Baby Shower



A huge THANK YOU to my family and those that helped put together an amazing baby shower to celebrate Ollie's arrival. I know there was a lot of work that went into every detail, and I know for a fact that Marcee sacrificed sleep more than one night this week to make sure it all came together and it truly is appreciated. The decorations were perfect, the food was to die for and there was a lot of sentiment put into it all. I really appreciated Jodee's artwork that she put together about Ollie's name, and I have to say one of the best things was the surf board sugar cookies Marcee ordered as a gift for everyone to take home, not only were they beautiful to look at they had to be one of the best sugar cookies I have ever tasted!

Since my situation is a little unique and because Ollie has already arrived I had the opportunity to share a bit of the story of how he came into our lives. I remember sitting in my new rocker at 4 or 5 in the morning contemplating what I was going to say and getting a bit emotional even then, but Lance instructed me before I started that I was not allowed to cry so I did my best to hold it together, although I did forget about half of what I wanted to say I think I got the important part out. My intro to the video went a little like this...

In March Matt and I started the adoption process. Filling out the paperwork took us forever, and we are probably the first couple they have ever told to shorten their application- I turned in 29 pages and it is supposed to be about 18! We have a little tradition in our family called girls weekend and this year our theme was "Angels". In August Michelle, Natalie and I were put together as a group called "Angels of Miracles" and we had the opportunity to talk to each group of girls about the miracle of how each of them came into the world and a very special miracle, and a very special angel Matt and I were praying for. On October 2nd Matt woke me up as he excitedly ran into the room with my phone telling me we had an email- the subject said "Truly happy tears" it was from our earthly angel- Jess. She had woken up early that morning and decided that altough she knew there was no parent good enough to raise her child she was going to get on the internet and look at the parent profiles  on LDS services to prove it to herself. After putting in a very specific set of criteria the 900 plus profiles were filtered down to 41. Ten per page. She went through the first four pages and was nearly convinced that her hunch was right until she hit the last page, and there we were the only profile on the page. She said there mind as well have been a neon light around us. She spent the next three hours reading every word of our profile and the website we put together before she finally sent us the email that changed all of our lives forever. She has never waivered on her decision and I love the words she has chosen for her photo album for Ollie on facebook- the caption reads "I could never give you up, I could only give you more." She truly is our earthly angel and we have shared such an amazing journey with her. We felt so loved and supported in Utah by both her and all of her family. The put a video together for her after we left the hospital and wanted to share it with everyone that couldn't be up there so they could also experience a little piece of our journey. The video is a bit emotional but the words of the song almost seem to be written for us. Some of the things that are meaningful to me are of course the reference to our earthly angel, and the words "we couldn't live without him" (When Zach was signing the papers on Christmas day Matt and I were down stairs in the cafeteria talking about the wonder of it all and I asked him after only one day if he could live without Ollie and we both agreed that we already felt such a love and bond with him that we couldn't imagine going home without him), and "traces of her face", one of the things I love most about Ollie is his little dimple in his chin- it's the same one Jess has and I love that he inherited it from her, and finally the words "last night I read a story" how appropriate that the story of Christ's birth that is referenced in the song would be read on Christmas Eve the day of Ollie's birth. There really are no words that could ever adequately express the love and gratitude we have in our hearts for Jess and for Ollie in our lives. We are so thankful to everyone that played a part, for all of the countless prayers and fasts on our behalf that made this miracle in our lives possible. More than anything this entire experience has taught me so much more about the atonement. Jess is not perfect, but inspite of her imperfections and mistakes our Heavenly Father is intimately aware of her and knows how to succor her and make her whole again. All the while He is also intimately aware of the desires of mine and Matt's hearts and it is amazing to see how our pains and afflictions can also be taken away through this mighty miracle. I know without a doubt that the Lord's hand guided both Jessica and us to each other and that Ollie was meant to be in our home and in our hearts forever. This video is a tribute to Jessica for being brave enough to act on the promptings placed in her heart for her child.

I don't know that I got all of those words out, but I think I got most of them. There wasn't a dry eye in the room when we played the video. I think we all felt the magnitude of love Jessica had for Ollie to give him what she did. In order to lighten the mood I didn't stop it after the first video but spend the morning pulling together pictures from Ollie's first month of life and put them to my favorite song of the Chirstmas season, the one I sang all the way up to Utah "All I Want for Chirstmas is You Baby!"  Followed by the video I posted earlier of all his silly faces. Both of which brought smiles and laughter.



After the presentation we moved onto the gifts. It is kind of strange being in the spotlight like that. I was grateful that Matt happened to be in attendance at the shower (because Shaun cancelled his dunes trip because he was excited to come to the shower with Leah, Matt and Lance got up the courage to also attend). Since he was there I made him come up and open presents with me- I think he rather enjoyed it. One of my favorites was a sweet little picture Charity made, she had two hearts cut out that she wrote "I love you" on that went along with it, Matt and I both wore one the rest of the day! I was also super touched that Janet (Marcee's mother-in-law that has adopted Matt and I) made Ollie a quilt, that meant a lot. And I loved the embroidered surf pillow that Aunt Lyn made for him as well. I think Matt's favorite was the Ollie books. The list goes on and on, every present really was amazing and thoughtful and we felt so loved even before opening all those presents! I did tell everyone that we had a rule in the hospital that anyone that came had to get a picture with Ollie and that the same rule applied to the shower, so before anyone was let out the door they got a picture. All in all it was a great party- so grateful to everyone that put so much time, effort, and love into it!