Shower for Eloise

On May 1st, some very special friends hosted a shower in honor of Baby Eloise. It was absolutely lovely! The hostesses pictured below have all been in a Life Group with me at some point since we have been in Florida. They are women that I trust for advice, receive much encouragement from & experience lots of laughter with.

Christi, Rose, Jenny, Me, Christine & Cathy

Once we dove into the delicious spread of fresh fruit, mints, spinach dip & double chocolate cake we sat in the living room to chat. They began the shower with having each person share how they met me & a favorite memory they have from our friendship. There were all sorts of stories from funny to very serious. Over all, it was overwhelming to hear what people said & realize how much the Lord has blessed my life through these women in such a short time.

Here are some of the decorations:

Christi made this banner....I want to hang it in my house : )

She also made this adorable diaper cake. What a talented woman!
This was sweet : )

So, I think you can't have a fun shower without a game ; ) Jenny had asked me some questions earlier in the week then passed out the "You look like you're ready to pop-quiz." Leave it up to Jenny to come up with such a clever title! You can see a few of the questions listed...there were 10 total. A couple others were, How many inches around is Lauren's waist? & What has she craved the most during this pregnancy? The waist one was funny....no one wanted to say their answer because they thought it would insult me : ) My friend Molly won the Starbucks gift card. I was so proud of her : )

One other really sweet thing they did was pass out cards with all different numbers on the front. These numbers represented birthday years for Eloise & we were assigned the task of writing her a note she could read on her birthday each year. It was crazy to imagine her as any age other than a newborn but I am sure it will feel as thought we are flying through the cards year after year!

Here I am with Jenny, my sister in law that I just LOVE. I know I have mentioned her quite often in my blog posts so it is no surprise that I will write about her again : ) She lived with us for the 6 months before she married Steve. She asked me to be her Matron of Honor for her wedding. She is an encouraging wife & a patient & loving mother. She is fabulous at asking questions & helping me think through things. She cleans my house better than I do. She does a great job at making me feel cared for. Thanks Jenny for being the organizer & planner of such a wonderful day celebrating this precious baby I have growing inside.

Here is Christine with my adorable niece, Karis Ann. She was exhausted by the end after partying hard, she fell asleep while Christine was walking around holding her. This girl is so darn cute at 8 months old! She is Charlotte's favorite baby to spend time with : )

Hostesses & friends who joined us, thank you for your friendships, thank you for sweet & thoughtful notes & gifts, thank you for loving both my daughters, thank you for taking time to pray over me. I am grateful to have such Godly women in my life to support me in this journey & for my girls to learn from.