Backing up...

In May, Ryan, my family, and my dear friends from Son City Kids and Monroe Circle surprised me with a baby shower/thank you party. They all really had me fooled, and I was delightfully surprised! Ryan made up many stories about taking me out to dinner but we had to stop at MC3 on our way to help LeRoy with something. When we pulled in, I said "look at all of the cars...something big must be going on"...HAHA to me.
For background, I helped found and run an afterschool program at our church's inner city outreach building, Monroe Circle Community Center (MC3). We began in 2007 and decided last January after prayer and thinking about what is best for our family to stop volunteering for a while. It was a really hard decision, but now is the time for me to be at home with my family. I miss the kids and the volunteers so much! I really want to get involved again, but I know myself well enough that saying no is really hard, so I have to tread lightly. It is easy to get hooked over there. :)

Anyway, what a fun party my friends threw! They decorated and everything! It was fun to see everyone, and I felt so humbled and blessed to be a part of this group. Here are a few pictures from that evening. Good thing I didn't wear sweats!

Ryan bringing me into the surprise.

Everything looked so nice!

My lovely friends who organized the gathering (I miss them).

Opening all of the little girl presents.