding areas.  They also supply all the food.

If we were on a team to serve 100-200 meals to volunteers, clergy, law enforcement, etc. ~ we would be cooking "real" food. 

It was interesting and the assembly was packed.  There were probably 150 folks getting trained in different areas for emergency response.  There is a chainsaw/blue tarp team.  Sounds weird, but if you had a tree on your house, you would want them to come by and take care of you!

We are going to look into more training through different agencies.

(Will opted out of training to go play paintball with James, and a bunch of guys from church ~ they had lots of fun!)

Afterwards we cruised to the coast to look for a car ~ didn't find one!  But, we did get a yummy shrimp meal and took a little walk on the beach!

Simple Fun

Last weekend was simple & fun.

We drove to St. Louis & visited with Katie, Bryant, & Robert.

We got to see and tour a house they have put a bid on.

Greg got to offer little tidbits of house advice here and there.

We ate lunch out, went to the woodcraft store, Michaels (never been in a 2 story Michaels mega store ~ lots of girlie fun walking around with my 2 girls), and Whole Foods.

And there was lots of....

Grandboy Fun ~

playing with Grandpa!

Grandma's feeding me a bottle cause Mommy went to take her Algebra midterm!

His onesie says...Grandmas Little Peanut!

Bryant, Robert & Katie in front of the house!

Grandpa was showing Robert the climbing tree!

Grandma is giving me a bath...and I really liked the warm water!

Grandbaby #1

So for some insurance mumbo-jumbo paperwork, Katie had to go to the dr. so that she could be officially told she is pregnant.  And its official, she is (duh).

Her due date is July 3.

Now, July 2nd would be neat since thats the 1 yr. anniversary since they got engaged.

Or July 4th ~ everyone could celebrate little "Olive" 's birthday nationwide.

I figured since it could be the 4th I needed to help with names...

For boys I came up with...

George

Benjamin

Thomas

John

Paul

For girls...

Abigail

Martha

Betsy

Really, so many possibilities!

I haven't even gotten started on middle names!

I'm thinking a red/white/blue baby quilt could be on the sewing agenda!

Now matter what day Olive is born or what his/her name will be, this baby will be loved, prayed for, cuddled, and cherished!

Canaan Josiah Foy

I received the following email from my friend Rosana ~ she gave me permission to post this on my blog.

 To all who have been praying for our family,

I am SO sorry I have not sent an update sooner.  Over the past 2 weeks I have often felt the need to but lacked the strength and courage.

As most of you know, on Nov. 15 at 9:09 am, God blessed our family with the birth of Canaan Josiah Foy. Our precious gift weighed 3 lbs 14 oz and was 16 1/2 inches long.   He had dark eyes and a head FULL of black hair.

The doctors had prepared us for what they expected, but thankfully, God blessed us with something better.  The deformities were not as severe as anticipated.  In this mother's eyes they were very minor. They had expected our son to only live a few minutes and be in great distress.  Instead God gave us 53 minutes with our son.  He was never in any distress.  Every minute with him was peaceful. 

We only settled on his middle name a few days before His birth.  Josiah means Jehovah heals/Jehovah supports. At 10:02 am the same day, God chose how He would heal Canaan.  Now we are looking to Him to support us through the difficult days ahead.

We have been told that we will have good days and bad days, but right now I am still at the point of good moments and bad moments.  We try to concentrate on the blessings and grace we have received, and they have been many, but it is still hard not to dwell on our great loss.  It is by no means an easy loss to deal with, but I cling to the hope that things will get better. 

We greatly appreciate all of your words of encouragement and deeds of kindness over the past couple of weeks.   We know that is one of the ways Jehovah is supporting us during this time.  But even more than that we thank you for your prayers - the prayers you have already spoken on our behalf and the ones we trust you will continue to speak in the future. 
They are our lifeline at this point. We cherish the prayers of God's people and the intercession of the Holy Spirit on our behalf as we continue our walk on this earth without our son.

We are confident that our Canaan is now standing on two strong legs with two perfect hands raised in praise while his now strong lungs allow him to sing praise to the God who has healed him.  We look forward to the day when we and the rest of our children will join him and spend eternity in the presence of God.  It is our strong hope that each of you will be right there with us. 

If any of you have any doubts about where you will spend eternity, please do not wait.  Life is too short for that. Talk to someone TODAY!!!  We will be glad to talk to you and share the sweet forgiveness and love of the Lord with you. Right now allow Him Lordship of your life. You will never regret it.

God does not promise His children a life free of trouble and trials, but He does promise  to get us through them.  He is showing us that right now.
"Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, Yes, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."  Isaiah 41:10

We Don't Understand

As humans, we don't understand the Lords ways and His will.

He sees the big picture, we only see today.

He knows the plans he has for us.

He knows how to grow us.

He gives us strength and courage when we have none for ourselves.

He gives us tears and love for our dear friends.

Praying fervently for the Foy family today.

Little Canaan was born today and had 1 hour with his family before Jesus took him home.

We don't understand.

But we do know ~

God is in control.

Praise the Lord for His Mercies, Love, Strength, and Courage.

A Special Blessing

Psalm 127: 3-5
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward, Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth.  Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.

We found out over the weekend, that the Lord is blessing our family with the birth of our first grandchild.  We knew that Katie & Bryant were going to trust the Lord in the area of children ~ how many and when ~  and He chose to bless them immediately with a little one.

Greg and I are thrilled to celebrate their news and are equally thrilled to change our names to Grandma & Grandpa.  We are praying for a healthy little baby, a safe/healthy pregnancy, and the building of a new family.

We are thankful for the Lord blessing them and us in this special way.

Homeschool Field Trip Fun

Hey Katie, this is a log cabin ~ 2 sides are done in white!

Amy is thinking about recreating this quilt using different colors.

LoraBeth, Emily, Amy, KayteeBeth, LauraLee, Vida Jo

Bradley and Will

KB. Laura Beth & friend

Angela, Me, Nancy ~ it wasn't hard to get in the chair but it was tricky to get out!

beautiful stained glass window in the church

Our little Pocahontas friend

Time for school

Green Acres is the place to be!

Thankful for my Modern washer

Greg & Katie didn't seem to think this was appropriate for little baby Cutler!  This Grandma thought it had a vintage "antique" appeal!

Today we visited our Agricultural Museum with part of our homeschool group.  This week celebrates "Mississippi Heritage Days", so there were lots of things to watch and learn about.  The Blacksmith was working, the cotton was "ginning", huge logs were being cut into 2 x 4's, and the kids took it all in!  As you can see in the pictures above...the Moms got in on a little of the fun too.  There were beautiful quilts displayed in the museum and in the working "town" we took a break to drink a cold "drink" and Will got to play a game of checkers with Bradley.  We prayed for our dear friend Rosana in the church, watched our children fold themselves into the small school desks, ate free biscuits & syrup, and had a great morning.

Did you catch our "tiny miracle" news in one of the picture captions.  If not, read them again!