GUEST POST: As the co-president of the new Students for Life of America group Homeschoolers4Life in Indiana, I’ve learned a lot. One lesson that I learned recently was that you can’t really control outcomes — only your attitude — and that although you may not succeed the first time, try again and see what happens. My group understands this after hosting two baby showers that looked very different. Here’s what happened:  

The first baby item drive that Homeschoolers4Life held ran from September 2023 through October 1, 2023. On the day of its conclusion, we had a baby shower planned at our local parish. That same day, I was unexpectedly scheduled to receive an award during the annual Life Mass at our Cathedral, which would end just an hour earlier. This cut things close, but it was very exciting.  

However, when we arrived back at the parish, I was super disappointed with how many people were there. We had scheduled the baby shower to begin as soon as the morning Mass ended so that we could catch a good number of parishioners to stay and enjoy the event. However, we found out that the parish refused to support us unless we did it under their name and with their youth group. And in the end, none of their members even showed up to the baby shower. 

That was a hard pill to swallow and very discouraging — but my group learned from its mistakes and didn’t give up.  

We decided to try again and held a second baby item drive with a different parish; what a contrast! This time, our idea was to hold a Christmas party to conclude the baby item drive, which would hopefully attract and interest more families. The parish responded to our event proposal within ten minutes with their approval, and everything leading up to the event went well. We were nervous, however, that our previous experience would repeat itself. 

However, we received the perfect message right when we needed it. Just hours before the party started, a kind parishioner told me, “You can’t control outcomes.” He relayed how many people get discouraged in this movement when they put in a lot of work but don’t see many fruits come of it. However, by giving it your all, you can still be proud in the end, knowing that you tried. 

He was exactly right. 

All the work that was put into this party and these baby item drives was certainly worth it. The party was just as chaotic as the first (if not more as we weren’t even done setting up when the first people started to show!), but we ended up having more than 60 attendees! One attendee, a public high school senior, was especially notable and encouraging as we had just collected their information only weeks earlier. 

The money we raised at these events added up to $1,200 (in addition to the physical baby items) which is going to the Gabriel Project, a local pregnancy resource center, and their latest project of building a home for mothers in need. 

The best part of all, however, was that everyone had a blast celebrating life, and that was the best possible outcome. 

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