Dedicated the the Lord

Each year, our church has a Parent/Child Dedication Service on Mother's Day.  We participated in the service, along with 15 other families, which may this day extra special - especially for us mothers.  It was a precious time of publicly committing Claire to the Lord, as well as publicly committing ourselves to teach Claire His ways, to point her to Christ daily, and to deem His name as most valuable in our home.  It was also a reminder that our little girl belongs to the Lord; that she is ours in a "stewardship sense."  We daily pray for wisdom to be good stewards of the gifts that God has blessed us with, namely our children. 

" 'Therefore I have lent [her] to the Lord. 
As long as [she] lives, [she] is lent to the Lord.' 

And [we] worshiped the Lord there."  
1 Samuel 1:28  

She loved the rose and kept wanting to touch it.  

I tried to pull her away from it, so she finally reached for the baby's rose beside us. :)

It was also special for me that Claire was able to wear the dress that I was dedicated in many years ago.  I am so thankful that my mom kept it in a special place all this time.  I was 9 months old when I wore it, and I was afraid that it may be a bit big for Claire.  That is the good thing about dresses, though; they are easier to work with than boys clothes often are.  I thought the dress fit just fine. :)  Oh, and I'm glad she was able to wear the bonnet.  Mom simply had to drape it down my back; I've always had a big head!  


And I don't want to overlook how good the Lord was regarding "scheduling" this day.  Thankfully Claire was well rested before the service began, and she wasn't due to eat until after the dedication portion was complete.  I was grateful the timing worked out so well, for I didn't want her to be miserable.  I definitely saw this as a gift of grace from the Lord! :)