Child Dedication

Yesterday, the couples with children from our small group held a child dedication for the three kids!  It was a really fun and special event!  We all invited friends and family, had lots of food, and were able to spend time with people who love our kids (and us).  One of the wives from our small group's dad is a pastor at our church so he agreed to come and lead the dedication.  We held the "party" inside, but decided to have the ceremony outside.  The dedication was sweet.  We appreciated hearing the pastor's words that he spoke about it being mine and Brooks responsibilities to teach Gavin to trust the Lord and to love HIM and serve Him.  Yesterday was a special time for us.  Now, I will say, I understand why you hold these when the kids are "babies".  Let's just say Gavin is not use to being held for a long time period and had the desire to get down.  We tried our best to hold him, switching back and forth between Brooks and I.  At one point Brooks was distracting Gavin by telling him to look for the birds (hence why in one of the pics Gavin is pointing to the sky).  But, eventually, he wanted down.   That was fine with us.  We wanted to hear what Greg, the pastor, was saying and really receive his word.  Plus, Gavin saw his buddy, Cade, and wanted to sit by him.  It was cute... you'll see the picture of my friend Susie, with both of the boys in her lap-- that's where Gavin ended up at one point of the dedication.   We're really glad we decided to have the dedication before we left and got to have this time with Gavin.  My parents drove in town to spend the day with us.  Gavin was happy to see his Captain and Kimmie.

We had a cake made for each of the kids.  I was going to make the cakes, but with our house needing to be ready to show to relators (we still haven't picked one yet) there was no way I could have tackled three of these at once.  The cakes were really sweet and delicate.  Each one had a saying that said

"I will serve the Lord"

"I will love the Lord"

"I will worship the Lord"

What it's all about

We love our church!  We love everything about our church.  We are so thankful that we made the decision as a family to look for a new church home after Gavin was born and for the last (almost) 2 years we have been abundantly blessed by great teachings, awesome ministries, and some wonderful, Godly friends!  

We joined a small group a little over a year ago and immediately had 8 TRUE friends!  This weekend we're having a "child dedication" for the 3 kids at one of the couples homes, the Lutz family.  They have been working very hard the past few weeks getting their yard and flower beds looking good!  Last week at group, they expressed a need for time and energy to get it all finished and were hoping it could be done before they had lots of visitors coming over.  We could tell this was weighing heavy on their hearts so, our group decided to help them out.  We all showed up at their home Monday night with shovels, gloves, and lots of tools ready to work.  Within an hour and a half we had finished everything.  There wasn't a single weed left, a dead branch anywhere, and even their palm trees got a trimming.  It was amazing to watch everyone throw themselves into this project with willing hearts!  Our church always talks about how your small group should be your 2am friends-- friends you can call at any time in any situation and they will be there.  Obviously, this wasn't a dire situation, however, we saw the need and wanted to serve them and be a blessing.  That's what Jesus did-- he served the people!  

We had a great time with all of our friends and loved getting to spend time together!  We really are going to miss these people!  Of course, when I remembered I wanted to take pictures, it was when all of us girls were taking a break, so there's no evidence of us "working", but trust me, we did!  Check out the Lutz's blog and see the after pics of us relaxing as well as what was collected from their backyard!   

We brought Gavin who played and ran around the entire time.  He was a little obsessed with all the sharp tools laying around-- thankfully, everyone had an eye on him and would take them away from him.  He had a grand ole time just moving from one flower bed to another watching what everyone was doing and helping out where he could!  He's too cute!