Baby Shower

My baby shower was on Saturday. My sister had planned to have it at the park but it ended up being the one day out of the week that was not good weather, so she moved it to her house. The decorations were so adorable! The theme was rubber ducks, and everything had ducks on it, including a bowl of blue punch with rubber ducks floating in it. It was so fun! I had such a great time. It was a small gathering of about fifteen or so and we had a really good time. Thank you to everyone who was there! I have awesome friends and family and I am very spoiled. Here are a few pictures of the big day!

Baby Shower Banner

Party Favors
So cute...rubber duckies and blue mnms
Game Gifts
Yummy Ducky Mints


The Decor

Balloons
The Cake
Cupcakes, Nuts, and Mints
The Punch

Me, Clapping my hands because I get to open gifts!! Haha!

Opening My First Gift

The awesome swing my mom and dad got me! It's soooo nice and it matches our travel system! I LOVE IT!

Diaper Bag that also matches!

YAY! MY BOPPY! I was sooo excited to get this! You wouldn't believe how soft the cover is.
An adorable toy bar for the car seat, and a really cool cover for highchairs and shopping carts!

These are only a few of the awesome gifts I received! I got clothes, blankets, toys, pacifiers, food, feeding items, bibs, a nursing wrap, money, and lots of other great things! Thanks again everyone! I have very little left to get before Hallie gets here. Honestly, I could bring her home right now and be able to care for her with everything that I have. My dad is making me a cradle which will go in our bedroom and my grandma is buying me a crib for Hallie's room. I am so thankful!!! There are only a few little things I have left to buy, like bedding and a little more bath stuff. I feel very blessed to have been given so much of what I needed, much of which was given to me over the last few months by my sister.

I am so ready for Hallie to get here! I can't believe it's only a little more than a month away. The last eight months have really flown by. I am so excited to hold her in my arms and kiss her little face. The kids are ready too. Holly constantly kisses my tummy and talks to her. Hailey and Nick are really excited, partly because they know that Hallie's birth means Summer break! The weather is starting to get really nice and I will be so glad to have them home and be able to go outside and take walks or go to the park and play.

Hailey ministered in church yesterday morning with the human video that she did at Fun Arts. She did such an amazing job and really let God use her. Even she was overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit and was crying. The annointing on her life is so powerful. Yesterday we talked about how she touched more lives than she would ever know because our services are broadcast all over the world on the internet. Danny and I were overcome with tears throughout the entire song, as were many other people. This is something that she is definitely going to keep cultivating because God has obviously given her a gift for it. When we got home from church she took me aside and with tear-filled eyes told me how thankful she was to have a relationship with Jesus and to live in a "freedom country" where she is free to praise and worship Him. It is in moments like these that I am most thankful to God and most proud of my children. Danny and I agree that seeing her minister like that makes us much more happy and proud than any dance recital or game or science fair ever has. We are going to do everything we can to encourage her. Anyway, I knew God was really speaking to her about freedom when last night in our evening service we sang "Freedom" and then a visiting missionary showed a video about India and the lack of freedom that they have there. Once again, I was overcome with gratitude to the Lord for blessing me with a child that would hear from the Lord so clearly at such a young age. I can't wait to see the plans God has in store for her in the coming years.

Our house is slowly coming into shape. It's slow-going, but we're getting there. We finally have every piece of furniture and every toy in it's rightful room. That's not to say that it's all put away, but at least it's all in the room it belongs in. So now we spend all of our spare time cleaning and putting things away. In my case, I don't do a whole lot to help because after about fifteen minutes of being on my feet, I get exhausted. Danny has been really great though and has gotten so much accomplished this last week. As soon as we are completely finished, I will post pictures of our home, so that those of you who are curious can see how we will manage to fit six people into a three bedroom 1300 sq. ft. house. Let's just say we have become masters at fitting into small spaces. :-) I do not complain about the tight fit. Sometimes it is frustrating when things get really loud, especially when I'm trying to take a nap on a Sunday afternoon! But, I would much rather have a small home where we all forced to be together a lot than a big home where we can all spread out and get kind of isolated. I'm sure eventually we will have a bigger home, but for right now, I love the closeness.

Well, not much is on the agenda for this week. I am really looking forward to a week of just getting things done around the house and hanging out. This is Danny's long week at work...he works four twelve hour shifts, and he is on call another day. So we probably won't get a whole lot done, but that's ok. I think I really need some down time. My feet will definitely thank me!

One more thing I want to write about...the cutest thing happened at church yesterday. Danny was holding Ellie and she actually reached for me and when I took her, she laid her head down on my chest and just hugged me for several minutes. It was the sweetest thing EVER! I wanted to cry. I love my nieces so much! Our family is so very blessed. There were six of us kids and once Hallie gets here, we will already have beat that number and three of us haven't even gotten married and had kids yet. I am really looking forward to watching them all grow up together. God is so good.