B is for Bissonnette: gathering

Monday, November 16, 2015

SoCal Blessed-Is-She Brunch

It's been a long time coming, but a couple of my dear friends and I FINALLY hosted a Blessed Is She brunch here in Orange County. We already have a group of gals who met through Blessed Is She that get together each month for a park playdate in this area, but we had not yet had an "official" Blessed Is She brunch to gather ladies from the area together and chat and pray and simply be faith-filled women.

Until last Saturday.

My friend Laura Dilanji and I planned to co-host the brunch at her place. Our friend, Jacinta, was so helpful and full of wonderful ideas during the planning stages that we added her into the co-host band and it became the three of us.

{picture from Jacinta's camera}

Jacinta worked hard to make this lovely banner...

{this picture from Jacinta's camera}

Laura hosted the gathering at her place and she and Jacinta put together a random assortment of cute decorative items. All three of us worked together putting the items in various order on the food table and on tables outside. I loved the fall feel and the classic quirkiness of what we pulled together.

Thank you, Laura, for all your work to clean and open your home to all the #BISsisterhood ladies in the area who were able to make it. You are a pregnant rockstar.

I won a free download of this gorgeous print from HatchPrintsShop on Etsy . The shop owner, Katrina, was excited that I wanted to share copies with the ladies at our Blessed Is She brunch and informed me of the best way to print them out, so that they could be shared.

Living out the message of Mother Teresa on the print:

"Spread love everywhere you go."

We began by praying the opening prayer provided to us by the organizers of Blessed Is She. Then we prayed for our families and the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris. We loaded up plates of delicious assorted brunch treats and headed outside to enjoy the Southern California sun and get to know each other. It was wonderful to meet new friends and to hang out with "old" ones and just spend time chatting and sharing about our faith.

I can't wait to hang out with these wonderful ladies again and to add even more to our next gathering. Thank you for coming and for living your faith and seeking encouragement and support from others. What a blessed and beautiful community this is.

Christen is a wonderful gal that Jacinta and I met through our mom's group at church and she was easily persuaded to come along and even to help us put the flowers in a vase before the brunch began and we wait for other guests to arrive. :)

{all the rest of the pictures in this post are from Jacinta!}