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Yesterday when I came home from work this was sitting at the front door…
I actually followed the instructions of “Open Together” and patiently waited for Lucas to get home. After we enjoyed a quick dinner out we came back to open our box of goodness.
“Welcome to your baby-shower-by-mail! Shannon & Lucas you two are so dearly loved and although your friends are spread out around the world (literally) we couldn’t pass up the chance to welcome your new little one and celebrate with you during this special time. So, use the goodies in the polka dot wrapping to set the mood and then sit back and be loved! You two are so special! Love, Your Friends”
Our friends Katy and Jeremy Kidwell had put this all together and we were so excited to jump right in. The first gift to open included some yummy chocolates, hot cocoa and some baby CD mixes…with all songs saying “baby” in them. We popped in one of the CD’s and proceeded…
In this package we found some yummy food as well as some cute cloth napkins. Also the tag let us know that the theme of this shower is “Baby’s First Outing”.
So off we went opening presents! I couldn’t resist taking pictures of each and every item so I’ll share them all with you…
From Katie & Derek in Scotland, friends from Regent, my Spouses of Students group and church home group…a cute snowsuit for the little one. We actually just saw Derek and he didn’t say a word about this special surprise coming our way.
From Grace, Josh & Naomi in Idaho, friends from Regent, my Spouses of Students group and church…some goodies to make stepping out easier…a cute hat and mitten set, snack dispenser, links and a reusable placemat.
From Jess, Jeff, Charlie & Lillian in Kansas, friends from Regent and my Spouses of Students group…a wonderful nursing cover and some cute mittens.
From Karen, Nathan, Luke & Caleb in Vancouver, friends from home group at church…a wonderfully soft organic cotton blanket.
From Fran, Andrew & Anica Gorlick in Vancouver, friends from home group at church…a classic Canadian toque!
*I have to say that this next gift was quite the surprise. :)
From Vanya, Ryan & Ciara in New Zealand, friends from church…all natural baby soap and massage oil (Made in New Zealand).
From Katie, Ryan & Gloria in Vancouver, friends from Regent…a warm hat and cute socks.
From Deanna, Ben & Nora in England, friends from Regent and church…a warm fleece suit to bundle up in.
From Ansley, Chad & Charles in Florida, friends from Regent and my Spouses of Students group…some cute cards to use as thank you notes and Works Wonders Salve from Vancouver.
Finally I’ll end with a few handmade items that topped off the evening.
From Shelley, Levi & Avery in Saskatchewan, friends from Regent and my Spouses of Student Group…super cute diaper and pacifier totes! Shelley made these wonderful creations and I was so hoping to receive a handmade gift from her. :)
And finally from the coordinators of it all…
From Katy & Jeremy, friends from Regent…a wonderful baby blanket, brag book and teether.
This quilt/blanket was just too much! I absolutely love it and again I was secretly hoping that Katy might be making something like this. :) What a wonderful surprise!
All in all, we were spoiled to death and felt very loved. It was definitely a bittersweet evening as we enjoyed being showered by friends but we so wished we could be closer to them. We are just thankful to have such supportive and wonderful people in our lives even if we’re now separated by many miles. What a blessing to have met them and to still have them in our lives even if we don’t get to see them very often.
Ok now I’m crying just writing this…the bottom line is, thank you so much for making us feel so loved. You have each touched our lives and we will never be the same. We hope that someday our little one can meet each and every one of you so they can share in this love. :)
-Shannon & Lucas
Our home group through our church has been one of the best things in our life here in Vancouver. We have grown through this group and we are going to miss them so much. They have encouraged us in all that we have done and they have been a huge support even with us moving on from this place. Last Saturday night they congratulated us with a graduation party! Fran and Andrew hosted it and the evening was wonderful…full of cake, nachos, beer and games. :)
Here are the three graduates…Fiona, me and Lucas…
Fran even had a cake made up for the three of us…
Here we are getting ready to enjoy the cake…
Micah and Fiona…
Paul and Lucas…
Fran, Fiona, Micah and Paul enjoying conversation…
The boys played Wii…Andrew, Lucas, Paul and Micah…
And the girls played the Ungame…we laughed, we cried…ok really I was the only one who cried :)
It was a great evening together. Last night we enjoyed our final home group and I couldn’t help but take one last picture…l to r…me, Karen (with Caleb), Micah, Derek, Fiona, Lucas, Nathan, Andrew, Fran, Janet, Rudy & Paul…
We will miss them for sure…
-Shannon
I have to admit that since school has been out my days kind of run together. So even though we just enjoyed a weekend we weren’t much on the warrior side of things. I’ve actually been sick the past few days but that didn’t stop us from enjoying a little fun. On Friday night we had our friends Micah and Fiona over for dinner. We met them through our church home group and have loved getting to know them. They are both from New Zealand and they came to Vancouver for Fiona to do her Master’s degree in violin performance at UBC. She is now finished with her schooling but a few weeks ago she had her final recital. It was absolutely wonderful!
We have been trying to get together with them for quite some time but it finally came together on Friday night. We enjoyed some steak, twice baked potatoes, salad, rolls and a nice bottle of wine. It was a wonderful evening and I made sure to take a picture with our friends…
On Saturday I woke up feeling worse than before so we enjoyed a quiet day at home. I had been itching to make a few more cards before we headed back to Missouri so I hauled out some stuff and got to work. Three movies (on tv) later I had completed 20 cards!!! I don’t think I’ve ever had such a crazy card making day. Now I have to admit that the reason I was able to pump out so many is because I basically did the same few designs all day and I just mixed up the papers and embellishments. Either way here is my new stack of cards…
And a new favorite…
After a good morning at church, where Gordon Fee preached on my favorite verse (Zephaniah 3:17), we enjoyed another lazy day at home followed by an evening walk which included picking up some chocolate milk for Lucas and a Coke slurpee for me. :)
-Shannon
This past weekend I spent the weekend away at our church retreat. Lucas wasn’t able to come but I went anyway and tried to enjoy myself. I left on Friday afternoon and rode out with Christina and Janet. The retreat was held a Chehalis lodge and we were able to enjoy some time around the lodge before everyone else arrived. The surroundings were beautiful even though it was quite cloudy all weekend…
Once everyone started to arrive I helped with registration while Josh and Geoff tried to “help” with getting the luggage upstairs…
The weekend was filled with worship, times of prayer and lots of fun. On Saturday afternoon we had free time to do whatever we wanted. After making some cards with Susan we all went on a little walk around the area…Susan, Vanya (Ciara) & Wendy…
The boys enjoyed some basketball…
I enjoyed walking and talking with Wendy…it was one of the best parts of my weekend…
I learned to play Dutch Blitz…
Janet and Myra were knitting away…
There were tons of kids and babies around so I had to take some pics…here’s Christian looking cute…
…and Naomi…we had quite the little photo shoot but I decided you probably didn’t need to see all of the pictures. :) …
…and Ciara…she even learned to hold a rugby ball…
On Saturday night we had the Olympics and divided up in to groups. My team was the Uphill Christian Skiers…we were pretty awesome…
…here’s Kirsty showing off our team tatoos…
…Ryan was dominating at his event…
It was a great weekend and it was good to get out of the city for awhile. If you think of it please pray for Lucas and I as we have been a little discouraged with school stuff lately…
-Shannon
