Two weekends ago my wonderful friends Robin & Sandra threw a great Baby Shower for me. I was glad to see my friends and a few people came from pretty far away, including Joe’s mom Vivian and her friend Margaret. It was a beautiful day by the beach, and there were some really fun games:

• Guess the Baby Item – Robin placed baby items into a bag and I had to guess what they were. I got most of them right, but the hand sanitizer was a tricky one.
  
• Price is Right – This was a lot of fun. Robin gave really funny descriptions of baby products and all of the guests had to guess if the price mentioned was higher or lower. What was even funnier was that the people who won don’t have children.
  
• Gift Bingo – People had to fill in the squares with gifts that they thought people would give and if they got a Bingo, they would get a prize. A great way to keep people’s interest during presents.
  

In addition to the games there was also yummy food. All kinds of fruits and pastries, as well as blocks of cheese and Robin’s Aunt Theo’s Potatoes. They know my food tastes well.

Margaret, Joe’s mom’s friend made a really beautiful diaper cake. I’m going to have a hard time disassembling it.

Robin gave a really wonderful devotional that made me laugh and be encouraged at the same time. All of the Bible verses she quoted were very meaningful for raising children and really spoke to me – see them here. At the end of the shower Sandra prayed for me and for Samuel, and all of the candles on the table that were favors said “Pray for Samuel”.

My friends are so wonderful and it was great to feel so loved! Thank you to everyone who came!

P.S. You can see all of the photos in our gallery in the album Baby Shower South. Thanks to Sandra for uploading all of the photos!

We are pleased to re-introduce to you our little one, Samuel:

This is a picture of him from earlier this week (Kristen is close to 5 months into pregnancy). It was really fun to see all of the little parts on his body and the doctor said that everything is normal, which was reassuring to both of us. My two favorite things during the ultrasound were when the doctor said, “looks like there might be external plumbing” and then went to confirm that he is a boy 100%, and when the doctor was showing us Samuel’s face Samuel started to open his mouth as if to say hi. Samuel did a really great job of being still for the doctor, which I was praying for – to the point that the doctor mentioned it, so that the doctor could get all of the measurements he needed.

Joe and I think it’s really fun now that we know that OLO is a boy, but really would have been happy either way. We are thanking God that Samuel is healthy and growing well. There is such a huge difference between this ultrasound and the last one, it’s fun to see him looking more like a baby. Last month we also got to hear his heartbeat that is normal, which Joe describes as a spaceship. Samuel has also been moving and kicking a little bit for the past month, but not too often and not very hard. So far it’s not been strong enough for Joe to feel, but I’m sure that will be coming soon.

This time has been very exciting and I’m so thankful to have such a wonderful husband who has been serving me so much. Our marriage has been such a blessing during this time, and we are both looking forward to how God works in our lives through raising our children together. Thank you to everyone who has been praying, they are treasures to us.