yesterday was lovely

Yesterday I was honored at work with a baby shower for sweet Lucy. I was shocked with how many people came, even some old friends came back for it. It was shocking because we have such a new staff this year and some of those girls I have hardly spoken to. They came and bought me presents. It was really sweet. We got tons of stuff and apparently the word is out that we don't bathe Lucy, since many of the gifts were bath related. :) My grade level team threw the shower for me. They spent their time and money to make sure I felt special. It was truly a blessing and I'm overwhelmed with how loving everyone has been throughout this journey.

It's funny the things you probably never thought about. When a woman is pregnant, especially with her first baby, everyone swoons. People want to talk about your growing belly (I realize this can get old or annoying, but get over it. Not everyone has that luxury.) and you have a shower that recognizes that your baby is coming soon. Everyone is helping you prepare by showering you with gifts and giving you lots of attention.

Well, adoption is different. People don't ask about your growing belly because you don't have one. People don't always know how or what to ask if they do genuinely care and want to know about it. It is not often recognized in advance with a shower as that is not wise to do in case of a disruption. People don't shower you with attention and gifts helping you prepare for your little one. It's hard. Call me selfish, but there is a big part of me that just wanted to do this whole thing the traditional way. I wanted all the attention and the swooning over my pregnant belly. I wanted a shower to help me prepare for my first baby.

This was something I really struggled with before Lucy was here and while we were waiting to be matched with her. It felt like our time of preparation was quite lonely. Please don't misunderstand me. Our families and friends were genuinely happy for us and celebrated and cried with us the whole way. We knew our support systems were strong. We I just missed out on all that fun before-hand stuff.

We have been abundantly blessed by God through you since Lucy has been here. It has been absolutely incredible to see the amounts of love that are poured out through meals being prepared for us, gifts given, time spent, and true excitement shown. We cannot express how we have been touched by the emails, cards, phone calls, and visits. Lucy is so loved. We are so loved. Thank you for making our experience of having our first born so memorable.