Three Wonderful Bridal Showers

I have been so incredibly blessed by several families who kindly hosted beautiful bridal showers for me during the past month. I enjoyed many hours of fellowship with many of our family's dearest friends and received so many delightful gifts for Stephen and my future home.

The first shower was an inspiring Pampered Chef shower. I left so eager to cook! Immediately upon arrival I was given a lovely corsage to wear for the event:

The Pampered Chef host demonstrated how to use many of the latest Pampered Chef products. In the following picture I was asked to assist:

Weeks before the shower, I was instructed to go through the Pampered Chef catalog and choose some of my favorite items. These items were cut out and placed on cute leaves on a tree for the guests present to place orders for gifts for me! It was so much fun when my box of kitchen items arrived soon afterward! 

The host of the shower also gave me a "Memorial Box", a treasure chest to store reminders of God's goodness in Stephen and my new family's life. She explained that the idea of the "Memorial Box" originated from Exodus 16:32 which states, "Moses said, 'This is what the Lord has commanded: Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.'" In the same way that manna was preserved to remind the Israelites of God's provision, we can begin storing special reminders of His faithfulness in our lives together. There was already one creative reminder placed in our Memorial Box - a computer mouse to signify the unique and unexpected way God caused our paths to cross!

The following weekend was another lovely shower hosted by more dear friends of our family.

The gift theme was Christmas ornaments (although there were also a couple other sweet gifts as well), so I am now looking forward to setting up our first Christmas tree next year!

So much thought and time went into the gifts at all three of the showers. I left each event feeling so loved!

Visiting with friends:

The hostesses prepared a delicious luncheon for us to enjoy!

There was a creative game during which the guests competed by drawing what they guessed my wedding dress looked like.

A few who had not seen the dress before were fairly accurate!

The third shower was held several hours away near the area where my family is originally from and a very large crowd of dear friends and extended family gathered! It was so nice to fellowship with the friends that we've known through many years and many moves, yet rarely have opportunities to see anymore.

 

I am so thankful for all of the incredible gifts I received for our home. I can't wait to begin using everything. 

Even Sheridan received one gift from a very thoughtful family. They read on a recent blog post that Sheridan planned to teach Mama how to bake cookies, so they sweetly purchased cookie cutters and Christmas cookie sprinkles for her! We already enjoyed baking and decorating a batch of Christmas sugar cookies together with her new tools last week.

My great-grandmother, Nannie:

We are continually amazed at how the body of Christ has come together so beautifully in preparation for Stephen and my wedding and new marriage. Thank you so very much to the families who prepared, decorated, cooked, cleaned, invited, and on and on and on for my three bridal showers! I am so grateful for your kindness, love, and generosity toward me. The hospitality you exhibited challenges me and spurs me on to follow in your examples in my new home. My family is indebted to you and we pray that we will become characterized by being as servant-hearted as each of you have been to us over these past months and now in these final few days. Your friendship to our family is among our greatest joys.