Lucy's Baby Dedication

On Sunday, it was our great joy & privilege to bring Lucy before the congregation at our church to be dedicated to the Lord. Baby dedication is a special time where we publicly commit to bring our child up in the fear & admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), we promise to do our best to model a life of faith & commitment to Christ, and we pray that early in life she will come to know Jesus as her personal Lord & Savior. We have had each of our children dedicated around the age of four to six months, and it is always a very special day!

 The Lord is surely blessing the families in our church, and so we have baby dedications once a month with four families each time. We actually were not the largest family up there! Some friends of ours with 7 children were dedicating their new baby boy, Bear, who is a few weeks younger than Lucy. (I thought it was neat how our boys' shirts coordinated with the aqua our friends' girls are wearing!)

It is such a sweet time, but a little nerve-wrecking, too...we spent time in the car on the way to church praying & talking with the kids about how to act up on the stage.

Our turn! 

Jeff introduces our family (Drew was fascinated with the microphone!) and gives a little shout-out to our parents thanking them for the active role they take in loving & caring for our children! We are truly blessed to have such fantastic & supportive parents who enjoy spending time with their grandchildren! And they are SO dearly loved by our kids!

Then the pastor prayed over Lucy, asking God to guide us as her parents & praying for Lucy to grow up with a desire to know & serve Jesus.

 Waiting while some of the other sweet babies were dedicated. Jeff was holding Drew which was a good thing because otherwise I think he would have bolted off the stage...Drew had seen all of the grandparents in the pew right before church, so when we were on stage he kept saying, "Go see Pop! Wanna go see Pop!" And we kept saying "Shhh, we are praying." To which he replied, "NO! Wanna go see Pop! Nana? Grandpa? Yaya?" (Thankfully, I talked to several friends in the congregation & no one heard Drew out in the audience!)

 When we were all done, Sophie stopped to give Lucy a sweet kiss before we exited the stage.

 Nice gentlemen who help us up & down the stairs....can you imagine tripping! I love that our church is prepared!

After church, we had a little luncheon at our house to celebrate Lucy. We invited our family & a few close friends (14 adults & 15 kids!) My mom came over on Saturday & helped me cook & prepare ALL day long! 

 She picked up a couple of huge bouquets of flowers from the farmers market on her way over. I was able to fill about 6 vases with beautiful arrangements!

 Here they are set up Saturday night before I went to bed

 I had originally thought some people may eat outside, but with our temps hovering around 100 degrees all week, we brought our outdoor table into the office so everyone could eat inside & stay cool!

(Oh & I forgot to take an up-close picture of the favors, but you can see them on the desk behind the table. I filled little jars with animal crackers dipped in bright colored candy coating. So cute, easy & quite yummy! The girls had lots of fun helping me make these!)

 The men-folk chatting while we got the food ready! It worked out great, Lucy & I left right after the church service was over & came home with my parents & in-laws. Jeff & the bigger kids stayed at church for Sunday School. This gave us a good hour in the kitchen to get everything heated up & set out. 

This is about half of the food. The menu included spiral baked ham, chicken salad, croissants, rolls, cheesy scalloped potatoes, corn, deviled eggs, fruit salad, chicken nuggets, spinach dip & crackers, and peach cobbler for dessert! My sweet mother-in-law also brought a pineapple casserole & a delicious blueberry cobbler. No one left hungry! 

 The Little Kids table!

 Drew & his bud, Hudson

 My Aunt Dianne & Uncle George who live just about 5 minutes away were also able to attend the dedication & lunch. It is always a delight to have a reason to get together with extended family!

 The Big Kids Table!

 Darcy & Hudson

 Some of our dear friends

 Sweet girls!

 I included this blurry picture of Drew because it shows how he was constantly on the move...he didn't really even sit down to eat, he just kept running back & forth between tables grabbing a bite here & there (and not always off his own plate!)

 More big kids having fun! We had to drag most of them out of the nice, cool basement where they were having fun playing Wii & other things.

 And the guest of honor, sweet Lucy Jane! She is such a sweetie, she actually slept through most of the luncheon & woke up after dessert!

 Another sweet baby girl, Hailey, getting some lovin' from Drew!

 Lucy playing

 Everyone wanting to love on Lucy

And a few hours later, Lucy, plum tuckered out! (And so was her Mama!)

It was a busy, beautiful day!

We love you Lucy Jane & are excited to see the wonderful plans God has in store for your precious life!

Thank you, God, for the gift of children!

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
         The fruit of the womb is a reward.
 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
         So are the children of one’s youth.
 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
         They shall not be ashamed,
         But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

Psalm 127:3-5