Surprise, Surprise!

I (Alison) was extremely surprised, maybe even shocked, today when some of my teacher friends at one of my elementary schools threw me a surprise baby shower! We had just ended our usual Monday afternoon intervention support team meeting when one of the teachers said "Let's have some snacks". I looked around quizzically wondering if I had forgotten to sign up to bring a dish. Then, I noticed other teachers who were not part of our team walking in and I became even more confused - until somebody finally yelled "Surprise!" while looking at me. Still being slow on the uptake, I scanned the room and asked "what's the surprise?" My friends began to laugh and said "it's your baby shower!" "Me?" I asked, still not comprehending the extreme kindness being shown to me. "Do you know anyone else having a baby?" they said and laughed. Wow is all I can say! I immediately shed a tear or two (or maybe even three) and turned bright red (as usual!). Then I noticed that the food that had been brought included homemade cupcakes with baby decorations on top!

Let me just tell you, I am still in shock over how generous and thoughtful my coworkers are! I am continuously blown away by the support that Shea and I have received throughout this entire adoption journey. But a surprise baby shower? That's pure craziness! It also reminded me of why I really love my job - all of the great people I get to work with!

And as if it weren't enough just to have the support from these fabulous people, they brought gifts, too! As many of you know, Shea and I were shocked to receive the referral of our sweet boy much sooner than anticipated - which translates into us being very unprepared for his arrival! Well, now we have tons of cute clothes, toys, and even some diapers and wipes! I really cannot put into words how much it meant to have the support of these great women (yes, they are all women!). And what was even greater was to hear some of their first hand advice regarding parenting - I'm very open to advice at this point :-) I can't wait to be able to introduce Truman to my kind-hearted coworkers, and some day be able to tell him about how much love he had been shown even before his arrival in the States!


And for some comic relief, here is a picture of Sophie's favorite present - a tiny cardboard box (that once contained a very cute onesie) much too small for her body that she decided to stuff herself into, anyway :-)


(FYI - I hope to be able to publish pictures from the actual shower soon. The pictures were saved onto a floppy disk - weird, right? - and our floppy drive at home does not seem to be working. Hopefully I can find a drive that works at one of my schools tomorrow and upload the pictures there)