Ready to Pounce, or Not

So if I haven't mentioned this yet, I am sorry, but my little sister is getting married in August. Being as I am her sister, I was asked to be a bridesmaid along with my baby sister and one of her close friends. In early June, all three of us, Virginia, Allison, and I were ready to pounce on our opportunity to throw Sarah a surprise bridal shower. Plans were in the making and the date was set for June 28th. That would give us a month to prepare or so we thought. Needless to say, things did not go exactly as planned.

First, the month flew by, and before we knew it, it was the week of the shower and almost nothing that we had planned had been set in stone yet. Panic mode set. I know we are terrible bridesmaids! Anyways, we had finally got everything set, the invitations out, and the whole thing planned with one minor glitch. We couldn't get Sarah to come home for the weekend that we had planned the shower. We tried to convince her to two days to no avail. Finally, we had to tell her. Yeah, it spoiled the surprise, but we did get her home, and the bridal shower was a hit.
The day of the bridal shower I had to work so I was really crunched for time. As soon as I was done with work, I did a little last minute shopping and hurried home to set up for the party. Unfortunately, I came home to a messy house so I had to do some cleaning first. An hour before the shower was to start, Allison came over to help me with the set up. She was such a blessing! She helped me make the taco snacker platter, set up the chairs, and she organized the games. She even helped me count 594 M&Ms for one of the games that we were to play.

Just before the party started, Virginia arrived home. She had planned on being late because she had to work, but her boss let her out early so she could be at the shower. And so it began...
It all started with Heather Long's devotional which was amazing. We laughed, we cried, but most importantly we learned how to have a good marriage: make God the center of it. Marriage will not be perfect, but with God as the centerpiece, marriage can be the greatest blessing. Even for someone who is not getting married, I found this very encouraging and challenging. Next were a few games. Oh and the 594 M&Ms, on girl guessed 595 and won the prize. Then came the presents. We all waited in anticipation as Sarah opened them one by one. At times to refused to show everyone what she got (due to the lack of fabric contained in the packages), but we forced her to show us. We all ooo'ed and ahh'ed and laughed together and had a great time. As every mingled about eating cake and other various foods, our guests slowly began to make their ways home.

By the time everyone was gone, we were all exhausted. We stared at the mess that we were left with, just wanting to go to bed, but knowing that it all needed to be taken care of at the same time. And so the clean up started. Thinking back on that night, everything had not gone perfectly. The surprise aspect was ruined (Virginia and I need to work on our pounce a bit), things were procrastinated, and everyone was pressed for time. But then again, marriage isn't perfect either. It has its ups and downs and bumps along the way, but with God as the main focus of a marriage, there is nothing a couple can't handle no matter how good Satan's pounce may be.