We spent time on Hillsdale College's campus visiting with many of my former coworkers and some of our professors from our college years. We visited our wonderful landlords, Steve and Sally. And we got to go to our old church and enjoy fellowship with so many of our friends from town including a special getogether with our old small group from church, which was wonderful. We were hosted by Ken and Cheryl who put up not only with us, but also with our dogs (and even dogsat while we were out and let the dogs play in the mud and then bathed them before Chase and I got back! Who does that? Really?!? These guys are the best!).
Unfortunately, my camera stayed powered-down in my purse, but fortunately Cheryl, who adopted Chase and I as if we were her own kids when we were in college, took some pictures of at least one of the events. Cheryl was "busy" on Saturday, which worked out for Chase and I because we had some other people to run around and see - one of those people was Kendra. Well, as I came up to Kendra's house in the early afternoon, this is what I saw:
You can't read the square papers hanging on the line, but they say, "Welcome Baby Francl." Now, Kendra is a very good house keeper and frugal too, but she doesn't have a baby at her house, and she doesn't typically hang clothes on a clothes line just outside her front door... So I knew I'd been fooled!
My dear friends had put together a surprise baby shower for our Little Bit, and it was just wonderful! It was a book-themed tea party, which, for any of you who have ever helped us move our 27 boxes of books, was perfect for the new little Francl! The food corresponded to favorite children's books ("Peter Rabbit's fruit salad," "Green Eggs and Ham Puffs"), and using a Mad Libs, everyone even wrote me a little story to remember the shower by.
I do have to say a few things about the very special lady who appears in the picture above. This is Pat, who I worked with for a few years in the President's Office at Hillsdale, first as a student worker, then full-time as the Research Assistant. Pat was Dr. Arnn's Administrative Assistant, and there's just not a more caring person on the face of the earth. She watched out for me, talked through life with me, and just generally loved on me in a very special way. And last Saturday she took me out for lunch. She gave me a gift for our Little Bit, and she dropped me at the coffee shop and hugged me goodbye... And less than an hour later, here she is at my surprise shower, with ANOTHER gift for our little girl! Let's just say don't let Pat's sweet face fool you - she can keep a secret! :)
And this is my roommate from college and dear friend Cara who drove up from Toledo for the shower. Cara is in med school at the moment and just finished her OB/GYN rotation. I have visions of her being around for our little one's birth, but med school can be demanding - so we'll just have to see what can be worked out. But I'm so glad she was able to join in the fun too!
And here is the group of dear women who loved on me at work and church while we lived in Hillsdale: (top, left) Trudy, Cheryl, Carol, Kendra, Lisa, Cindy (bottom, left) Myrna, Erin, Steph, Pat. Thanks to each of you for showering me not just with gifts for the baby, but more importantly with friendship and love and support throughout the years!
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