I have been lucky enough to have 3 baby showers thrown for me and baby Jedidiah (maybe a fourth to come with my old co-workers, too).

The first baby shower I had was while we were still in China. It was towards the end of our time there, but the timing of it all was quite tricky. Nearly every weekend for months before we left was taken up with school stuff or other plans, and all of our friends who worked at ISQ (International School of Qingdao) got out a week before we did for the summer break (which also meant that they would be leaving or travelling sooner). I also had some close friends leaving China (permanently) before school got out. When we considered all these things, we decided that it would be best to have the shower on a weeknight. We chose Wednesday, June 3 as our date. I would be 15 weeks pregnant and we had hoped to find out the sex of our baby before the shower (so that it could be a “reveal” party too), but the doctors said that it was still too early to tell.

The host was my wonderful friend, Catherine. She booked an upstairs room in one of the most popular downtown restaurants, The Canvas, for the evening (which is a restaurant that one of our student’s parents own and operate). We decided on a “Mommy to BEE” theme.

As the date drew closer, I got more and more excited. It still seemed awfully early for a baby shower… none of the typical “bump” games could really be played (since my bump was still very small), but at the time, it was “now or never” and I really wanted to celebrate with my friends in China before we left (for good) to come back to the US. Catherine had been planning for weeks but had warned me “not to get too excited”… after all, we were in China and access to hobby stores or craft places was nonexistent… even Pinterest was sometimes hit-or-miss.

When the evening came, Trent and I took a taxi to Canvas right after our weekly staff meeting. We cab-pooled with some other co-workers and headed downtown. When I arrived and went upstairs, I couldn’t believe my eyes! There before me was the most magical set-up, with lights, decorations, everything! It was gorgeous! Catherine had clearly spent many hours on all the little details. She (and her husband Justin) had hand-made little bees out of pipe cleaners and honeycombs out of Popsicle sticks. She had printed off all these cute little sayings and put them in some photo frames on the tables. Even the water bottles had cute little bee labels on them!

She had hand-drawn a beautiful bee-hive for “Baby L” where people could put their thumb prints (in yellow, like little bees) and their names. She had also made a beautiful book for people to sign and write special notes in- just like a scrapbook, with pictures and everything!

After I composed myself and picked my jaw up off the floor, I went into the bathroom to change, and Catherine dressed me up with a little bee headband. Then I came out to greet my friends.

The beginning of the shower was very relaxed- people came in, we chatted, they ordered dinner and we all just socialized for a while.

Each person also added their thumb print to the beehive and wrote in my book. Another thing Catherine had them do was to write me a message on some newborn diapers so that when Trent or I are doing late-night changes, we can read messages of encouragement or laughter from our friends.

Meanwhile, Trent was downstairs hanging out with “the guys” and the kids.

When everyone had pretty much finished eating, we began with some games. The first game we played was merely an “ice breaker” where we all had to go around and find people who matched certain criteria and write their names on the appropriate number. This was a good game since we had people from several different areas of life… some from QISS (where we worked), others from church (Laoshan New Spring), and others from our “rival” school ISQ. Some people knew others, others did not. The game got people chatting and introducing themselves. The first person who finished won a prize.

During the second game, I stood up at the front of the room with my back to all of my friends. Everyone began standing. As I read from a list of criteria, if anyone met it, they had to sit down (i.e.- if you are wearing red nail polish, sit down). The last person standing also got a prize.

The last game, to me, was the most fun. Catherine had e-mailed Trent’s and my parents (sneaky girl!) and had asked for stories about our infancy and childhood. Our parents responded with several facts and stories to share. Catherine read each of the stories out loud and then everyone, myself included, had to guess whether it was Trent or I who had done it. I got all but 3 of them right. It was pretty funny to hear some of the stories that were shared. I believe Kelly Pinyan won this game.

After the games, we had cake. Haekyoung, the owner of the restuarant and the mom of one of my 4 year olds, had generously donated my favorite Canvas dessert, carrot cake, for the party (Canvas has DELICIOUS carrot cake). Catherine had made a cute little banner to go across the cake too. It looked almost too good to eat! In addition to cake, there were also cupcakes that Catherine and her mom Charmaine had made. They had cute little “Welcome Ba-Bee” toppers. Both desserts were wonderful!

Finally, after cake, was the last part… opening presents. Trent came up and took photos (he had actually been taking photos all night, but had also been hanging downstairs with all the dads and kids while me and the ladies were doing our thing). Trent and I got a lot of cool things for baby Jedi and in some ways, it made the pregnancy feel real. Other than our “Made in China” onesie that we had bought for ourselves and some cute little Chinese shoes and a “100 day outfit” (In China, they celebrate the baby’s 100th day of life) from our ayi, we really hadn’t bought anything for him yet. We had requested that people get things from our registry or that they ship gifts to our home in Texas so that we wouldn’t have so much to pack when we moved countries a few weeks later. We got lots of great gifts, cute outfits, cloth diapers, a jogging stroller and all sorts of other goodies. We are so blessed to have such awesome friends!

At the end of the evening, people started to head out. Catherine had made the most adorable shower gifts… little honey facial scrubs (fitting right in with the bee theme). She put them in little jars with bows and labels… they were perfect.

We said our goodbye’s and then Trent and I helped Justin and Catherine take down all the decorations. Baby Eli was there too, in his own little bee costume.

I can’t even tell you how grateful I was for this amazing shower! Catherine really did an amazing job. I was totally blown away by how much love and time she put into everything and was truly blessed by all that she did. I am so thankful for a friend like her!