Mother's Day

          Sunday was my first Mother's Day with one of my children living in Heaven. It was a day of empty arms with my son in Heaven and my daughter not ready to be in my arms yet. But even with empty arms.... it was a day spent with a heart full. 
         Friday, my husband came home with two beautiful roses for me to wear on Mother's Day, a huge yellow rose from Hank, and a beautiful pink one from Lorabelle. He also decided to give me my Mother's Day present that day since we would have family around all weekend and he knew it would be very emotional for me. He got me a necklace and earrings from Hank and Lorabelle, and wrote me a sweet card from them, and he got me a bracelet from himself and wrote me the sweetest card about how he sees me as a wife and mom. I am so lucky to be married to such an amazing man who worked very hard to make the day special for me and put up with my crying while he did. 
           Saturday, I was blessed by a friend to get to do a 3D /4D ultrasound to see our little princess. My sister was already in town for our baby shower the next day, so she and her husband got to come along and spend time with her. It was so amazing seeing our little girl in 3D, moving and smiling, and puckering her lips, and laying on her hands (just like me :) ), and even making a cute little cry face when she got upset about something in there. It was so wonderful to see her and watch all of her cute faces. It made me long for the day I get to see her face to face. Here are a couple of pictures from the ultrasound......

Look at those precious lips

 Yes that is her foot right up there by her face..... looks comfortable huh?

 Love these smiles!

So content....

 Then she got upset about something....

 Uh oh.... how pitiful!

Oh, ok everything's OK.... I'll just go back to being cute

       Thanks to my friend Ashley who provided us with this amazing glimpse into Lorabelle's little world! I am in love with these pictures! And what an awesome gift to get just before Mother's Day!

        On Sunday, our church had planned a baby shower for us. So, my Mom and Mema came over early Sunday morning to go to church with us and go to the shower. So we all went to church together along with my sister and her husband. At the end of church, one of our member's Son-in-Law came up to speak a little about how their small group at church had helped them honor their baby Cade (he met Jesus shortly after birth last October), by donating money to have a well built in his memory through an organization called Holden Uganda. He then let us know that our family and church family had been working for months to quietly raise the money needed to drill a well in memory of Hank. Wow. What an honor. To have hundreds of people have access to clean water because of a love for our little boy. And they did it all without us ever knowing about it (that's not an easy task, seeing as how I'm a nosy little investigator who is really good at ruining surprises). They actually had all the funds in place for more than a month and were working to get a day when our family could be there to be with us when they told us the news. What a love they have for us and our children. I don't even have words to express how blessed we are by our church family. And sweet, sweet JoDee, precious Cade's mom, is the one who started it all. After Cade's well was done, she told her mom, "We need to do this for Marsha and Nathan." Thank you JoDee, we are beyond honored that you want to honor our little boy too. It means so very much to me that she would spend her Mother's Day doing something for us. And on top of that, she stayed and was a hostess for our shower. So, so sweet. 

You can read more about Holden Uganda by clicking the link below.

 

         After lunch, our church had a baby shower for Lorabelle. It was so pink!!! The decorations were so cute and there were so many pink presents! All of the Mother's spent their Mother's Day working so hard for us and I cannot tell you how special that is to me, especially since this was such an emotional day for me being my first Mother's Day without Hank. Lorabelle got so many pretty clothes, bows, blankets, and handmade booties, blankets, and burp cloths. I was amazed at how many people showed up to spend the day with us when they could have been with their own families. 

 I love this lamb from my sister.

 Yikes... excuse the closed eyes.

 I had such a sweet little helper : )

 All the hostesses

 Don't make fun of me too much. I'm incredibly unphotogenic (new word for ya) and this was an attempt to have a smile and my eyes open at the same time. I look a little frightened. But look at all those pink presents!!

 Karen, a very talented member of our church made the cupcakes

 So cute!

 Linda and her daughter Leslie stayed up half the night making all the paper decorations. They turned out so cute!

 My sister was my little photographer. She's been watching Cindy work : ).

 This is the cutest little baby

             Probably the highlight of the day for me was getting to spend some time with JoDee and Kim, another Hope Mom friend. It was so nice to get to talk to them about how their hearts were doing on Mother's Day, and it was so very special to me to have them at my shower. They understand better than anyone else what it is like to say goodbye to a child way too soon, and the roller-coaster of emotions that comes with that, especially on days like Mother's Day. 

            My Mother's Day was so blessed and I hope all of yours' were as well. I am so thankful for the many people in our lives that care so much about us.

Who can find a virtuous woman? She is far more precious than jewels...
Strength and honor are her clothing, and she can laugh at the time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and loving instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the activities of her household and is never idle.
Her sons rise up and call her blessed.
Her husband also praises her:
Many women are capable, but you surpass them all!
Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.
~Proverbs 31:10, 25-30

I am so blessed to have so many women in my life who love and fear the Lord!