A bird-themed baby shower

Psalm 127:3
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.


Babies make my heart melt.  They fill my arms and make the wonder of life rise up anew.  And new Mommies make me smile wistfully as I think of the new experiences and adventures that await them.


I have a good friend, Laura.  You can meet her here.  I had the honor of hosting her baby shower for our church ladies group.  I wanted to do it justice- her justice.  One should feel special at their first baby shower.  They should be surrounded by love, companionship, and support.

She has a unique nursery.  Completely her. Simply beautiful in the colors of autumn leaves and forest trees.  Warm colors.  Fitting colors for a little girl that will be surrounded by warmth and laughter. 
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 Somehow between her, yard sales, and good friends (another story for her to tell) her nursery has developed a theme- birds.  I ADORE themes.  They make me giddy.


So a shower developed with paper birds, wooden eggs made elegant with Hodge podge and origami paper, and pleated circle garlands to make it look festive and unique to Laura. . (Another post will give details on how-to's. Bear with me ;-)

Pleated circle garlands adorned with flowers and buttons

The smell of harvest filled the air.

And paper birds adorned mantles and chandeliers

 We played games both old and new.  We of course played the guess the candy bar in the diaper game.  It is a baby shower classic.  Props to all the adventurous souls who dared the "Pregnancy Dash" game.  They crammed down crackers, posed for a pic with a balloon under a maternity shirt, tried to tie their shoes with said balloon, then "delivered" the baby by popping the balloon without using their hands.  It was fun.  It allowed Laura to laugh.  It allowed all of us to giggle together.  Shared laughter makes for great memories.  Another friend brought a yummy cake and others bites of deliciousness from their kitchen's.  Our tummies were happy. 


 We all watched as Laura became a little more prepared for the arrival of her blessing with each gift, with each word of advice,  and with each smile, nod, or hug of encouragement from those who love her.

And each placed love upon some simple fabric by use of color, art, and words.   Each one to be appliqued with care on bibs sewn over the next few weeks.  And just maybe when the tears start to fall, the exhaustion creeps in, or the joy is overwhelming a bib will remind her that she is not alone.  She is surrounded by women who have gone before her- who KNOW!  And we are praying for her, thinking of her, and are always there.

And I give special thanks to Lindie, Sabrina, Eden, Julia, Margie, and Donna who came early and helped me get it just right.  And I could  not have done it without Keziah who was silly with me late into the night as we got it all ready.  I am blessed to call you all friend. 

Give Thanks!

Where has Thanksgiving gone?  Somehow anymore we go straight from Halloween to Christmas.  And in the process do not give a beautiful holiday the ABSOLUTE attention it deserves.   And it is  one of the few holidays that started out God-centered.  It's purpose a necessary thing.

According to the dictionary.reference.com here is what Thanksgiving means-

thanks·giv·ing

–noun

1.

the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, esp. to god.

2.

an expression of thanks, esp. to God.

3.

a public celebration in acknowledgment of divine favor or kindness.

4.

a day set apart for giving thanks to God.

And what does our source of truth, the Bible,  say about thanksgiving.

Psalm 95:1-6"O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker."

Psalm 100 "Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations."

This season  is a especially a time for me to stop and think about all the Lord has done my life.  It is a time to DWELL in Him. To teach my kids to stop the busyness of our day to day life and just be thankful in Him.

1 Chronicles 16:8

Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.

1 Chronicles 29:13

Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. 

 1 Chronicles 16:34

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

Jonah 2:9

But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

Here at the Woodpile, Thanksgiving celebrations have already begun.  As the weeks pass I will most likely blog about the poems we learn, songs we sing, books we read.  Or what we are creating to celebrate and decorate for this years Thanksgiving.   But tonight I want to make sure I start off this Thanksgiving season the only way-  giving thanks to God who has given me all.  Who gave His SON!  My Father who blessed me with life both earthly and eternal has gifted me with so much: a childhood full of love and laughter, a man who is my better half, the ability to appreciate the beauty of a maple leaf in the Fall, the sight of my older son laughing delightedly as he sees his baby brother's face lighting up as he reaches for him, the ability to twirl around with my girls and join in with the laughter that fills the air.  So many things to be thankful for.  So many PEOPLE to be thankful for.  And all these blessings are all because of Him. 

The earthly things I am thankful for seem so precious.  They make my heart sing and weep at the same time.  And yet they pale to insignificance compared to His glory.   If only I could be thankful enough.  Never to take it for granted.  Never to lessen the gift He blesses me with.  What I can do is give thanks with all that is within me and then give thanks for His forgiveness, His grace for when I fail.  And is there anything else I could be more thankful for than the freedom of His grace. The freedom to know that in this sinful body I could never be enough or do enough. BUT I don't have to be He has done it all for me.  He LOVES me despite me!  And I give thanks.

A little girl dreams of

Being Jasmine with all the beautiful turquoise, shimmering fabric, and sparkly trim.  The reality- shoddy costumes and bare midriffs.  Another little girl's eyes shining as she says, "Belle!   Her dress is beautiful!!"   The reality- shoddy costumes and low necklines.   What is a mother to do? So started my latest sewing project.  And without further ado I present you-

                                                         My modest Jasmine! ;-)

Suitably shimmery and sparkly

You could hear her coming!

My version of Belle.

And no I did not teach either of my girls to pose like this.  I have no clue where they got it. 

A change of mind the day of by Cupcake meant a lot of thinking outside the Disney box to make the materials on hand work!

I was all trimmed out by the last stitch.

These pics are not the best, but the pictures I took pre and post where on my hubby's I-touch.  Which of course I can not get to hook up to the laptop.  Oh well.  These will do.

 All in all it was a lengthy but truly enjoyable sewing project.  While the results were quickly thrown together and not as finished as I would have preferred they made two little girls very, very happy.  What better reward for a mother's efforts than two bright smiles and bubbly laughter. 

Next up- an Arabian Extravaganza!!!