A little over a week ago now, on February 18, Ray and I hosted a "Gender Reveal Party" with the help of our terrific family. For those of you who don't know, a Gender Reveal party is quite simple--it is a fun way to discover the sex of your baby-to-be with close friends and family. An intimate gathering, and an excuse to get together and celebrate. But in His perfect grace, as always, God had so much more to reveal.
In spite of some of the controversy I have read in the blogosphere regarding having parties for such an event, we decided it was how we wanted to reveal and celebrate, and were very blessed for doing so. It was so touching to see the close friends and family who were just as excited to find out with us, and then to celebrate with us the gender of our little chickpea. There were many who couldn't make it and requested pictures and texts as soon as the reveal was made. It truly defines the meaning of family--those who celebrate your successes and mourn your losses with you--because they want to. Family celebrates you out of no obligation other than love.
We decided for our big reveal to take an envelope in which the sonographer had written the gender to Party City, and asked them to fill a provided box with helium balloons of the corresponding color: pink for a girl, blue for a boy. We chose the theme from an old rhyme, "Sugar and Spice and everything nice, that's what girls are made of. Snips and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what boys are made of." We additionally asked each guest to dress in pink or blue to show what they predicted the gender to be.
We had about 95% of the party predicting a boy--including the parents; only three came dressed for the girl, so imagine our surprise when pink balloons came out! I don't have the picture of candid shot of our guests, but it's priceless--four mouths wide open and the rest smiling big. I, who was expecting a boy with my whole heart and mind (see my face?!), was pleasantly surprised. Even a mother's instinct is no match for God's plan.
But as we wound down and only family were left, we began to talk about just how elaborately a simple celebration as this can demonstrate the wonder of God. He knows best. And only He knows at all! We may, with all of the best intentions, think we understand or have figured out what to expect, whether it be through instinct, research, statistics, and even prayer, we become certain that we know what is coming, what God has in store, or what He is creating. The beauty of this is the surprise when God reveals to us what He has been leading us to or preparing us for. Sometimes this surprise may be unpleasant (such as losing a job), and sometimes it may be a wonderful miracle (e.g., the defeat of cancer). But God is continuing to prepare us and ready us for His wonder and plan...He has so much in store. And I believe He delights when we take so much pleasure in discovering and celebrating His surprises, because deep inside we know that it's all working out for Him.
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