Growth Group Announcements: Out of Control!

1/25/13

I won't be able to post this one for even longer, but it was so much fun I have to write about it.  We met with our church growth group tonight.  We joined in December, not long after we found out we were pregnant.  I knew regardless of the outcome (whether we miscarried or had the baby), we needed more support or people who know details about our lives.  People at church are friendly, but you can only talk so much before and after the service.  I felt very alone after the miscarriage at church.  Partly because of the sadness, but also because there weren't that many people who knew enough to be supportive.  So either way, I wanted to build some stronger relationships.

Our growth group is mostly young families and couples, and I had heard some things that made me think there were others struggling with getting pregnant, too.  We were figuring we would announce our pregnancy after 12 weeks (next week).  That is, until the growth group announcements got out of control.

First, two of the women who have been having trouble getting pregnant announced together that they were pregnant and within a week of each other.  Everyone was really excited for them, hugging, asking questions, etc.  I looked at Stephen and he said it was up to me, but I said that we were so much farther along, we would just let them have their moment this week and announce next time.

As things started to settle down, another woman (in the kitchen), announces that they are pregnant, too.  Everyone freaks out, no way!  More hugs, more questions.  Meanwhile, the couple sitting next to me is having some intense conversation, so I knew they were pregnant and debating about telling...which they did after things settled down again!  (We are only couple #4 announcing the pregnancy now, for those losing count).

So we had to announce too, of course.  We waited for it to die down a little and I said I wanted to even things out and we were pregnant, too.  At this point it was just chaos.  Everyone hugging, disbelieving, but then so excited.  There were 8 or 9 couples there, and 5 announced pregnancies!  They are all between 5 and 7 weeks, so about a month behind us.  But August and September are going to be interesting months for our group!

We also have a 4 month old and another woman who is currently 30 weeks pregnant.  So within a calendar year, we will have 7 new babies in our growth group.  God's timing is pretty awesome.

You can see a wonderful video Rudy made that gives everyone's perspective on the night here: