Mothers Day & Baby Dedication

May 10th was a special day...not only was it my first mother's day, but it was also baby dedication Sunday at church. Jake made breakfast, we went to church, had a yummy lunch at Mom and Dad's and then hung out at the house since Jake was going out of town later that week. I love being this baby's Mama!

Jake and I got to participate in a special baby dedication dinner with other parents at our church a few weeks before the actual baby dedication service. We all shared a letter that we wrote to our child and the life verse that we each picked for our babies. During the baby dedication at the church service, they showed video clips of us reading our letters. It was great!

The life verse that we picked and have committed to pray over Abigail is Colossians 1:9b-12:

Abigail,

We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

Here is the letter we wrote to Abigail: [this letter was adapted from the 2 month letter to Abigail]

Dear Abigail,

You have brought so much joy to our lives! Becoming parents has been life changing for us. We just love you so much and feel so blessed that the Lord has entrusted you to us. We praise God for your beautiful smile and the cute little noises that you make. It is really exciting that you know our voices and look at us when we talk to you. It is our prayer that we will love, teach, discipline, and raise you to become a woman of God.

We hope to always speak to you in a way that is honoring and respectful. We know there will be times when this may be difficult, but we pray that our words will be full of grace. It is important to show you the same respect and honor that we would like you to show us.

Throughout your life, we will strive to keep a biblical perspective on parenting. According to Psalm 127:3-5, children are a gift from the Lord. 1 Chronicles 29:11 tells us that everything in heavens and earth is the Lords. The Lord reminds us of this often that everything we have is really His - even you Abigail.  God has temporarily entrusted you under our care, but you belong to Him, not us. As your parents, we have the God-given task to raise you up and help you gain skills and responsibility and become independent so that one day you can be equipped for life outside of our home.

You are loved so much, Abigail. You are such a blessing. We pray that one day God's grace would be very real to you and that you will understand how much you are loved by your heavenly father. We pray that you would grow to love the Lord very dearly and use your gifts to serve, love and bless others with the gospel of Christ. Our hope for you is that you would seek to glorify God in all that you do and that you would desire to love God and love others as a follower of Christ.  We hope that you would be joyful always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances.  And that you would always remember the story of Job - just because you follow God, doesn’t mean that you will have an easy and prosperous life in the eyes of the world. No matter the circumstance, we hope that you will always choose to praise the Lord for the promise and gift of eternal life.

Being your parents is such a joy. We love you!

Love, Mom & Dad