Surprises

If you read Justin's blog you know that this past weekend was my family's reunion. I am glad he blogged about it because it saves me from having to write all the details. The only thing I will add about the weekend in its entirety is that everyone loved him and approved him- grandma was the first to say so. It's also exciting because since they all loved him and our wedding is next summer they are all hoping on attending the wedding, thus making a mini-reunion out of the experience.

As he also mentioned, there was a surprise wedding shower for me. I was told that there would be a recognition of some kind, but I did not know what kind of recognition. It all started Saturday morning when the guys left to go golfing and I was left alone on the swings. It wasn't so bad because I was pushing my cousin Claire, but eventually she got tired of it and ran off to do other things. My aunts and cousins would walk by and wave but no one came over to talk to me or hang out. After talking with my dad and Uncle Dave for a while, I headed back to my cabin.

As I was coming out, my cousin Sarah asked if I was going to do join in at craft time, and so we headed towards the meeting place, and lo and behold there were all the girls surrounding a kitchen shower for me.

So the shower began. We sat around and my aunt Kathryn led a devotion on the theme of "submission". The aunts then went around and uttered words of wisdom regarding being a wife and mother one day. Needless to say, it was hard to keep from crying because I knew what they had to say came from the heart.

We then played a game where each person took some Skittles and every Skittle they took represented a question they had to ask me about myself or Justin. The questions ranged from What is your favorite color? to What attributes do you most admire in Justin? It was a rather harmless game and enabled them to get to know me better even though they are my family.

Then came time for the presents. The theme was kitchen so the gifts I received are all things for our kitchen. It was great because we hadn't even began registering yet and now I have some things that we don't need to register for anymore. My sister-in-law also copied the Nehrenz family cookbook and had each aunt contribute 2 or 3 of their favorite recipes so now I have a good start on a cookbook and recipe collection.

After dinner then the guys celebrated our engagement too with cake. I am so thankful for my great family! And thankful for my sister-in-law and godmother for putting the shower together.


Less than a year till our wedding!! Hurray!!