Baby Shower for Kati & Baby Sadler!

This afternoon we had a baby shower for my life-long bestie Kati and her sweet little man Sadler.  Kati is due about 2 week after myself, so being pregnant at the same time has been really special.  Kati, Lindsey, and I have all been best friends since we were little girls, and have literally known each other for almost 25 years.  Whoa, that number will make you feel old.  But, we have known each other since kindergarten (if not even a bit before).  Lindsey has a little boy, Lucas who is 18 months old, so now all three of us will have boys!  oh dear!

old friends! :)

Kati's little fella has a very special name, Sadler is the maiden name of her sweet and wonderful Gran Gran, and here they are!  

lindsey and i had so much fun decorating for this shower!  lindsey is so great at this stuff!

 cupcake tower!

 mini peanut butter pie's in a jar!  yay!  

 so fun!

 kati and her momma!  

 little Sadler has some razorback gear!

 kati with her aunt, mom and gran-gran!

 kati and sweet whitney!

lindsey made this awesome wreath!  she's so talented!

I can't wait to meet and hold you Baby Sadler!  You are so loved already!!!!  

Oh, happy day!

My dear friends have a TRAVEL DATE to go get their little Miss.  Abby blogs here, and I would love for them to be covered in prayer as they journey to eastern Europe and bring their daughter home.  They will start their adventure of thousands of miles this Sunday, please pray for smooth/uneventful travels, good weather and safety for them.  Also, please pray for peace and guidance as they begin to really learn the sweet little blessing, that is their daughter.  She has spent 3-ish years in an orphanage, and adjusting to a mom and dad and life outside those walls will be a big change for her.  Praying that God will knit their hearts together as a family, and give Eva Claire understanding and peace as her world begins to change.  Their story is such a great story and such an amazing example of how God's plans are so good.  I am so excited I can barely sit still.

I just had to add this picture of myself and Eva Claire from one of our trips to her orphanage.  I remember thinking as I held her, that one day she would be held in the arms of her parents and carried out of that room of the orphanage to begin her trip home.  Home.  Such a wonderful word.

Thank you God for this little blessing and for the beautiful and obedient hearts of her parents, Daniel and Abby.  They have fought the good fight, that is called the process of international adoption!  It's been a long road of "hurry up and wait" and now it's finally time to go!!  Praise God, His blessings are many.

baby shower'in! :)

we had our first baby shower this weekend for our little fella.  i was completely overwhelmed by all the sweet things from family and friends.  three of my dear friends threw the shower, and they thought of every single detail, down to little flags on the straws for people's names.  SO cute.  they served yummy brunch foods that i love and had the cutest cake from shelby lynn's!

these are three sweet friends who put a lot of love into the shower!

who doesn't love a monogrammed cake here in the south! :)  

one of my dear sweet best friends i made during my freshman year in college made the trip in for the shower!  

they did so many cute details, i just can't get over it!

they asked me what i wanted (or maybe i just told them this one small request....) chocolate milk!  

my pregnancy favorite!

everyone wrote words of wisdom and played game to guess his birthday!  we'll see who wins! :)

kati made this diaper cake!  

cupcakes!

the cutest little onesie's and burp clothes handmade by lins!  

punch was so fun!  

little fella got some razorback gear!  hadleigh was my assistant with the gifts, and stayed right there the entire time, i am sure she was tuckered out, but she was a big helper! :)  love that little girl

cake!

this was mine when i was little, i got several very special gifts from my mom!

the aunts except for lorie, who had to work!

these are two great looking soon to be great-grandmas!  

these two are excited to say the least...."Susu" and "Mamaw"

two of the sweetest and dear friends!  

my belly is obviously quite larger, but little B will have a baby cousin in March!

kay and i after the shower, love her! :)

this quilt is so special as well, made with love by my dear friend Abby!  I LOVE it.

we are so thankful for the blessing of baby b and being surrounded with so much love and support.  i know there are so many who go with out, and so many sweet little ones in the world with out so much love.  praying we raise our little guy to be compassionate and giving towards those with less.  Thanking God for all of these blessings, every single one of them.

3 years...

My love and I celebrated 3 years of married fun today!  We started our morning with an ultrasound of little man, so that was a good start.  He's a long legged boy apparently, and measuring a week ahead of schedule.  

The day today actually reminded me a lot of the day we got married, pretty fall colors and a cloudy sky.  It was a bit colder 3 years ago today, but the look of it was the same.  

We ended our day with dinner at James at the Mill and a re-enactment of our top layer of our wedding cake.  and I ate my whole piece, while Bryan barely at half.  I'm always the dainty lady.  

our big day!

 One year in vegas!

 Two years, I was in Ukraine, i like to go polar opposite from the previous year in vegas! 

we celebrated with a facetime date.  

three years!  (taken this weekend...i was too busy food photographing tonight, and maybe too tired to take a picture)

dinner!  so good!

tonight's cake, i still love our wedding cake.  buttercream with raspberry filling! :)

3 years of marriage of course has had it's ups and downs, but I do feel like our marriage get's better every day, and I am thankful.  

this time last year...

i have been thinking about this week last year as October and fall is settling in here in NWA.  it was the week i spent in ukraine with abby,  ginny, and matt!  looking back on it, it really was such a sweet and peaceful week.

matt and ginny met their daughter.

abby spent time with a little sweet girl, that will soon officially become her and daniel's daughter.

we had great fall weather, smooth travels and settled into a little ukrainian routine.  breakfast and coffee, work, lunch, work, dinner, talking and laughing until way later than we should have been awake!  the slow pace let us really take it all in.  we enjoyed this slow pace at the orphanage and truly made friends with caregivers and doctors and got to see little personalities come alive.  we enjoyed getting a better glimpse into the kids daily routines, meal times, nap times, and seeing more of what life was like for them.  i really feel that God specifically used that week in my life to see His goodness.

i get so excited at the thought of this little girl being home.  

thank you God for sending me to Ukraine last October, and for every detail you over saw during our time there.  i can never be thankful enough!!!

 and you can't really beat the desserts and tea time!  maybe i'll fix myself up some ukrainian treats this week to celebrate!

happy october!