Blessed by Friends

Have I told you lately how awesome my friends are? When I moved out to CA, I was 2 months out of high school, married to a man that I'd known for 13 months and I lived my life in a constant state of being homesick--for my family, the familiarity of the flat lands, and my sense of belonging. My husband handled my tears so well and offered to let me visit my family as often as I wanted but money wouldn't allow a weekly trip home! Regardless of how wonderful my husband is, he was unable to fill my void of girl-time. I struggled for years with finding a place to belong out here and wanted some female companionship so badly but was unable to figure out where to seek it out. In January 2011, the Spychers hosted a game night for all the newly wed young couples in the area which we attended and were blessed tremendously from one evening of talking about marriage, hardships, blessings, and our lives in the future. In the past nearly-2 years, I've clung to the amazing relationships built from that group (which has now become our awesome Collaborate Bible study group) and am continually thankful for the friends that God brought into our lives.  With that being said, this group of girls has been such, such, such an encouragement to me and I can't be grateful enough for the "family" they have provided for me here in CA. To each one of you, thank you. I was not only blessed today from the baby shower but none of you will know how much you've meant to me through the past months and years.

Enough of my ramblings, here are the shower photos from today:

(minus Deb)

Kaelee, me, Ariana & Liam, Danielle & Elliot, Lindy & Cohen

Charlotte, Jami, Lindsey (missing Merritt), Chelsea & Baby :), Sarah & Collin

(the lovely hostesses -- Deb, Lindy, & Kaelee)

(the girls made babies out of PlayDoh. Pretty impressive!)

(each guest made a headband or two for Chloe)

(don't mind me, I didn't want to bend over so I used my legs to assist in the unwrapping!)

Not only am I blessed by the friends I have but I was blessed by the gifts they showered us with today. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!