A Picnic for Lanna...

Picnics always have food, and of course, we did too!

 We played a game:

 Kaylee made the favors- a few recipes tied together with tootsie rolls on top. Of course, the little girls especially loved the candy! :) 

And while Lanna opened gifts,

 Everyone else ate pie and cheesecake.

Well I say everyone else. That's a little stretch. All the little girls were getting a close up view of everything Lanna was opening. They loved it! Holly and I kept trying to get them to step back or move over, but they all are Lanna's best friends and she was happy to have them help.

Oops, here I think is where the little girls found the pie- At least I don't know what else they would have found that would have been more exciting than all of Lanna's presents!

 

All of it was very lovely, but what about when a bad day hits in real life and your life really isn't a picnic? We thought about that and...

Mom, Kaylee, Stacey(who put on the shower with Kaylee and I), her girls, and I did a little skit. Lanna loved it!

 After Rebekah held up her sign, Kaylee got right to work pretending she was a wife and mother.  Holding a fussing baby, killing ants on the counter, and having to run when the children came in announcing that the toilet had overflowed, had her feeling frustrated. Finding a note from her husband asking her to do a few things for him that day and knowing that they were supposed to leave early in the morning on a trip made her want to be overwhelmed. Then a distressed lady (my mom! :) ) knocked on the door to inform her that she smashed Kaylee's mailbox and one of the kids came in to announce that the neighbor's dog had strewn the trash all over the yard again... yeah, you get the picture. That was when a friend came to the door with a bucket of tools and listened for a minute but then used the bucket to create a lesson of how we need to dig in and deal with the troubles and cultivate and pray so that in the end, we'll feel like we've had a scrubbing of the heart that is better than baking soda and tea tree oil! That was when I called her as a worried-for-her sister to remind her that she need not be anxious or stressed but to be thankful in every situation (Phil 4:6), and that Christ will keep us in perfect peace who's mind is focused on Him (Isaiah 26:3).

We ended by having Stacey's girls sing "Count Your Blessings".

Yes, it took a bit more coordination than some other shower activities might have, but definitely was worth the fun!

I'm excited that Lanna is getting married- it was a great opportunity to have a party! :)