Carrie Krupke: Baby Shower

I have had the privilege and pleasure of laboring alongside one of the most wonderful women I know as part of our church plant to West Des Moines for the past 4 years. I've known Carrie for quite a lot longer than that, having also been in a young adult bible study with her and her husband Gerard prior to the church plant, but it has been in the past few years that we have all grown closer together as a group of women in unity. Carrie and Gerard had been seeking the Lord in expanding their family for a bit over a year, when at last He heard and answered their prayers with a resounding "YES" and they are now expecting their first baby girl, due at the beginning of June. I, along with the other women in our community group, had the honor of being able to help host Carrie's baby shower tea and as our resident photographer was the guest of honor, the picture-taking fell to me, which I was only too happy to oblige!

Waiting for the Guest of Honor. Carrie's mom, unable to make it to the shower due to being out of state, had sown the quilt draped over the chair and sent it to Jo, one of the other ladies in our Community Group, giving it just that right touch of home for Carrie.

Each table had a different place setting, donated by some wonderful ladies at our church. I love how we can all come together to bless a dear sister!

Our Community Group ladies. I am so blessed to be able to labor alongside these women; they are truly my home away from home.

Helena, our resident foodie, was in charge of putting the refreshments together for Carrie's tea party along with some other wonderful helpers. Doesn't that spread look beautiful?

A few details. I love this baby shoe, worn by Jo's daughter when she was little. It was just the right elegant touch for the guest table.

In lieu of the traditional guestbook, we asked Carrie's guests to sign the onesie instead that would then go into a frame with some wish cards for Baby ChooChoo.

Carrie and her mother-in-law, Cheryl, listen as Jo gives a brief devotional message.

It was laughs all around as Jo talked about the sudden desire as a mother to tear someone apart with your bare hands when they are a potential threat to your children.

Carrie reacting to the surprise of her hubby Gerard's arrival to the baby shower for a little serenade. 

While Carrie and Gerard (yes, he stayed!) opened gifts, the guests at each table were asked to fill out these "Wishes For Baby" cards. A common theme at baby showers at our church have been to write "advice cards" to the expecting mother, but for those of us who are not mothers, it's rather difficult to come up with something useful. These were a nice change from the norm.

I love this next photo for a few reasons. 1, the expressions on their faces. 2, that they were having completely separate conversations and were excited about totally different things.

Carrie wanted to get photos with all of her guests, a request to which I happily obliged. While I would love to post all of them here, I'll just leave you with this one of Carrie and all of her fellow Drake music grads.