It's a ....Gender Reveal Party!

My baby sister Jill is 19 weeks pregnant. Today she and her husband threw a Gender Reveal Party. The party was from 3-5pm and the big announcement was scheduled for 4:00. 

This was my first time ever going to one.



I wasn't sure what to wear. So I
wore  a pink top,
carried  a short-sleeved blue sweater,
painted my nails pink, wore pink lipstick (because who wears blue?)
and accessorized with multi-pastel earrings, a blue topaz necklace and ring, and my birthstone bracelet because the baby is due in August. 













Jill wore brown. No hint to be found there.

She also wore a smile the whole time.   

We were invited to take guesses --boy or girl--by looking at her framed sonogram pictures on the wall.  (I saw a clue in terms of "parts,"  but didn't let on. Most people don't know what they're looking at on sonograms.) Guests were asked to toss around some suggestions for names.  David! Anna! Jayna! Josiah! Lilian! Jonathan!Ashlan! Thomas! Elizabeth!  Of course I said if it's a girl due in August, it's got to be Zoanna. I don't mind sharing either my name or my birth month.

The clock struck 4 and small talk was over.

























Jill told the baby's four grandparents (my mom and dad on the left, below, and Jay's parents
on the right) to gather around the cake.

She handed them each a knife and said,

"Do the honors, please. The color on the inside of the cake will tell you what we're having."


Pink or blue?


On the count of three...

   One...

Two...

THREE!
                                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .                                               PINK!!!!! IT'S A GIRL !!!!

 

 

 

I am so excited I can hardly stand it!  I secretly hoped it would be a girl.

 

These arms ache to hold a baby again, and my heart is drawn to having a niece. It's been quite

a while since there were any babies on my side of the family.

 

Last year Jill was pregnant and miscarried.

 

While still reeling with grief, she visited her friend Alaina in St. Thomas in October.

One day they went shopping, and Jill spied a darling little plaque. She told Alaina, "If I

ever get another chance to decorate a nursery, this is what I want to have in it."

 

Well, what are good friends for than to remember special things like that? And to have faith for you?

And to mail you a gift when they find out God has heard your prayers.

 

 

Here's a girl trying not to cry ... .

 

 

 yet beaming with joy.

 

 

 

I remember when I first held my baby sister, 

the one I had prayed for since I was 8.

  She finally came when I was 14.

 

We painted one dot of pink nail polish on each of her nails.

Now she gets to do that with her own

baby girl.

I. can.not. wait!!!!