Showered with Blessings

It's been a while since I have written. But I have a good excuse...my mom is here! She got here about 2 weeks ago and will be here until April 14th. In the short time that she has been here, she has managed to spoil the heck out of Zoe, but she keeps saying "that's what grandparents are for!" I can't really complain though because it's been really nice to have her here, especially to help out with Zoe so that I can do other things that have been neglected lately. Before she came, I didn't know how nice it was to have someone around to help...maybe now I'm spoiled too! Here are a few pictures of my mom with Zoe:

My sweet friends here in Morogoro planned a baby shower specifically so that my mom could come (since she wasn't able to be at any showers before Zoe was born). It was so sweet...we ate, talked, and laughed a bunch! We played a game where we tried to tie our "babies" (we used 2-liter water bottles) onto our backs like Tanzanians do. I have to admit...I was not really good at it. And the decorations were beautiful...they hung a clothesline across the room and pinned up all these cute little outfits for Zoe and they even had special chairs labeled mama (swahili for mom) and bibi (swahili for grandma, which is what my mom is called). The girls had been working on a quilt, they each made a square and then put them all together...it's absolutely beautiful. I feel so blessed to have these women in my life...they definitely a gift from God! Here are a few pictures from the shower:

And that's not all! Since we've been back from Kenya, we have received so many packages from friends and family back home. It's been amazing to get things like: funfetti cake mix, candy, devotional books, adorable outfits for Zoe, girl scout cookies (thank you Cathy!!), and so much more!

Also, my birthday was this past weekend and it was really special to have my mom here with us. The day was wonderful. It started with Zoe sleeping until 9am...yay!! My mom made us fruit smoothies for breakfast, and a funfetti cake. We watched movies and watched lots of episodes of "24," which my mom brought with her and we are now addicted to. Nate went out and picked us up all sorts of good food for dinner and I opened presents. My sister sent this really fun game "fluxx" that we have been playing alot, nate's parents sent me a book and my favorite twizzlers....yum! My mom and dad gave us season 3 & 4 of "24", a UGA shirt, and more twizzlers :) And Nate gave me a few tyler perry movies that I've been wanting for a while! It was a great day. Here are just a few pictures from my birthday: