This Is Dedicated to The One I Love

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.  So now I give him to the Lord.  For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.  ~   1 Samuel 1:27-28

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. ~ Proverbs 22:6

This weekend, our families gathered to celebrate the Dedication of Clare at our church, The Crossing.  We began our celebration at Sol Cocina in Newport Beach where we enjoyed a great late lunch/early dinner and then headed over to our favorite cafe, Kean, for some good coffee to keep us going.  While there, grampy spoiled his favorite Clare-bear with a little cupcake from Susie Cakes (YUMMY) which she enjoyed tremendously.

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord. ~ Psalm 127:3

Once at the church, our family gathered in the reserved seating and Clare, who usually "plays with friends" in the KidZone, got to experience a small taste of "grown-up" church.  She wasn't too happy at the beginning, but once the music started and she realized she, and she alone, could dance, she really enjoyed herself.  In fact, she loved it so much that Jonathan and I had to stop her from running on stage a couple times.  She is definitely NOT my girl in that way.  I broke out in hives when I had to go up there (for real).

Okay - she was still a little hesitant in this video, but I promise, she got into it after a while and didn't want to stop once she started.
*Quick note, in order to best view/hear the two videos, you will need to turn off the music.  To do that, scroll to the bottom of the blog to the box that is titled "Music".  Once there, click the speaker icon on the bottom right to mute it.  Enjoy...



Eventually Jonathan, Clare and I were called up on stage and Patrick Detken, our youth pastor, spoke a little about what it means to dedicate your child to God (thank goodness Jonathan doesn't share my stage fright...).  Let's face it, it's really more of a parent dedication since we made a commitment to raise her knowing the Bible.  This is no easy task, nor is it one we take lightly.

A person might make a promise to the Lord.  he might promise to do something special.  If he does, he must keep his promise.  He must do what he said.  ~ Numbers 30:2

Once home, Clare opened up her gift from the church and began flipping through the pages.  Jonathan and I were happy to see that, thanks to this version of the Bible, we're off the hook for any difficult reading (kidding!)

Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, and when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. ~ Deuteronomy 6:4-9

For those of you who aren't familiar with child dedications, here's a Cliff's Notes version of the practice.  A dedication is not a Baptism. We believe that being Baptized is something that every individual should choose for themselves, when they are old enough to understand what it means.  Likewise, a dedication is not a Christening.  It does not impart salvation to a child.  The act of dedicating a child to the Lord is, basically, the parents way of confirming our commitment to do our best to raise our child in a home that promotes and follows Godly values and that we will encourage our child to choose to have a relationship with God.  It is expressing our intention to help lead our child to a personal relationship with Him.