Party for Baby Fow Wow

Last Sunday night, Jackie and I and our friend Leah helped host a baby party for our friends Jonathan and Caley Fowler who are expecting their first child on March 12. The party was for the members of our Bible school class and it's here where I feel the need to provide some background information to you. 

I'm sure you may recall that when I started attending Mayfair a couple of years ago it was difficult for Jackie and I to find a class we liked. We then settled on the Young Professionals class and while we love all the people in that class, the crowd was a bit too young for us. Then, like a sign from above, a new class called six40 was formed and it was the brainchild of some people we love, one of whom was Andrew Rieder. We tried the class, loved it, and never looked back and are now members of this great group of people we now call friends. 

Tragically, on November 17 last year, Andrew was in a car accident and passed away. I never mentioned it on the blog for several reasons not the least of which was that I felt like I was writing about someone's death every week last year and I just couldn't bear to do it one more time. Andrew and Jonathan were best friends and when Andrew found out Jonathan and Caley were expecting, he told his mom (Cindy) that he wanted to have a baby party for them for our class. 

So, I tell you all of this to say that Cindy was the one who approached us girls about hosting this because it was something that Andrew wanted to do for Jonathan and Caley and, of course, we were honored and more than happy to help out. 

The party was supposed to be at Cindy's house, but she came down with a fever and illness the day before and so Leah was gracious enough to move the venue to her home. There is no way my house would have accommodated everyone. Cindy still provided the punch and some decorations and Leah, Jackie and I did all the other food. The morning of the party, Jackie asked me what I was planning to wear and that she was planning to wear jeans, I probably looked at her like she was crazy and told her I was planning to wear the same dress I had on that morning. That afternoon I thought I had better ask Leah what she was going to wear and she also said jeans at which point I sent a text to Jackie and told her Leah was wearing jeans and so jeans it will be and that my inner Southern Belle had just had a heart attack. While my brain is wondering should we use glass or silver trays and bowls, these girls are thinking about what top to wear with their jeans. Listen, you can take the girl out of a proper setting, but you can't take the proper setting out of the girl, or something like that. At any rate, we all wore jeans and I didn't break out into hives and in the mean time, I provided Jackie with loads of laughter and ammunition to make fun of me. 

The party was a huge success and so much fun. It was a great mix of people and Jonathan and Caley received so many wonderful gifts from everyone. We hostesses gave them a diaper bag and then Jackie and I gave them a sign Jackie made which says, "I and Love and You" which is the name of and a line in an Avett Brothers song and we thought it would be great for the nursery. Leah, who works at Agape, brought a pretend "real" baby for Jonathan to wear and he was a trooper and kept it on for almost the whole night. We had a lot of great food and the punch was outstanding. It was just a fun, fun night and as weird as it may sound, I felt Andrew's presence there with us and I know he would have been so happy with how great the party was. The only downer of the night was that Cindy couldn't make it and I know she very much wanted to be there. 

I'll say it again, God has blessed me with such wonderful friends and that makes for a very full heart. 

P.S. Thanks to Jackie for sending me some photos because I was a genius and left my phone and camera at home. Must have been all the worry about wearing jeans as a hostess.