Shindig

Last weekend a bunch of sweet girls from church threw a surprise baby shower for me and another prego gal in the ward (the lovely lady sitting on the floor in the bottom right of the above photo — who, incidentally, had her baby earlier this week, leaving me at the top of the pile as the ward's pregnantest person).

It was really fun.
And a happy coincidence that my sister-in-law Amy was in town from Las Vegas so she was able to attend. And take lots of unflattering pictures of me. (I mentioned this was a surprise, right? I totally would've done my hair had I known what I was walking into. Really.)

Baby food taste test game. I'll never make Junior eat the zucchini flavor.More games.
Then and now: Me and my baby self.Chugging Kool-Aid from a baby bottle. Officially more work than it's worth.

I'd be lying if I said that I haven't privately experienced a couple of panicky moments in regard to my situation: that of embarking into the completely uncharted waters of pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood thousands of miles from my family, culture and native language. But something I've learned here is that, of the many blessings that being a member of the LDS Church has brought me, one is a knowledge that almost anywhere I go in this world, I will have a family in the nearest LDS congregation. The Dresden Ward has been that for us. They have befriended us, given us opportunities to serve and contribute, and just looked out for us when there wasn't really anyone else to do so. This baby shower was only the most recent in a string of acts of kindness these good people have undertaken to help two anxious foreigners feel a little more at home. And to help one young, expectant mother feel a little more at ease with her current state of affairs.

If any members of the ward happen to be reading this, thank you. You don't know what all this means to us.

JEM