Two Cultures Collide bringing a Bundle of Joy

 Our fifth child is from China.  She joined our family as an exchange student almost 20 years ago and quickly became a child of our hearts.  In June of 2024, she married a wonderful man from France.

When he married into our family, he was not only blessed with our bonus daughter, but he aso was blessed with a bonus daughter of his own.

Our Angel Face couldn't have been happier.  She believes, rightly so, that she was blessed with the "best daddy ever".  We were thrilled earlier this year when they announced at a family dinner that they were having another child.  Our newest grandchild is due to enter our world in early October. 

We (Amy, Julien, the Angel Face, and I) immediately started making plans for a baby shower.  It was held this past Saturday, celebrating these two cultures that worked long and hard to become an American family while embracing their heritage.

The Angel Face set to work on designing the invitation.  Daddy went to work finding the perfect venue.  Amy and I set to work deciding on food, games, and items to be purchased.  Amy and Angel Face picked out all the decorations.  Mama had final approval over all decisions.

Angel Face coordinated all the decorating.  She definitely had a wonderful vision.  We served an assortment of Chinese foods and French Pastries.  

There was a photo station where all the guests had Polaroid shots taken, which were then placed into an album with a handwritten wish/advice/comment from the guests.  There were coloring pages for guests to create an alphabet book for the baby, and fun little prediction/advice cards for the parents to enjoy.  The guests competed in a trivia game.  Each table had a celophane ball filled with goodies to unwrap,while racing against doubles on the dice.

Thank you to Marissa for doing all the hard work of making these balls that were a huge hit with everyone.

Then it was time to open gifts.....there were a lot of wonderful gifts, many homemade and touching.  The Angel Face asked that her gift be presented last.

She created this painting during her summer art course at the library and had been keeping it a secret until the shower.  Hands down, the best gift ever!!!!