"Time" for Tea

We had a beautiful Celebration sipping cold tea and eating pretty foods.  It was a reason to celebrate with ladies and rejoice in the miracle of a new baby.  Waiting many, many years to know that a child was going to enter your family would be so frustrating.  This new mom did just that and prayed, expressing her longing to have a baby.  Six years later we are celebrating with her and excited to see what the Father will do in their lives.  We know that only the Father could have opened her womb to allow this child to be.  What a miracle and a perfect time to rejoice! 

We wanted to do a theme that had to do with "time" since she waited so long for this to happen.  So, we went with a "Time for Tea" theme and had the decor and foods be centered on tea party delights and clocks.  All the clocks were set on the same time which was her due date.  Casie was in charge of this one, with Christi helping with some food, decorations and ideas.   We were buying clocks and tea cups at every thrift shop we could find to complete our projects.  We ended up with a perfect tea party enjoyed by every one of the ladies!

Here's the pics.  Hope you enjoy them and maybe get some ideas for your own tea party or celebration.  

Casie tea stained these paper doilies so they were a little more creamish instead of white.  This banner was so delicate and pretty.  She really did a beautiful job on it!

We hosted this celebration at the location where we fellowship.  Melanie is a gifted decorator, and we were blessed to have her come along side of us to help with the tables and place settings.  She supplied most of the table decor and all of the tea cups that were used at every seat.

Since we decided that a pregnant lady probably wouldn't enjoy hot tea on a hot day, we decided to still use the tea cups for something special.  Casie's brother, Garth from Layers of Flavors baked the cupcakes then put them in these cups and added his delicious frosting and pearl sprinkles.  They were so yummy!  

We hung these clocks above where the gifts would be.  Casie purchased them off of etsy and then we added the hands and the matching fabric we used throughout the party for the backing.

Aren't those umbrellas just too pretty?  Casie made these and we tied fabric around the jelly jars to add some pretty pinkness.

Each napkin had a clock tied to it.  These were purchased from Hobby Lobby and were such a great addition to the table settings.

Melanie had a long table and a shorter table that were used.  Both tables were decorated so beautifully with florals, candles, and clocks.  

Now for the food!

This tea cup and saucer stand was really fun to shop for.  With mismatched items, it made for such a great centerpiece to the food display.  Thank you to a few other ladies for helping with the sandwiches, eggs, and fruit.

Besides the fact that those parfaits look just delicious, aren't those food labels so great?  Casie had some clocks left over and added that and a bit of the paper lace to make a very pretty addition to the display.  She also added cute little pink flowers to the ends of the spoons that went in the parfaits and cupcakes. 

Blessings of gifts were poured out onto Rachel.  Many useful and pretty girlie things for that special little blessing coming soon!

There weren't too many times that I looked at Rachel and she wasn't rubbing or holding her belly, or talking to her baby or looking down at her belly lovingly (I mean really, how many of us ladies look lovingly at our bellies.: ) ).  Pictures of mothers holding their babies are so touching to other mom's hearts, but seeing Rachel's love already for this little one really touched my heart.  She already holds her in her arms.

We also take time to bless the new mom with words of encouragement, advice, prayer, Scripture, whatever the Father lays on the women's hearts to share with her.  It's always a time of blessing.  We also had her husband write a letter to her that was read during the sharing time.  Words of love from the new daddy are always sweet and touching to the mom.  During sharing time we also wash her feet as an act of servanthood.  It's a very humbling and special time!

Okay, baby, you've got a little more "time" to grow. Stay healthy and happy, and we'll see you close to August 11th, give or take a couple weeks. 



Casie and I with the lovely, Rachel!

Another CeLeBration blessing that blessed many hearts, including our's as we look at a woman who has been heard by the Father and favored.  What a time to rejoice, cry, laugh, and CeLeBrate with a sister!  Thank you, Yahweh, for this miracle and blessing!

A Pollyanna Birthday Party

 This year was a big milestone for Christi's daughter, Alegra, and we wanted to CeLeBrate with a party based on the book Pollyanna.  Christi has been reading it to her children and with them taking much interest in it, she decided to make that the focus of the celebration to honor her daughter who was turning 10.

 A banner hung over the food table that read "Glad for Alegra" and had prisms hanging on it.  If you know anything about Pollyanna, she made a game called The Glad Game where she would always find something glad to be about in any situation.  With that being a great thing to teach children, that was made the main focus of the party. 

 Christi's mom made this wonderful ruffle cake that was strawberry inside. 

 This was the highlight of the evening.  Christi had friends and family write down what they were glad for in Alegra.  After food was eaten, she went through every tag and read them with huge smiles the whole time. 

 This one is her favorite and made her laugh out loud.  : )

 Pollyanna learned of prisms in the story, so Christi's mom gave Alegra 3 prisms to keep and hang in her own window at home. They were a great addition to her "Glad Tree".

 For drinks they had flowering, peach tea that was a special addition and made it fancy and fun. 

 ~Rejoice and be Glad~

The evening was ended with a girl's movie night watching Pollyanna.  What a treat, and the girls loved it! 

Things that were included that were a part of the Pollyanna theme:
- The Glad banner and tags from friends and family
- The Glad Tree - Pollyanna fell out of a tree after she learned how to climb them
- Biscuits were served with the meal and two choices of jam were available (in the movie Pollyanna delivered calves foot jelly to the poor)
- Hats - Pollyanna, after moving in with her Aunt Polly wore many hats
- Prisms - Were a big beauty that she discovered and used to spread cheer to others
- Cake - At the Bazaar, she got a huge piece of layered cake
- Chicken and Noodles - They had fried chicken every Sunday.  Was as close to fried chicken as we were going to get.  : )

It was so enjoyable to spend time with just the girls and CeLeBrate that Alegra is 10.  Was a small party but sometimes those are more meaningful than the big ones, and all of her friends and close family participated in making it a memorable day for her.  I believe she said it was the best birthday she's had!