ryan's dowry

I love Joyce Babbitt! She is an amazing mom, a loving wife, a faithful Catholic, and an excellent role model. I hope to be like her someday because she is very thoughtful and puts others before herself.

Here's a great example...

At Christmastime Mike told me that if I ever needed Christmas lights, all I had to do was go in their basement and take some of the boxes that had been purchased over the years in after Christmas sales. Then he said something about "all of the wedding presents."

Joyce started to blush a bit as she told me this story: As a homeschooling mom, she noticed that many of the homeschoolers got married when they were 18, 19, 20 years old. So, once her boys had graduated high school, she figured they would be getting married soon too and began to buy them wedding presents when she found good deals.

Once Ryan and I got engaged, she began looking through the presents, which she affectionately referred to as "Ryan's Dowry" and said "What was I thinking?!" (I on the other hand, was pretty excited to get 10 years worth of presents in one day).

So the dowry got sent down to my apartment in 4 big boxes and Ryan and I spent a good 1-2 hours going through all of its delights! Lots of great stuff! Thanks Mike and Joyce! :)

My favorite gifts were (of course) the box full of baking goodies, the tools (I had asked my dad for tools for Christmas but he never got them), and a tupperwear with some NFP things in it including a due date predictor wheel and a little note that said "May you be blessed with many loaves in the oven!"

Again, I love Joyce Babbitt! I'm so excited for her to be my mom! (And that's not just because she gives me presents.)