Baby Dedication

Last weekend, we had our orientation at the church for the upcoming baby dedication service.  Our church doesn't do baby baptisms, instead they have a special service where the parents dedicate their child to the Lord.  It is essentially where me and Parker begin being very intentional about how we want to raise our children, the values we want to instill in them, and focusing on parenting with the end in mind.  The baby dedication process guides us into this and helps us declare what is important to us to our friends and family, so that they can help hold us accountable to it.

We have been to 2 baby dedications at our church.  The first one was in March of 2010.  We went for the twins' dedication and happened to know quite a few other babies being dedicated that day.  I wrote a blog post on March 21 about how difficult that day was for us.  Although we were thrilled for Preston and Beth and the twins, it hurt our hearts watching at least 3 families dedicate babies that they were pregnant with at the same time I was pregnant the first time.  I just couldn't help but think about how the baby I lost would've been celebrated that day.

The second time we went was just about a week before Mary Elizabeth was born.  We went to watch some of our friends celebrate their babies, babies that had been conceived and were born all during our period of waiting on our second pregnancy.  It certainly wasn't near as difficult as the first one, knowing that our little girl would be there any day.  But it still wasn't our turn.

Last week though, we began the steps leading up to our turn.  Our turn to take our daughter that God has blessed us with, the answer to our prayer, and dedicate her right back to Him.There's a song that says "Every blessing you pour out I'll turn back to praise" and that's exactly what I want to do with my children.  One of my favorite stories of the Bible is the story of Hannah's infertility and God's answer to her prayer.  Hannah was so brokenhearted about not being able to have children.  In 1 Samuel 10-11, it says "In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life."  The Lord heard her prayer and blessed her with a son, Samuel, who became a great man of faith.  In fact, our verse for Mary Elizabeth is from Hannah's story.  Our verse is 1 Samuel 1:27, "For this child I prayed" (KJV).  The full verse though states "I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD" (NIV).  After all she had been through in waiting on a child, she literally gave him up for the Lord, handing him over to the priest as soon as he was weaned.  Her story to me is a beautiful illustration of love and faithfulness through trials. 

As we begin the baby dedication process, I'm so overwhelmed with joy that I can turn my blessing back to the Lord and praise Him by dedicating the life of my child to His purposes and His glory.  I cried all through the orientation and I cried as Parker and I listened to our "homework" the other night over dinner.  We haven't even done anything spiritual yet and I'm already crying!  Should be interesting the day of, hopefully I can hold it together long enough to get through the service!

"My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him."  Psalm 28:7