A Very Special Baby Shower - A Shout Out to My Louisville Girls!

So, of course Westport Road strikes again!!! Marc and I were a part of this AMAZING church family for about 4 years when we lived in Louisville, KY for Marc's med school and my grad school. I worked in the church office as secretary and bookkeeper to pay our way through school until we moved back to Nashville in June 2005. We grew so close to just about the entire church and made friends there we will never forget. Who would have ever thought I would end up being a church secretary just out of the blue like that, but it was definitely a God-led job. I learned more info than I ever wanted to know in a church office! Ha ha! Marc and I were in a Share Group there for 3 years with the SAME group of people. So, you can only imagine how close we got to these people. Mike & Myrna McGimsey led this group so selflessly the entire time and became our "second parents"... to everyone in the group! While in Louisville, Marc and I became best friends with a wonderful couple, Billy & Danyelle Robinson. Everytime we go back to visit now, we stay with them and they spoil us rotten! :) We love them so much and are so blessed by their friendship.

So, to get back to this post... WRCC has been there for us every step of the way since we first stepped foot in their doors... our dating, engagement, wedding-planning, stresses of grad school, job changes, move to Nashville, our miscarriages, and now in the celebration of Mason Thomas. They threw us a WONDERFUL baby shower on September 21st that we had been trying to plan since the Spring, but it just never worked out until now. It was so much more fun this way, though! All of the ladies got to love on Mason while I opened gifts that I never realized I knew WHILE I was pregnant. They gave us some items to complete pretty much what all we need now for Mason, so this shower came at just the right time! We got TONS of diapers, gift cards, a Bumbo seat, our high chair, and lots of other things we were needing so much. Mike & Myrna opened up their home to us this visit since Billy & Danyelle were a little tied up this time (more on that later!) :) Thank you so much, "Mom" and "Dad"!! Every time Marc and I go back and visit, we are surrounded by sooooo much love and support from these people we call our second family. Mason has been to Louisville twice all ready and on the entire drives there, my tummy was filled with butterflies so anxiously awaiting seeing those people love on my baby boy!

This last visit we were in Louisville for some other reasons, too, but I'll blog about that a little later. For now, here are some fun pictures from our baby shower! What a WONDERFUL day that was!!
In the church foyer after that morning's church service... Heather & Maddy Colquett... some of our wonderful friends who were in our Share Group - PRE-Maddy days! :) We love them!!!

Oh my gosh.. the cake was absolutely perfect!! Thank you, Cheri Patrick, for making this from scratch!! You are sooo talented!!

Diane Ellison having her "Mason time"... She and Denise Marceaux, two of my very dear friends, were the "master minds" of this shower! I've always wanted to use that phrase! :) Diane is the one who trained me to be the bookkeeper in the church office. There was no way I could have ever truly filled her shoes, though!
Present-opening time! Thank you, Denise, for writing down my gifts! I LOVE this girl!! She trained me to be the secretary and we have been so close ever since! :) She is so silly, just like me, and we have so much fun every time we're together! She's also the one who started me on loving Southern Living At Home and getting all of my friends involved!

Okay, see the little monkey thang in this picture? That's a leash that I WILL put my son on as soon as he tries to run away from me someday!! Ha ha! What a GREAT gift!! Thank you, Cheri!! :)
A super cute Halloween bib & hat that Mason has been wearing about every other day for 2 weeks now! :)
Okay, LOVE this outfit and the little cute jogging outfit that was in this gift bag, but there wasn't a card or anything so I have NO IDEA who this is from! I feel so bad cuz now I don't know who to thank! So, if you're a WRCC-er and are reading this, could you please try to find out? I don't know how you could do that, but I just need some help finding out who this mysterious gift-giver was!!

Love my buckets from Babies R Us!! Thank you, Patti Williams! Girls, if you're needing some storage thangs for your nursery, these are sooo cute! They look just like Pottery Barn, but you will not be left completely broke after purchasing them! I have this white one and two lime green ones in Mason's room and I LOVE them! They look sooo cute with his decor!

Okay, Danyelle, I TOLD you to not buy me any more gifts!! You have already done WAY too much for us by coming all the way to Nashville for my first Baby Shower and getting me my super cute brown & green polka dotted diaper bag!! And NOW you're buying Mason his Bumbo seat and helping with some shower??

See, I was getting onto her in this picture! :) You do so much for me all the time! I love you so much! I was in complete disbelief in this picture because I was not expecting them to get us our high chair at all!! All of the shower hostesses went in together and bought it. I just love it! And what perfect timing.. We had just started Mason on rice cereal that week and have since started him on baby food, so we were really needing a high chair!!

Linnie Parrish and me... the church custodian who entertained me 3 days a week while I was a work!! It definitely would not have been the same without Linnie. We shared LOTS of stories!! Before this shower I had not seen her in 3 1/2 years!!

The Lovely Shower Hostesses... Diane, Cheri & her kiddos, Denise, Danyelle, & Heather

Lori Summers & Gina Miller being their cute little selves!!

Hot Mommas Cheri & Denise

Raegan made Mason a very special blanket! I love gifts like this! Thank you soooo much, girl! He LOVES it! It is the perfect dressy church blanket, especially now that it's Fall! Raegan is the wife of Doug Lalli, who was the Youth Minister while I worked in the church office. I got to know them really well and love them so much!!

Gina Miller... Gina was in charge of the MOMS program (Mothers of Miracles) at church, so I communicated with her a lot in the office. We seemed to just be getting close when we had to move. :( I hope to get together with her every time we go back and visit!

Paulette Summers with Mason and me.. She did NOT want to have her picture taken at all, but Gina and I made her!! She is one of the most God-loving women you will ever meet. I just love watching her worship. She is such an inspiration to me! I will never, ever forget her sending my mom a card several years ago when my mom needed a little bit of encouragement. Paulette is just so sweet and kind-hearted!!

With some of the ladies in the Wednesday morning Ladies Bible Study... They would come to the church every single week and some weeks I would accompany them to the wonderful Chinese Buffet restaurant after their Bible Study. They were always in the church office paying us little visits! What special ladies!

Jo, Nell, and Helen

One of my favorites from the weekend... Nell and Helen being so sweet to my baby boy!

Myrna & me

And the last one to sum up fun times with my Louisville girls...

Danyelle, Heather, and me... Heather is expecting her second little girl in December so we had to take our traditional belly picture... We did this exact same pose 3 years ago in my living room when she was pregnant with Maddy!