it's raining, it's pouring!

My mom and I have had this little inside joke between one another for several years now.My mom truly is my best friend. I tell her everything. I call her to talk about my day, to vent, to catch up on the happenings of the family. Over the past few years, we've noticed that when one thing of a particular category happens, it is usually followed by a load of other things along that same line. For example, 10 years ago when I had graduated high school and was off to college, I was dating alot! After never dating in high school, all of a sudden I had a plethora of boys interested in me. My mom and I would joke that "when it rains, it POURS!".
Or, sometimes I'll call my mom after a particularly bad day at work to vent and share my HR experiences with her, only to find out that she, too, has had a bad day. Again, when it rains, it pours!

Right now, I feel like I can use the same expression in my life to talk about what the Lord has taught me in regards to provision, blessings, and faith.

This past week, Dave and I had our last two baby showers, making the grand total 5. Five baby showers. And not just shabby little baby showers....big showers with lots of people and gifts. There is literally not a need that we have for Calvin that has not been met through the generosity of our friends and family, co workers, and even Dave's students!

When He rains, He pours.

I have a shoebox full of gift cards to Target and Babies R Us. A shoebox full. They total an uncanny amount that I won't disclose here. To give you an idea, the Target gift cards, if we decided to save them exclusively for groceries, would pay for our weekly grocery trips from now until Christmas. At Babies R Us, we could buy out the rest of our registry and still have money left over.

When He sends the rain, it pours.

I've had to turn down multiple invitations to social occasions with friends. Why is this a blessing you  might ask? Well, first of all I'm about at the point in pregnancy where my desire to be social is about as big as my desire for a natural childbirth (haha). But, all jokes aside, our local friends have been calling, emailing and inviting us to these events that we would love to go to, but our schedules are jam packed full! The love that people have for us, the care and concern they are voicing for us as we make this big step into parenthood, is amazing.So often our (people in general, not specifically Dave and I) lives get busy, and we kind of shut ourselves up in a cocoon and forget about the rest of the world. It can be a lonely feeling at times. But then things like this happen, and you feel the love and blessings from your brothers and sisters in Christ, and you know that no matter what, people care about you. Christ cares about you.

Bring on the rain. It's gonna pour!

Maybe its because I'm hugely pregnant and my hormones are going crazy. Maybe it's because when I see it all spelled out on "paper" the reality of it all  hits me hard, but I'm overcome with emotions of gratitude as I write this blog. Maybe it's because one of His promises has been so blatantly laid out before me that I'm finally having an opportunity to digest it all. But here is what I've learned over the past 8.5 months.

God. Will. Provide.Everything.

From a pacifier to a pack n' play. From strength to get through a day of work when you feel yucky, to the energy to attend your final shower on a Friday afternoon after a terribly long week. From friends and family support, to advice from the most unexpected people. My God Is My Provider.

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for being the Ultimate Provider. Thank you for taking care of every need we could possibly have for Calvin. Thank you that our friends and family love and support us. Thank you for your unending blessings. May we never forget that everything we have first came from You, and ultimately belongs to You. May you remind us of these blessings each day. Show us how we can meet the needs of our friends and family in return. Bless them for blessing us.

Amen

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I wanted to end with just a few quick pics of my surprise baby shower at work on Wednesday. Dave kept a good secret from  me for about a month. After work on Wednesday, my dear friend Stephanie stalled me from going home and steered me into a conference building where many of my fellow co-workers were waiting with gifts, presents, and lots of applause.
Here's a few pics Dave snapped of me upon entering and seeing the surprise for the first time.

We had several people in the building taking pictures while I was opening gifts. I'm supposed to get those on a disk next week. I'll share them with you soon. But I did want to show you pictures of this amazing cake. My department found this blog link (thanks to my hubby) and sent it to the cake decorator so that they could create a cake to look like the nursery. Simply put....it is amazing!

This is the whole thing. It wasn't huge, but the detail was incredible.The bottom layer matched the wall behind his crib, complete with his name and stars (see nursery tour for comparison). The second layer matched the crib sheet with blue and white stars. Perched on top was a fondant Calvin draped in blankets that matched perfectly the patchwork plaid bumper in his crib. I couldn't believe how accurate it was! 

Another view of his name.

Baby Calvin sleeping soundly on top.

the stars from his nursery wall (this was after we brought the leftovers home)

It truly was the highlight of the shower. Everyone kept coming up to me the next day talking about how impressed they were by the cake. So cute!