Baby Showers
I was blessed by two baby showers this week. The first one was a surprise shower given by my former co-workers. We had so much fun together. They even had a couple of games we played. I was so blessed to just have good friends out here go to all the trouble to put together a shower for me when I know they are all in tough binds still trying to find work and support themselves and their families.
The second shower was something I signed up for. While Andrew was on one of his training exercises for two weeks, I received an email from our family readiness officer (FRO)who keeps us all informed of things going on either in the community, on base, or with our spouses. I have two FROs right now as Andrew is part of a Battalion which has a small attachment to the Marine Expeditionary Unit he is deploying with. This group of about 29 marines is what he is in charge of on his deployment…along with some other tasks given to him. I think I will be well informed on this deployment unlike last time. Anyway, as I was going to say, the email that I received told me about a baby shower given by Saddleback Church which has different locations out here since the congregation is huge. While Andrew and I don’t attend this church, it was not for members anyway, it was for the military spouses or members who were expecting a baby this year. I think it’s something they do every June since part of their community they reach out to from the church is the military population. I was going to this event thinking maybe a ton of women would be there and we would just meet each other and go home with maybe a package of diapers or something (which would be a big help since I know we will go through a lot). Well, Andrew came home from his training thing and was going to go on the bike trail before the shower. I had previously asked if spouses would be going to this shower and was told ‘yes’. I didn’t expect Andrew to go with me unless he wanted to. Well, since the trail runs right by the club house on base that was hosting the shower-he said he would go. He ended up riding his bike for maybe 20 miles and got a flat tire. I had to pick him up-at least he was at a park on a trail so it wasn’t in a dangerous area. Then we headed to the shower where lots of food was served (this made Andrew very happy). He said…I should go to these things more often! Ha 
There were about 50 or less people there. This meant probably about 25 pregnant women and their guests. The church volunteers were so kind. They put on this beautiful shower and had many games for us to play. I did win one of the games but decided to no go and claim the prize…I was silly for not going up but I just didn’t feel like it. Most of the prizes looked like girl gifts anyway and not boys…oh well. And on another game I just didn’t feel like collecting people’s safety pins. If anyone was crossing their arms or legs, you could collect their pins. Well, I am sitting, eating, and in a room of strangers and did not feel like walking around looking to see if the women who I saw crossing legs still had their pins on. Hair was covering all of our shoulders and I didn’t want to go out of my box to be bold. I was comfortable sitting in my chair looking around and eating. I know the point was to meet people so I should have just done it, but no big deal! At the end of the shower they had raffle prizes which everyone would get one. We drew numbers 1-25 or so. I was the last to pick the number from the bucket and got number 16. Number 2 and something else were left in the bottom. One by one they called the numbers starting with number one. We each got to choose from a whole section of prizes. The church went above and beyond my expectations. What a blessing it was to all these women…myself included. I ended up walking away with a diaper bag full of stuff and a diaper genie (trash can). The diaper genie was the gift of my choosing. It came with the special trash bags, diapers and wipes too. Some of the other things there to choose from I either already had or just decided that I liked this gift better. I took a picture of everything they gave us. I totally did not expect to receive these gifts. Andrew said it was like Christmas. The diaper bags they gave everyone had so much packed inside of them. It was unbelievable. So even though I knew no one at the shower, I met some other pregnant woman and enjoyed hearing how the church reached out to everyone talking about their ministries…small groups and baby sitting and other things they do for military while the spouses are deployed. It was another day of blessings and I’m glad Andrew got to come with me. He enjoyed the food, games and got to carry all our things to the car
The pictures of my first shower are all on Facebook but I put a few on here. The picture of the table of goodies is all the stuff we got yesterday from Saddleback Church. I think Andrew and I are set for the baby now. I want him to wait to come, but if he were to show up soon, we are ready for him! Now…just to pick a name…
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