Huisman open-house

It is Monday morning. I didn't get to bed until midnight. (Had to see if Tennessee women lost -- they didn't -- bummer!) I then found myself staring at the ceiling at 5am so here I am, printing some documents from RLS so I can do some editing during my travel day and updating my blog.

Here are some photos from yesterday's open house at my parents' home. Maybe when I feel more rested, I'll be able to provide more overview on the weekend. But for now, let me just say that we were amazingly blessed by the generosity, love, and support showered on us by so many people. It is amazing to me how our infertility journey and subsequent progression into adoption has brought so many people back into our lives as they follow our story, pray for us, and watch things unfold.

Here are some photos from Sunday. Enjoy!

Here I am upon completion of opening all my gifts. We were amazingly blessed by the two days of showers and truly feel that we have everything we need (and more!) in anticipation for this little guy. I remember my cousin Sarah telling me that we were going to PAR-TY whenever we finally had a child enjoy our life. Only three showers into the six scheduled events, and I definitely feel like we have been partying -- hard. I'm tired! :)

Grace, Megan (a great friend from high school who I played basketball and volleyball with. Doesn't she look BEAUTIFUL?!), Cheryl (secretary at my old school), and Rita (another secretary at my old school.) How blessed I was to have these ladies join us. Rita gave us the most ADORABLE Curious-George basket (not knowing I had a collection of his things!) It was awesome!

My mother did such a wonderful job setting up her home for the open house. She was helped my sister-in-law AD as well as Debbie (more on her later!) There's a picture of me and Bri for everyone to see.

Theresa (married JB's high school classmate), Lisa (friend from Abundant Life), Danielle (sister-in-law), Wendi (me), my mom (my mom) , Jennifer (Brother Keith's classmate)

AD's mom (Debbie) with her granddaughter, Natalie (such a sweetie!) Debbie brought some great dip for the chips!

Wendi and Wendy -- a great friend of my mom's at Abundant Life. She has three children about my age -- Jamie, Jonathon, and Jenny. She blessed us with our crib set and other goodies. It was so great to catch up with her. She stayed for most of the afternoon -- into the gift-giving ceremony.

Karen, Pat, and Debbie. Debbie was a WONDERFUL help to my mom both at this shower and at my brother's rehersal dinner for his wedding. She has a wonderful servant's heart and is a great friend to my mom.

The open house went from 2-5. There was a steady flow of people until about 4:30pm! These were mostly friends from our Christian school and friends of my mom's from Abundant Life. It was great to see "old" faces.

Gracie was in charge of passing out the favors -- a job she took very seriously!

Some of the Kits. In the back is Dad, Mom and then Nate with Ray and Gabbi. Doesn't Gabbi look great!? In the front is me with my favorite niece -- Gracie-cakes. JB's sister Elizabeth and husband Grant as well as our sister-in-law Danielle were also there throughout the day.

Mary, Nancy, and Diana. Mary and Diana are friends from FLCS -- fellow teachers at the school. Nancy is a LONG-TIME friend of my parents. Her daughter Kelly has the "Steg family" blog. She has been in my life since before I was born and will always be considered family to me! I was so glad all of these ladies could be there.

Cathy was one of my dearest high school friends. We had lost touch but reconnected recently. Her husband Josh was wonderful. It was great that they could join us!

The two grandpas-to-be!

Desiree with my mom, Stacy, and Lynn. Desiree and Stacy are friends of my mom's from Abundant Life. Lynn was the mom of one of my brother's high school friends, Matt. All great ladies who have followed our story and prayed us to this moment.

My Dad. He just loves food! :)

My mom with Nancy. My mom thinks she is "smiling too hard" in this photo, but I love it. This photo screams happiness! I know Nancy (and Kelly) is truly as happy as any of our family for this great event! She's a loyal blog reader too! Hi Nancy! Thanks for coming!

My mom with Mary (from my mom's work at Doormark) and Debbie -- our great shower help!

After most people had left, we settled in for a gift-opening ceremony. Here we are as we are getting started. I am in the midst of throwing a pillow to my brother (it was in my way) and my sister-in-law AD is settling into her seat as the official "write-down-who-gave-you-what" person.

Here I am with Dasmi and Gracie. Dasmi is the daughter of Islande (pronounced is-land not eye-land.) Islande is my mom's neighbor and goes to Abundant Life as well. She is my mom's "other daughter." Dasmi and Grace helped me tremendously with the gift opening (and sometimes went faster than I could keep up with!)