We Will Raise You Up In Christ

Purpose

We dedicated London at church this weekend! We feel like it's important for us to make a commitment in front of our brothers and sisters in Christ to raise our kids with the knowledge that they are sinners who can not save themselves. Their goodness will never be good enough for a pure and perfectly holy God. They need Jesus' redemptive work to stand in the place of their imperfect hearts. And we pray that one day, with conviction from the Spirit, the Lord will urge them to respond to His call, and they will follow Him all of their days. And then, hopefully, they'll obediently follow with the sacrament of baptism.

Commitment

London (and Noah, who was dedicated in 2009),

We, by the grace and mercy of God, will teach you what the Spirit has graciously taught and continues to teach us about dying to self and living for the glory of our Father God. I guarantee that we will screw up A LOT, but we trust that our efforts don't thwart God's will. He will catch you despite our feebleness. We will pray and pray and pray for your salvation. We love you unlike we love anyone else, but somehow God loves you more.

Celebration

Grams flew from Florida and Nana and Papa drove up from Kimberling City to witness and be a part of the celebration. The Gourley's joined us in the service and also came over afterward to eat and hang out. It was a lovely evening. As a side note, I was getting Noah and Aidan changed into their swimsuits, and Aidan mooned me, and then shook his behind in my face...he and Noah thought it was hilarious, and Noah of course tried to do it to me today! I laughed and told him to pull his pants up! All the kids (except London who was fast asleep during her dedication celebration), played until they were shivering in the pool!

Post-Dedication
The next day I made the saddest blueberry pancakes for breakfast (Martha really let me down with that recipe), but that flop of a meal was redeemed by a lunch for our moms at Crushed Red, a new, fresh little lunch spot in Clayton. We wanted to treat them to a nice lunch as a late Mother's Day gift. We were all entertained by London gnawing on some pizza crust, however, Grams had about 50 heart attacks thinking she was going to choke! Every time we attempted to take the crust away from her though, she would scream like her arm was being cut off. So we (really I) went with the choking option versus the screaming one. I'm a risk taker. ;) Before lunch, Noah had requested that everyone take him to The Disney Store at the mall. He told Grams that if no one wanted to go, just she and he would go. But of course Nana and Papa wanted to go too and each grandparent spoiled him with a little gift! After lunch, we snapped a few photos and hugged Nana and Papa goodbye as they headed home. Both kids fell asleep on our way home and we all had a much needed rest time. It's been a great weekend!