My Baby Shower.
In my last post, I mentioned how God answered many of my prayers over the past year, even though I wasn’t writing on this blog like I felt I was supposed to be doing. He still blessed me anyway. More specifically, He blessed me with a child.
I found out that I was pregnant in November of 2023. Shortly after that, my husband, who works in construction, lost work for a few months. This completely drained our savings. During that season, things were emotionally heavy, but even still, God provided for our every need.
Prayers I Didn’t Know How to Justify.
During that season, I found myself praying things that didn’t make sense on paper. Given our circumstances, I didn’t know how to justify asking for something like a baby shower, but I asked anyway. I wanted to be able to throw a beautiful baby shower. Part of that desire came from the fact that I didn’t get to have an ideal wedding, and I longed to celebrate this moment well.
I prayed that God would make a way for us to afford something like that. I also prayed that people would actually show up.
I’m not very close with much of my family, and I don’t know most of them. Many live far away, and I have a very small circle of friends— small enough that I can count them on one hand. I genuinely wasn’t sure if there would even be enough guests for an event like this.
Two Showers Instead of One.
God definitely answered my prayers, and even went beyond them.
Not only was I already having one baby shower, I was also preparing for a second.
My mother hosted one for me and invited many of her friends, several of whom I didn’t even know. Friends and family who live nearby also attended, and the house was full. People showed up, supported us, and celebrated with us. Everyone was relaxed, laughing, and enjoying themselves, which was deeply encouraging and honestly healing.
The One I Planned Myself.
The second one is the one that I have been planning myself and I was really dead set on this particular venue. It is a new building and it is just absolutely beautiful. I just had to have this place. Now, I did try looking around at other places, but this was the one that my heart wanted.
Venues aren’t cheap, so not having an income months before the event is to take place is just crazy, but God really blessed us!
We went to tour the place and surprisingly, a lot of extra things were included in the rental price. The fancy chiara chairs that I wanted were included, as many tables as I need, they have dishes and silverware and even a built in sound system. These are things that were not included in the other venues that I looked at, so adding in the extra cost to rent those things would make the price higher than the place I really wanted to go with anyway. So, after being able to speak with the owner and learning about all of these extra details, it seemed like a no-brainer.
I reserved the date that I wanted, June 23rd, which was also another big deal in itself because the summer is peak wedding season. The fact that I had so many dates available to choose from was great. I picked my date and gave her a deposit to hold my spot, $100. The deposit was very low, once again, something else that was higher at these other venues. Now, how was I going to get the rest of the money? The answer to this question arrives after going down a winding road, as life is, but bear with me as I tell the story.
How We Got the Money.
After a few months of having no income, my husband began picking up work again. It wasn’t an extravagant amount, but it was enough to get us by. Around the same time, I received a client project that brought in $1,000. It wasn’t enough to cover the venue, but it was a start. I still needed $700.
Shortly after that, my husband’s former employer called to offer him more work. He returned to his previous position, traveling around the country and leading a small team on various projects. They promised him at least a month of work, though long-term stability was still uncertain.
An Unexpected Source.
These projects involved demolition, which often leaves behind metal scraps. His employer told them they didn’t care what they did with the scraps. There were four people on the team at the time, and they decided that whatever they earned from selling the metal would be split four ways. It wasn’t a huge amount, but it helped, and it finally gave us the push we needed to get current on our bills.
A Sudden Setback.
After that pay period, my husband was transferred to another job site with one other team member, while the remaining two stayed behind at the original site. Everyone went home for a few days while the transition was happening.
On the day that everyone went home, my husband started feeling ill. He got really ill.
He ran a high fever for several days and was completely out of commission. He couldn’t eat without pain, and we had to go to the doctor multiple times. We were concerned about medical bills because we had just climbed out of the financial hole that we were in and didn’t have health insurance. However, his health was more important, so we went anyway and would be concerned about the bills when they came.
I had just entered my third trimester at this point, so caring for him while trying not to get sick myself wasn’t easy. He was incredibly vulnerable, and being fully dependent on someone else wasn’t something he was used to, especially not his pregnant wife.
I took care of him to the best of my ability. I took him to the doctor, went out to get his prescriptions, tried to find foods that were bearable for him to eat, and made sure that he was comfortable and had his rest.
Unexpectedly, this season strengthened our marriage. He was very appreciative of me and we grew very close because of it. It was another one of my answered prayers, to grow stronger together as a couple, although I didn’t think it would come about in this manner. We were by no means in a bad place with each other. I simply wanted us to be a solid unit in preparation for the new family dynamic shift that was about to begin when the baby arrived.
The Exact Amount.
To continue, he was out for a whole week and lost quite a few days of work because of it. However, he still had to answer phone calls and messages, emails, and manage the teams from far away, and he did this with no compensation.
While he was doing this, it became pretty clear that the supervisor of these projects really favored my husband. The supervisor really trusts him and his work ethic, and when my husband asks for something, he tries to make it happen. This was really shocking to us, because we had a very different perception of this man when we first met him.
Eventually, my husband returned to work and more job opportunities began to pick up. There is still stable work scheduled for the months ahead, which is great. The next paycheck was minuscule, but at least there was more work to come.
During this time, the crew at the other job site was still collecting scrap metal. My husband helped them sell it. He told them that he would only take a small amount since all he did was help facilitate the sale. However, they told him that they had already decided ahead of time that they would split it evenly between the three of them.
This was really kind of them, because they truly didn’t have to do that by any means. It was a blessing, especially considering how much he had lost from being bedridden.
By the time they actually sold the metal, my husband had just received a full paycheck, and on top of that came the extra money from the sale. Guess how much the extra turned out to be?
It was about $1,700 per person, the exact amount needed for the venue, which was due the following week.
Even beyond providing for our needs, God had basically handed us the money for the venue on top of that. What a loving Father. Furthermore, I still had the full $1,000 to spend on whatever else I needed for the shower.
Another Win.
The shower hasn’t taken place yet, but even still, God has continued to bless us even more.
I had been looking around for tablecloths to put on the tables. I don’t really need tablecloths long term, and I didn’t want to buy them just to have them. Still, buying them from one particular vendor would have been cheaper than renting.
One weekend, one of my husband’s coworkers was throwing a birthday party for his daughter, and we started chatting with a woman we knew. We wanted to catch up because we found out she was pregnant around the same time I was. During our conversation, she mentioned that she worked for a company that rents out linens.
The very thing I was looking for.
It turns out she could get me whatever I needed for free. I was honestly awestruck. What are the odds of that?
There are even more ways God has blessed us throughout this pregnancy, but I wanted to share this because it showed me how intentional He is. He answered a prayer about something that felt insignificant in the grand scheme of things, yet it mattered to Him.
God really does care about everything we have going on.
What a loving Father. ♡
EXODUS 20:8 ESV
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
