showers, showers and more showers!

I must admit- I've slacked on the blog posts.

Things have been so crazy- I don't know how most bloggin' brides did/do it (much kudos to Krista Dial *formerly Krista Farmer* and her amazing blog... she got married about a month ago and her blog totally rocks: so check it out here!   So now I must attempt to fit four showers into one post.  Yes- I'm that crazy enough to try it!

Showers 2 & 3 (because remember- shower 1 was back in May)
Tool Time Shower and Family Shower

The last weekend in June was quite busy for Andy and me, as we managed to squeeze in two showers in one day- as well as a family get together.  We were fortunate enough to have my mom and stepdad join us for the event, which made the weekend all the more special.  First shower that day was the Tool Time Brunch, hosted by our senior pastor, Dr. Green, and his wife, Karen.  All the pastoral staff and their wives came out for this shower and we had a wonderful time!  We got a lot of great tools that Andy and I have already put to good use as we start to build our little love nest so it's more of a home where married people live, rather than a bachelor pad.  :)  We also got some great advice from many wonderful couples, especially about home repairs, and I got to know our church's pastoral staff a little better.  As a soon-to-be pastor's wife, I think it was a great to just hang out with everyone in a more relaxed setting and just be able to chat with everyone.  Made the role I'm about to jump into at least seem like a little less intimidating! ;)

Next up was the family shower, hosted by the wonderful Delliveniri women (Marvel and Amber, and Kristen documented everything :D).  I met a lot of Andy's family- some of which I had met before, but it was great to get a refresher course in names and faces, especially since his family is as close as mine!  Lots of great food at this shower too.  Kind of a recurring shower element I remember... I really like to eat.  By the end of the day, Andy and I were so overwhelmed by all the people that came and how much we were showered... but it didn't end there!!


Oh no- because we still had two to go.  Flash forward to July 17- another double header for the soon to be newlyweds!  This was one was the "church shower" because this was mainly for the people from our church. 
Now I know you're probably thinking, "Shower #4?  Don't you think that's a bit much?"  Yeah- probably for any other couple, it would be.  But here's the reason for the split up.  1) we have too many people in too many different places- so only one shower would have been excluding a lot of people.  2) Andy's family has been at the church they currently attend for a really long time.  Andy grew up in that church, and it's not a tiny church either.  3) Andy is on staff at church- therefore having more friends than he thinks he has.  4) Even if we had only had 2 showers, one here and one in Illinois, there would have been no way Andy and I could have said hi to everyone who came, and then also opened presents.  It would have been like an 12 hour event.

Anyway- back from my tangent!  We were showered again by so many wonderful and lovely people that day that I can't even begin to tell you about all the wonderful gifts we received.  I met what felt like half of the church (although I later found out- it was way less than half), and each person so wonderful and gracious, and so very sweet.  I feel bad because I know I'm not likely to remember everyone's names and faces.  But we had a blast- and the fact that Andy was able to stay there with me was a total blessing because I know I would have been overwhelmed otherwise! And God bless our hostesses- because those women know how to cook!!! I wish I had gotten to eat more because there was soooo much good stuff that I did not get enough of!!

Andy and I got a little bit of rest in between showers, but not much because we ended up trying to organize everything so there was a little less chaos in the downstairs of Andy's house.  Then on to Plant City for the fifth and final shower: the Couples Shower!  The DeSpain's (good friends of Andy's family) were gracious enough to host the shower at their house, and what a spread we had!  It was an ice cream social themed event- and were there ever a spread of ice cream toppings, this one took the title!!  Everything was so beautifully arranged, and more toppings than Coldstone Creamery!  Words can't explain how awesome it was- so I'll let the pictures do it justice.  I was very glad to meet some of Andy's friends he grew up with, and I loved how most of the stuff we got at this shower wasn't things that we were registered for (which of course by this time, I would imagine there wasn't much left on our registry- we've been incredibly blessed to get almost everything we've asked for).

We got some really neat travel tumblers, which had our names and wedding date printed on the inside- I was amused by the "PV (house)": very cute I thought.

Karen Ferguson (one of Janet's good friends)- also framed one of our invitations, and frou froued it up really pretty-like, and then also framed a poem by Beth Moore entitled "Dear Bride to Be" which was very lovely.  :)


Overall- we were incredibly blessed by everyone we knew and we got to eat a ton of GREAT food- now it's just waiting time til the big day!! :D