Saturday, September 25, 2010

Celebrating with friends...



I have this friend who always amazes me! She is absolutely over the top with creative and beutiful ideas and insight. She works so hard to make things special for others. It's downright impressive and sometimes a bit disturbing :) She is such a talent and has become so special in my life. Last night myself and Ava attended a little welcome home shower at her festive home. Ava was the star of the show and it was so amazing to see so many women who I admire and adore just loving on her. Of course I did all the holding so Miss Ava was a bit of eye candy for the many mommies who cannot wait to get their arms on her. Soon everybody soon!

It was great fun to celebrate Ava with friends, wine, a scrumptious tomato tart, homemade cheesecake and very special and girlie gifts. The evening kicked off a bit late for Ava so when she became fussy I had to do the stand up only thing that she generally requires in order to fall asleep. In doing so the gift opening came to a halt until we discovered a clever new trick... Try this -you might love it as much as I did. Each guest opened their own gift. Sounds strange but it was great. We found that everyone began to explain their gifts from the wrapping they selected, to where they had shopped, to the gems inside. It was very special to hear all the detail that went into the shopping for Ava. She is so blessed to have so many wonderful women who truly love her already. The hostess of the shower is also an artist and designer and she surprised me with a beautiful art piece for Ava's room. She painted a large tree and as soon as we can coordinate it all of us will place our handprints on the tree to look like leaves. She even painted in a little owl perched on the branch of the tree. I'ts very special and I'll be sure and post some photos when the room is all complete.

It was a low key and very sweet evening of celebration. Each person who attended has a special place in my life and n my heart. Thank you dear friends for all the love and support you have shown throughout the journey to our daughter. Get ready to answer this boy momma's big questions as I begin to get acclaimated and up to speed on the whole girl world! My first big discovery has been that hangers are going to be key... leggings, hairbows, socks- OH MY!

1 comment:

Mama Mimi said...

What a fun way to celebrate Ava's little life!

Into Our Arms Forever!

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welcome home ava! from melanie Strobel on Vimeo.

Meeting Ava during our first trip to Ethiopia

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Meeting Ava Ethiopia Trip July 2010 from melanie Strobel on Vimeo.

Korah- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

During our recent visit to Ethiopia I felt very called to the village of Korah in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. There have been numerous rumblings lately about the tremendous need to help the children of Korah who are growing up in and around the local trash dump. The village was established 75 years ago as a place to send people with leprosy who were said to be cursed. Now there is a 3rd generation of people living in Korah with nearly 100,000 suffering from such things as leprosy, HIV, misc disease and of course malnutrition. There are many children of Korah who have been forced to live and work at the trash dump in hopes of finding food and possible items to sell in Korah's center of town. With the start of the Great Hope Church in Korah and the building of a shelter, along with the ministry of local Sammy Liben and Sumer Yates, there is now a feeding program and a sponsorship program in place to rescue the forgotten children of Korah and send them to boarding school where they can escape the horror of the conditions of living and working in a large trash dump. For more information please visit: www.help4korah.blogspot.com or www.p61.org where you can learn more about how you or your organization can help the people and the children of Korah. Please send me a message or email Erin Allen at erin@p61.org to request sponsorship information. I will soon be posting the photos of my day recently spent in Korah. I must tell you it was life changing and beyond anything I have ever done to stretch, change and rearrange myself. God helped me to help the people who I met. Much of what I could offer was nothing more than the snap of my camera or a warm touch or an inviting smile. The needs in Korah are beyond our wildest imagination yet God is over Korah and there is already amazing work being done. I invite you to view the following videos to learn more about the beauty and the needs of Korah's people.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO SPONSOR A CHILD

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Hannah's Hope Orphanage- Ethiopia

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