At the actual shower, the love and excitement in the room was palpable. Everyone was so sweet and appeared genuinely thrilled to be a part of this journey with us. It meant a lot to see everyone together. I especially appreciated seeing the emotion on other people's faces...it truly felt like they were sharing the experience with us. We had some various shower games, tweaked a bit for the adoption of course -> ('dirty diaper musical chairs' and 'pin the orphanage on China', to name a couple :). Shawn and I had also requested that people leave note cards with their own unique family traditions on them to help give us ideas for starting our own. We also set up a video camera with a poster on it with Mali's pictures, asking people to record a message to Maliana for when she comes home. It was so touching to see what people had to say to her. I know she will treasure this video as she gets older.
It has been a while since the shower, and I'm sorry it has taken so long to post this. I wanted to first say all of my thank you's as noted above, but I would be remiss if I didn't address my own personal feelings too and I'm hoping this comes across the right way. It's funny...while at the same time as I truly and deeply appreciate the baby shower...I also feel this nagging impatience and irritation. Impatience because I feel like we have been waiting so long and preparing so much for Maliana to come home...that I just want to get it over with already!! I mean, I enjoyed the shower immensely...it's just I would have rather been in China instead. I hope that doesn't sound too ungrateful...I'm just so done with planning and waiting and hoping. In a weird way, the shower also made me feel sad because Mali is still not here with us yet. Everything has been harder since getting her referral and photos because I am not personally sharing experiences (big and small) with her. A little piece of me will always feel incomplete until she comes home, I think. So while the shower was above and beyond any of my wildest expectations...it still felt hollow in some ways because Mali was missing. Here is the difference that I have come up with...when someone is pregnant, their baby is there with them, it's tangible in their belly and they can listen to its heartbeat or feel it kick, even talk or sing to it if they want. With Maliana...she is literally half a world away, without any way to tangibly communicate or feel close to her, and so much of the journey is still ahead. I wish I didn't feel so sappy or perhaps sound so whiny...but blogs are about honesty, right? I hope you all can understand what I am trying to say.
Anyway, I'd like to end this post on a good note so please check out some of the photo highlights from the shower...I hope you enjoy :)
Just a note about the fortune cookies...they actually had baby shower sayings in them like "Your walls will soon be decorated with green beans and applesauce" or "A diaper is a gift you can open several times a day" - very cute!
This was one of the shower favors for the kids...a little Asian doll with a candy pop tucked into it - yes, the parents loved us for providing even more sugar to their kids :)
We also had little "red thread" bracelets with mini jade animals for the girls but I didn't get pictures of these. They were really cute and represented the Chinese proverb of "An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle but will never break."
Petits fours that had the Chinese symbol for "love" on each one. Tara made sure that Resch's bakery knew exactly how to do this - nice touch and very yummy!
Shawn thanking everyone for sharing so much love for us and Mali and the adoption. Yes, tears were shed (don't worry, they were happy tears!)
Ha! This was funny...Shawn opened this gift first and thought they were windshield wipers! He was so grateful for them...didn't even occur to him it made no sense why someone would get these for us at a baby shower! (they are actually window shades for the car :)
Shawn toying with the idea of using Mali's new hippo hooded bath towel as his own personal super hero cape...ummm, I think not :)
And finally, some "audience participation" for the bigger gifts - thanks ladies!
Luis being a good sport and playing "Pin the tail(?) on Guangdong"
The video camera and poster with Mali's pictures on it, asking guests to record a message to Mali for her homecoming...we got about 6 min of messages from some of the braver souls at the shower. We will cherish these always.
Here is the sign with requests for guests to write their special family traditions on notecards...a few people took the time to do this. It was neat to see what they wrote. (we would definitely love to hear more if you want to share them with us! :)
Thank you Grandpa Tim - you are always the consummate "moment capturer"...much much appreciated!
Trio of Grandmas!
No party is complete without a "Maliana Rocks" t-shirt on Grandpa!
Great Grandma Hart! She is so excited to meet you Mali!
Ahhh...all done. We can't thank everyone enough!
Next stop ~ CHINA!!!
