Dedication

We dedicated Natalie at church yesterday. I'll write more about it in June's recap (how is it almost time for June's recap?!?!), but I wanted to write a bit before then.

Lee's sister's family is in town from California this week. Lee and I knew we wanted to get Natalie dedicated soon, and the arrival of out-of-town family provided a perfect opportunity. And plus, it was Father's Day. So it made it extra special.

Our church doesn't perform baby baptisms; it performs baby dedications. Their thought is that someone should wait to be baptized until he/she understands what it means and can make that decision for themselves. I was baptized as a baby, but I can see how both ways are special.

When Lee and I were going through premarital counseling, we rededicated our lives to the Lord. We were so excited about getting married, and knew we wanted to get the best start that we could. We felt that renewing our faith would be the best foundation for us as a newly-married couple.

And it has. Oh BOY it has. We've had some pretty intense things come up in our marriage. And I'm convinced that if we hadn't had faith, it would have been a lot rougher on us.

When Natalie was born, we recognized that she didn't belong to us. She was on loan from God :) We know that He can take her anytime He wants, but while she's with us, we want her to have the best life we can provide. And we felt that our biggest responsibility was to dedicate her back to Him.

Okay, back to the dedication.

My aunt made a christening gown that both my sister and I wore when we were baptized. My sister wore it in 1978 and I wore it in 1981. It's got both of our initials and the dates we were baptized embroidered on it. It's beautiful.

At one of my baby showers, my mom gave me that christening gown. (Cue the water works!). I couldn't wait to have Natalie wear it. And let me tell you, she looked like a little angel. A chubby-cheeked, blue-eyed, beautiful little angel. (See pictures below for proof)

Oh, and I don't know what kind of material my aunt used to make the christening gown, but it still looks brand new. I know it's only been worn twice, but it seriously looks like I just bought it. And it doesn't wrinkle! It had been in a box for a few decades, and it had nary a wrinkle.

We were convinced that our super-spitter would throw up all over the pastor during the dedication. We warned him ahead of time about this. He laughed and told us that his shirt was washable. I wanted to tell him that I have a few shirts that prove baby spit-up stains like crazy, but I didn't get the chance.

As we stood at the front of the church, they showed a short video that we had shot a week ago about why we wanted to dedicate Natalie. As the video was playing, the pastor whispered to me "How is Natalie feeling this morning?" I smiled and said "So far so good! But I can't make any guarantees!" He smiled. I handed Natalie to him and he explained to the congregation about baby dedications, and afterwards, everyone clapped.

It was very sweet, but I should have remembered that Natalie has recently become *very* sensitive to loud noises. As soon as she heard the clapping, her lower lip poked out, began to tremble, and she started whimpering. As soon as the whimpering turned to sobbing, the pastor handed Natalie back to me. Lee and I were both trying not to laugh, but we failed miserably. She calmed down quickly, the pastor dedicated her, and the congregation clapped again - cue more whimpering! And then the worship team started playing a song - cue more sobbing! So I rushed her out of the sanctuary and found a quiet place for us to sit.

All in all it was a great experience. And we're so happy Lee's sister's family was able to come. My family also came, as did three of my best friends. It was so special to share it with them, and we're so thankful to have people in our lives who love and support Natalie.

Yes, she's rockin' a headband.

So happy!
There's that tongue again

It's a physical impossibility not to munch on these cheeks
My sister came in from Panama City. She's the coolest.

(Okay, I just realized that it looks like I'm wearing a skirt in these pictures, which would mean I'm striking a very unladylike pose in this picture. But I'm not - I'm wearing shorts, I promise. It's 100+ degrees outside and thankfully, our church is fairly casual)

Four of my most favorite girls in the world

The Bushway-Smith-Farrington clan

The whole gang