As a Family

It is wonderful to come together as a family to celebrate someone you love, isn’t it? This blog has a page dedicated to the wonderful story of Shane and I meeting and the preparations into my wonderful wedding where my family poured out love through their creativity and acts of service, and I so appreciated it! I got to give back to my cousin this summer as I helped in preparations for her baby shower.

I know, I know, lots has happened between January till now, and suddenly all I post are some beautiful decorations. Well, I promise to share more of the blessings that have been so abundant in my life very soon, since, very soon, I will be flying to Oregon for an Artist-in-Residence spot at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument! But until I can gather my thoughts more for that entry, or entries, please enjoy this beautiful party at my aunt’s lovely Connecticut home that showered my dear cousin with love.

A gift was disguised as a decoration in the dining room. The beautiful Proverbs 3:15 in a dark frame, because the soon to be oldest cousin has given the nickname of Ruby to baby-girl-to-be.

A fox graced the front of the invitation alerting guests to the theme.

Which dotted every nook and shelf in the home.

What started as a bit of a joke the day before of counting the number of foxes turned into a sweet little shower game that gave folks the excuse to linger inside out of the humidity of that sunny August day.

Little figures dotted the dining room table where there was a wonderful spread of things my cousin loves like macaroni salad.

Even the hounds were present!

What was even more fun than joking about the number of foxes was who we were joking with. The day before the shower, it seemed like the whole family worked and laughed together to put up tents, mix up salads, cheeseballs, and set tables.

We laughed as my cousin’s brother-in-law licked spoons clean and “taste tested” the sweet tea, multiple times, as he took breaks from helping her dad outside.

As the day came to an end, we all sat in my aunts “chair room” and enjoyed time together, knowing we still had vacuuming to do, and that, if we hustled, we could maybe get a picture printed from the maternity shoot for one last decoration before the big day.

It was a good day. Everything was beautiful and given time, care and attention from people who love my cousin.

Oh, and by the way, we found time to get that picture printed!