The gift of friendship

So, a couple of weeks ago when my book club was in town, my sister-in-law Pamela hosted a shower for Matt & me. Many of our friends (including the Boise Book Club Babes) celebrated our journey with us by giving us their favorite kids book to start a library for Mateo. Anyone who has ever been in our house, knows how important books are to us (and how pathetic our kids book selection was), so we welcomed the presents. Some of them were even in Spanish--which we adore. While I understand most of the Spanish ones, Matt is much better at pronunciation than me--but we will both have lots of practice as we read them to Mateo.

But, the piece de resistance, was a quilt made up of squares from some of our friends and family's favorite books. The quilt blocks included squares from Shannon Barnes (Old Turtle and the Broken Truth), Paula Miller (Pat the Bunny & Good Night Moon), Mandy Petrik (Big Red Barn), Tegan Mulholland (Dr. Suess' The Lorax), Sarah Fronza (How do I love you?), Pamela Miller (Everyone Poops & Grandfather Twilight), Louise Miller (The Hungary Caterpillar), Julie Brown (Guess How Much I Love You), Joanie Steffen (Love You Forever), Cheryl & Megan Sprauer (Mr. Peabody's Apples), Dan & Kristi Rose (Where the Wild Things Are), Donna Aljets (Johnny Tractor and His Pals), Shannon Kelley (Alexander & The Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day), Cathy LaPlante (Go Dog Go) and Theresa Kelley (Happy Adoption Day).

We have attached some pictures here, so you can see what a magnificent work of art it is. But most awestriking-more than anything else-is the incredible amount of love that people poured into each square. Special thanks to my sister-in-law Paula who quilted the whole thing (including the names of all the contributers on the side panels)--thanks doesn't actually seem nearly enough. Finally, to my sister-in-law Pamela who organized the whole thing and spent many, many, many hours organizing the troops, finding the perfect fabrics, cutting and sewing all the pieces, and hosting the event, I am simply at a loss for words--except these: thanks for making the surprise wonderful!!

We love you all, and we can't wait to bring Mateo home and tell him the story of his quilt over and over and over again. We are blessed beyond belief to be surrounded by so many people who love us and our son. Wow!!!