A Shower of Love

I'm switching things up today to introduce you to a few of my hometown friends and tell you about something really cool that we got to do last week.

                                                                           

Not even drunk yet.

Meet Liz.
Seriously, how adorable is this person??? But not only is she adorable - she is amazingly creative, insanely talented, super sweet, and a gorgeous wife and mother of five young children. She's a homeschooler (WHAT WHAT!!!), an artist and kind of a spaz. And we love her for it.

Liz is always working on a project. When she's not working her hindquarters off on her home business, she's painting curtains or bedazzling a canvas or making tassels. I swear the girl has been making tassels since October of 2012, but it may have been for much longer. She can't stop making tassels. She's lost control.

And wait till you see her house. The lady has style.

Anyway, Liz was praying for a way to get her children involved with serving others and helping someone in need, and boy, did she come up with a great idea.



 Meet Kristin.

Ain't she pretty?? Look how gorgeous she is, holding that diaper cake like it's one of the letters on the Wheel of Fortune. For real, she makes Vanna White look like a broke ass scullery maid, yo.

Kristin is amazing - a wife, mom of four littles and an outstanding ER nurse. If you ever get in a bad accident, get shot or have scabies or whatevertheheck - which is slang for ohnevermind - you want this lady to be your nurse. She'll kick your ass and wipe your butt and give you a Star Wars band -aid, all while wearing a calm and patient smile.

Also she has the best outfits. I still have one of hers in my closet somewhere.

Sorry bout that, Kris.

 Anyway, Kristin has a true servant's heart. She does such wonderful things for others. In fact, a few years ago, she inspired our group of mutual friends to do a meal drive for family members and friends who were either pregnant or had just had babies. So a bunch of us cooked and baked and packaged all kinds of great food, Kristin made beautiful handmade cards, our girl Jill bought flowers, and then we loaded it up into our friend Kate's van and made deliveries to a bunch of sweet people who really deserved it.

It was so fun, so uplifting and such a wonderful experience.

 Meet Barb.

You squealed at this, didn't you. Aren't they the cutest???

Barb is Liz's younger sister, Kris's sister in law, a newlywed, and a new mom of that adorable little baby girl.

This baby is a prodigy. Look at her wield that spatula like she's about to frost a dozen cupcakes!!! She's so ready.

Anyway, Barb is an incredible baker and culinary pro. The girl has mad skills, and you are about to see a sample of her work.

Last week these 3 wonderful ladies threw a baby shower for a woman whom Liz had found out about through our local pro life director, Cheryl Calire . Cheryl is a selfless lady with a huge heart, and without her, this night would have never happened. Originally, Liz had the idea of having a baby shower to donate baby items to the pro life office, but Cheryl told her about a very special lady who could really use some help.

 Meet Tracy.

She has a smile like the Blessed Mother, doesn't she? What a beautiful Mama.

Tracy is the real hero here.

She is pregnant with her first child, a child she has been pressured to abort. Pressured by her (former) boyfriend, pressured by her doctor, who told Tracy that since she has no partner and no family support, she should abort her child. Because apparently, that doctor thinks the solution for someone who is vulnerable and alone is to back them into a corner and make them feel that the way out is death. But I digress.

Tracy is a lady with plenty of grit and - despite her difficult circumstances - she is determined to protect her unborn child, even though she's scared and has never done this before.

 Meet some of our Little Flowers.

Sweet little ones! The baby with the pigtails and the little girl holding her are my daughters.

We have a Little Flowers group, and Liz and Kris had the idea of letting the girls help with the shower as an act of love and service. IT. WAS. AWESOME. They got all dolled up and helped out by taking coats, serving the ladies and presenting Tracy with her HUGE pile of presents.

There were so many lovely, generous, kind, enthusiastic women who attended this shower and went out of their way to show Tracy some love and support. Such amazing ladies!!

I'm gonna shut up now and just show you some pictures of our amazing night. Here's some of the decor:

Baby woodland theme! Love!!

That's my amazing friend Julie. She and her husband have FIFTEEN children!!! FIFTEEN!! And the lady is HOT!
Here she is, holding their youngest one, Cianna, the little Italian Princess. I'm partial to her because Dan and I are her Godparents:)

Me: damn, is that cake gluten free??? oh who cares, gimme dat!

This was when Tracy was hanging out with some of us in the back room where we could chill and some of us could nurse our babies.

From left to right we have some of my very closest friends - the incredible Julie and Cianna, my bestie Nicole, who is halfway through her seventh pregnancy and completely disgusts me with her real life stick figure of a body, my dear and wise friend Janelle (you may remember her from this post), who is pregnant with baby number five,  Tracy the woman of Honor, and me holding Miabelle.

 I don't know why I'm looking at Tracy's cake that way. I think I was contemplating stealing it from her.

I'm looking off in the distance and weeping because I really wanted her cake.

Little Flowers presenting Tracy with her gifts. That's my little flower, Lucie, smiling at the bottom of the picture.

Tracy and Cheryl.

Sweet little flowers.

The lovely lady on the left (holding Barb's sweet baby) is Laura, and she is the sis in law of Kristin, Liz and Barb.
I'm telling you, these people are all related. It's like a family reunion in Utah.

This is Liz's cooler. I told you the girl has a problem.

Personally, I think Liz's husband Doug harbors a very real fear that he will wake up one morning and find himself completely covered in soft pastel tassels.

We're here for you, Doug. Not in a creepy way, but in a candle vigil-ish way. 

Which is not creepy.

Barb: Step off, everybody. I'm bout to git mah drink awn.

Here's my sweet friend Analise, smiling her beautiful smile and dear Barb hittin the wine and bourbon up for another swig of easy livin.

Girlfriend baked up a storm for this event and she's got the ol' Irish gleam in her eyes. The gleam that says "Good Saint Patrick, grant me arse another stiff drink!"

Looks like Kristin is praying that prayer in the background as well, while Samantha casually laughs and inches away towards the door. She knows the Irish gleam when she sees it. Or the Hunger Games gleam. Whatever they call it.
Guys, I tried to fix your eyes about 25 times. I finally gave up. Mea culpa/my bad.

To the left, my dear friend Jill's hair. Look at it SHINE!!!
To the right, Miabelle and my hair. Less shiny.

Liz and Tracy.

It was so wonderful to meet Tracy and to hear her story and witness her joy and courage. I would say she's going to be a wonderful mother , but the truth is that she already IS a wonderful mother, as well as a true inspiration. She kept thanking all of us for what we were doing, but she is the one who deserves to be thanked. Standing up for your innocent baby clinging in your womb is not easy when the ones who should be supporting you and welcoming your child choose instead to bully you, telling you to end your child's life.

There are many, many women out there who are walking the same road as Tracy. They need our support. I hope this post will inspire many of you to do what Liz did - pick up the phone, call your local pro life office and ask if you can throw a shower for a desperate mom. I know so many of you do things like this on a regular basis..but I can just envision crafty, talented, trendy ladies - like you out there! - putting together more showers like this one for women in need.

Part of what was so great about this shower is that it was like one you would throw for your close girlfriends or sisters...there was great food, great decor, and you could see that a ton of thought went into the planning of it. It wasn't simply thrown together. It was special, and that's what Tracy deserved.

 It was a great night with great ladies who were truly happy for and supportive of Tracy. There was a spirit of generosity and joy present at this shower, and most of all, love.

We can't just talk the talk and simply be anti - abortion. We MUST walk the walk and be pro life. We must reach out and help the baby AND the mother. We can love them both.