SURPRISE!!!

Last night, I arrived at the church for our Young Women's activity about 10 minutes late.  I'm not usually that late...but last night dinner somehow took longer than usual.  I thought about going with my post-nap hair as-is and with pieces of chicken from dinner still stuck in my teeth.  But, I decided to take a few extra minutes to brush my second-day-hair back into place in its ponytail.  It wasn't fancy, but it looked a ton better than it did before.  And, I flossed and brushed my teeth.  I put on a stained maternity shirt and put a thin non-maternity hoodie over the top.  I figured if I didn't take off the hoodie, no one would ever see the stain.  It was fine--we were only having game night.  Looking back, I'm glad I took those few extra minutes!

After our opening exercises, I started talking to a few people and making my way to the door.  During this time, I found out that the Mia Maids were going to be judges for the Laurel's "Iron Chef" activity.  A few of my girls hurried me along and we went down the hall to start our games--and await the moment we'd be called back in to judge the dishes.

We got into a fun and rousing game of Apples to Apples.  When I've played before, we would say that the green apple cards we collected during the game described us...but, playing with the girls, they said the cards they collected described their future husbands.  I loved that twist on the game! :)  After a little while, the YW President, Jenni, came into to tell us that they were ready for us.  We cleaned up the game and the girls headed down the hall while I had a quick conversation with Jenni about an upcoming fireside.  We walked down the hall and opened the door to the YW room.  As I looked inside, my first impression was, "Why did they decorate Iron Chef night with onesies?" And just then, everyone in the room yelled, "SURPRISE!!!"  There was no Iron Chef--it was a baby shower for me!  I was completely blown away.  Like COMPLETELY.  (My next thought was, "This is SO going on facebook!" LOL)

I don't think I could do much more than stand there in shock for a while. I don't think I can accurately describe how completely surprised I was.  Honestly, I felt so loved and appreciated by all of the YW, the other leaders, and all of the other women who came to participate.  Not sure if anyone could tell, but I was almost in tears. Through the course of the evening, I found out that this had been in the works for a couple of weeks--and, to top it all off, all of the YW had known it was happening for about that long and NO ONE spilled the beans!  (I'm glad they didn't. People who know me know that I LOVE a good surprise--and that it's very hard to surprise me. In fact, when I told my mom, she gave them major kudos for keeping it from me--since I usually tend to catch on to things...)  The Laurels worked on the decorations, (they decorated those onesies and sewed a cute bunting), the Mia Maids planned the game, and the Beehives planned the food.  I absolutely love that the girls were involved with it all.  (Can you tell how much I love the YW in our ward?) :)

It was a perfect shower.  For very personal reasons, the surprise shower was JUST what I needed right now.  I was the recipient of many generous and thoughtful gifts for this little boy. I am so blessed to be in such a great ward with such wonderful friends.  I don't think they realize that they truly made my month!  Just thinking about their thoughtfulness and love will definitely carry me through these remaining weeks.  I am so grateful for all of the hard work (and secret-keeping) that went into such a fantastic event.