On the fourth Sunday of each month, our church has a potluck communion service, where the entire service is gathered around the table instead of a normal service in the sanctuary. The women had wanted to throw the shower next month, but since I'll be at home then at my "other" shower (exactly one month from today!), they decided they'd rather do it now instead of wait until April. (You never know when a baby will come early.) So they checked with Brian and made sure we'd be there this week, and he didn't breathe a word of the whole affair.
We had eaten our meals, and dessert was brought out. I noticed a young man carrying a rather large chair to the back of the room, and I thought to myself, "I wonder what he's doing with that." Soon after, the church secretary came to me and took my hand, and beckoned me to come with her. I saw some yellow wrapping paper and balloons, and at first I thought, this must be a surprise for me and the other pregnant lady, due with her third child, in May. It turned out this shower was just for me.
Brian and I were blessed beyond words. I was embarrassed to say the least, but in a good way. It's funny how I could teach in front of thirty students at a time, but that was so much different. Being in front of people in a spotlight sort of way is always a bit unnerving to me. This was the thing I disliked about our wedding day!
I think what blessed us most today was the thoughtfulness of everyone there. Our church is a rather small church, and a shower was the last thing I expected. In fact, I don't think any of the churches I used to go to threw showers. Babies were a pretty regular thing because they were bigger churches, so it would have been difficult to throw showers for everyone. Brian and I were so touched because neither one of us has family that lives close by, and the shower today was so meaningful to us for that reason. Instead of feeling on our own here in PA, our church was kind enough to reach out to us and share in our joy. It is something we won't be forgetting any time soon.
