Child Dedication

On Sunday we dedicated Kai in church.  We stood before the Body of Christ and declared our intention to raise him to know Jesus and to pray for him regularly.  We want to follow the example of Hannah, who dedicated her son Samuel to the Lord (1 Samuel 1:27-28), and the example of Mary and Joseph, who dedicated their son Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:21-24).  More than anything we want our son to love Jesus and to follow Him wholeheartedly all the days of his life.

We stood in front of the church to dedicate Kai, but I honestly don't remember anything that was said because a certain toddler made it rather difficult to focus.  We wanted Caleb with us, but it was a long time to ask a little boy to wait patiently through the worship and announcements before the actual dedication began.  By then, our little boy had ants in his pants and beyond.  Sitting still was simply too much to ask of him.  Taking him out of the sanctuary offered only a small reprieve from the wiggles.  Eating fruit snacks was an even shorter reprieve.  That poor boy just needed to run around.  And so we took him to the front of the church just when his patience was spent.  It was a brilliant idea on our parts, let me tell you :)

For about 30 seconds he was distracted by the plants and instruments and I thought we might just avoid a scene.  But oh, those wiggles are wily things and they simply don't go away once they encroach upon a little boy.  So Caleb wiggled in Eli's arms first.  Then he wiggled in mine.  I sang to him in hopes of distracting him.  That worked for about 10 seconds.  In the end, after more wiggles, some whines and cries, and an attempt to escape down the aisle, Caleb settled on one of the stairs and laid on his tummy, kinda rolling around till the end of the dedication.  It was super classy :)

Kai, on the other hand, was an all-star.  He was quiet (minus a couple cries toward the end) and looked about curiously.  I have no doubt that he charmed the hearts of many a lady in the congregation :)

Despite the distraction of his brother, we still declared our intent to raise our son Hezekiah to know Jesus.  It was a joyous occasion and we were blessed to have my parents in town to pray over us and to celebrate!  Our dear friend Angela was also there and we were grateful to be surrounded by people who love us and will help us on the journey of raising Kai in the Christian faith.

We had a lovely week with my parents in town as we celebrated two milestones for our boys - Caleb's birthday and Kai's dedication.  They flew back to Michigan this morning but thankfully we'll see them again next month.  It's always a treat to have Grandma and Grandpa in town!