Sunday, April 27, 2008

Baby Shower #2

All we can say is we are overwhelmed..... Overwhelmed by how lucky we are to be surrounded by the MOST amazing group of wonderful friends and family. The love and generosity that we were showered with yesterday was more then we ever dreamed of. We now know why they call it a Baby Shower... It is not because of the shower of wonderful gifts that you get when you are expecting, but because all of your loved ones who come together to celebrate with you in the joy that you are experiencing. Riz and I commented to each other through out the day how awesome it was to have all our friends (well most of our friends some could not be there) in one place. We had family, old work friends, new work friends, adoption friends and what we affectionately referred to as "REGULAR" friends all in one place at one time. I was emotional all day and was frequently brought to tears by the words and love that people showered over us all day long. We can not express how grateful we are to everyone that was there and to those of you who could not be there in person, but who were there in spirit for everything, most of all for being there for us through the past 28 month. We can not wait to share Sophia with all of those we love.........


OK, so, now we have to share the details of the shower.....

It was a warm, breeze, sunny day and our friends Pat and Denise opened their home to us for a wonderful Baby shower. They decorated their home and yard with white lights, pink, white and red Chinese lanterns. My Brother in Law Chris and wife Tabby brought a truck load of balloons and filled the yard with color. My mother decorated the tables with Chinese food boxes filled with rice and little white lights, fortune cookies, chop sticks and red rose petals. My wonderful Mother and Father in law and mother helped to get ready for the day by setting up with Pat and Denise. There was yummy Chinese food from our favorite Chinese restaurant (Tops China). My mom made cute favors for everyone to take home when they left. (My oldest Brother John)










Small Chinese Food take out boxes with candy and a "Red Thread Legend book marker in them. The cake was FANTASTIC! and all thanks to my wonderful best friend Lisa. She arranged to have a ladybug cake made and what seemed like a gazillion cupcakes that were the cutest things I had ever seen.. Small Sunflowers each with a tiny little ladybug and they were delicious too....Everything was delicious and beautiful.....

and then the gift giving began ....OH MY!, I don't even know what to say. We received so many wonderful gifts for Sophia. We feel so fortunate..... everything from toys (that we needed, no toys in our house) to Oh! so cute clothes. My mother in-law made Sophia a beautiful hand made pillowcase dress, embrodered with colorful flowers. Wendy gave us "THE" little white dress from Strasburg kids, I can't wait for beach photos in that dress. The Doctor Riz works for gave us a beautiful Irish wool cable knit sweater and A Kilt in the "official" Stewart tartin.... There were so many adorable things that I can't wait to put on Sophia. We received some really sweet sentimental gifts and some really great baby necessities like a stroller, baby monitor, Diaper pail and a baby swing. The generosity of Riz's Uncle Michael and Aunt Lurel will afford us to purchase the car seat we need (and want). We also received things for Sophia's room like sheets and blankets, toiletries, and hooded bath towels sets. The numerous gift cards that we recived will allow us to do a little shopping for a few more of the baby things we need .

Last but not least we were blessed with generous donations to our China baby fund from both Riz's parents and my mother. We can't thank them enough for helping us to bring home our baby girl.



We want to say a special Thank you to Matt and Amy Greeson for the wonderful baby book (adoption geared) and the target gift card they sent all the way from Ohio...


to Cheri and Shane for the wonderful box full of baby goodies it was the last thing I opened and I was so touched that you made the effort to send a gift for Sophia.

and to Jennifer and Patrick who could not be with us yesterday but who bought Sophia her first walker/toddler toy....


Riz and I want to express our deepest most heartfelt gratitude to all of our friends and family who help create the most wonderful day for us....a day that we will remember forever and will one day share with our beautiful baby girl.... we love you all.......

A few more pictures from the day

Nai Nai and Allyson (our beautiful god daughter) , Kate and Claire



My beautiful Niece Breanna



Sweet Macy Lane





Tom AKA Chowda Head

Uncle Chris





The Loot
and the perfect ending to a perfect day

9 comments:

Cheri and Shane said...

Susan & Riz,

We are so sorry that we couldn't be there for your special day! You know that if we could have, we would have been on a plane in a heartbeat to be there to celebrate with the two of you (and all your family & friends).

I'm glad you liked our boxes of goodies. (Now you know why I've been holding off on sending you some "happy mail"...I really wanted you to have it at your shower). The little ladybug dress is what I was so excited about....I hope both our girls can wear them together someday soon!!

We love you both and we're so excited about this week and we can't wait to see Sophia!!! :)

Love,
Cheri, Shane & Hope

Sam said...

Susan & Riz

What a beautiful shower filled with lots of love. Todd and I are very excited about the week ahead and we can't wait to see Sophia's little face.
Love,
Sherri

Mike and Rhonda said...

Wow....Susan! You and Riz are loved so much, because of who you are. Now little Miss Sophia will be blanketed in this love.

Rhonda

Melissa said...

Sounds like a dream come true day! Glad you enjoyed your shower and now the best gift of all is right around the corner!

Karen said...

What a beautiful celebration! I am so happy for you and Riz. You all deserve it! I know you must be excited about TA's coming out...referrals must not be far behind. I can't wait to see Sophia's picture and learn more about her. I am on pins and needles for you.

Ladybugsmom said...

Susan and Riz,
We have been checking on you guys all month...since I am such a bloggy newby I thought you had not posted since the "just no words" post. I was really worried finally today I decided to refresh and just click on April and I found all your wonderful post and was so happy. Your showers looked so amazing and love the new wheels...this may be the week that "both" of us see our girls for the first time. Hang in there and enjoy every single minute...can't wait to meet you guys in China.

Stephe said...

Hey girl,
All I can say is Karma! What you give to others is so kind, generous and sweet...no wonder you had some amazing showers. You and Riz deserve it all! I'm just waiting for that day when you get that call and see that little face...
then...you'll be truely blessed in every sense of the word!

Love you guys. Wish I could have been there but I was thinking about you both! Thanks for posting all the photos! Love ya. Stephe

Robby, Tonja, Caitlin and Marissa said...

Susan and Riz,
What a wonderful shower you had. You got so much stuff. I know you must have had a good time. It was fun looking at your slide show. The framed crosstitch that you have about adoption is also hanging on my wall. I did mine when we first started paperwork for Caitlin back in '95. I just love the words on it.

Tonja
LID 3/3/06 for Marissa

Gail said...

What a perfect shower! Looks like a fun time!
I can see that you are loved by wonderful family and friends.