A Reason for Joy

Birthdays? Weddings? Showers?
Flowers!

On my birthday, I was blessed abundantly. Two of the special blessings came in the form of wonderful flowers.

The tulips make for a floral welcome to our home. I see them and am happy every time I enter.

The roses give me another burst of joy as I see them first thing in the morning and stop to sniff them several times during the day.

Our family is anticipating a wedding soon. My stepdaughter, Kathi and Joe will be married next month. The maid of honor, Lisa, and the bride's Aunt Les and I gave a bridal shower on Sunday. My responsibility was primarily to host the shower in our home, to decorate and plan a game.

Most of the food was prepared by others. My only food responsibilities were cheese and petit fours. I am so sorry that I forgot to take a picture of the food table after everyone else added their contributions.

The homemade petit fours were fun to try.

I wanted the decorations to say,"Kathi, you are loved. We are rejoicing and bursting with happiness for you!" It gave me pleasure to share my flower gifts and have a garden theme.

Half of the roses were used on the tables in little individual vases. Kathi's Aunt Les, my sister-in-law, helped attach branches and Alstroemeria to the backs of the chairs. (We would have used gladiolas if they were available in our price range.)

I need to give credit to where credit is due. This idea was not original. I had planned to go with an all white theme from an idea that I got from Pinterest.

That probably would have looked more elegant but when the roses and tulips arrived a few days before, I happily changed my plans to a colorful garden.

The rest of the roses graced the welcome table hosted by my two lovely granddaughters, Jessica and Morgan.

Some of Kathi's closest friends are her group of seven friends (eight including Kathi) from high school youth group. Four of those friends attended her shower.

Kathy's friend, Sharon (on the far right) provided a devotional and followed a garden flower theme. She shared the meaning of several flowers and a Bible verse with that characteristic and related it to Joe and Kathi's marriage. She also told the importance of the soil and a foundation in Christ.

The picture shows the flowers and the pot of soil used in Sharon's devotional. I was so involved in the shower once people started arriving that I forgot to take pictures and so I do not have a picture of Sharon giving her devotional.

The guests included friends and family of Kathi and family of Joe. Joe has six sisters and no brothers. We played a Jeopardy type of game relating to both Joe and Kathi. I only have this blurry picture of the game board, but you can still get the idea of it. We had already done two of the columns.

Kathi and her fiancé, Joe, do not need many household items and requested recipes or "Date Night" ideas. As people responded to the shower, we encouraged them to consider giving a "Date Night." Gifts that were given included movie tickets, restaurant gift cards, White Sox tickets, concert tickets, a Chicago food tour as well as a host of other creative ideas of things to do and places to go. Kathi also received many delicious sounding recipes as well as supplies to make the dishes or help to prepare them.

The picture below shows Kathi opening a gift and her maid-of-honor, Lisa, recording the gifts.

We invited Joe to join us for the last part of the shower. He and Kathi shared that they were attracted to each other because of the other's commitment to God and compassion towards others. "Of course," Joe added "and her gorgeous looks (soooo hot!)"

Joe shared, "The Lord Jesus Christ is the cornerstone that our lives are built on. We believe that with Him at our sides as we take this journey together, and our commitment to each other and family, we have a recipe for success, not only for our marriage but for life in general."

Now you know why we are rejoicing.