Pre-Dedication Thoughts

October 16th is the day JJ will be dedicated.  Our church does baby dedications, or I guess more accurately called parent & child dedications, as opposed to baptisms.  It's basically just a time to acknowledge that God has given us this child to raise.  It's a time for us to publicly commit that we will pray for and with JJ, and raise him to know and love God.

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. ~Psalm 127:3

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn

from it. ~Proverbs 22:6

Have you ever had days in your life that you never thought would come?  This is one of those days for me.

The day JJ was born was one of those days too.  On top of JJ's dedication coming up, I've also been doing some scrapbooking.  This combination has made for lots of reminiscing, especially of that special day 6 and a half months ago when we welcomed JJ into the world.

When they first laid him on my chest I couldn't help but wonder why I wasn't crying.  It's the moment I'd envisioned and cried over many times in the previous 9 months.  And if I'm being honest, much longer than that.  Yet here I was, most likely too exhausted to even cry.

We enjoyed the first moments together, then John went out to make the official announcement to our family.  I was still holding it together well with no hint of overflowing emotion, besides just being happy. 

And then it happened.

The moment that I had skimmed over.  The moment I knew would come, but didn't spend much time dwelling on.  The moment I didn't expect to lose it.

But as soon as my parents came in the door, I lost it.  I didn't anticipate how emotional it would be introducing my son to my parents.  My parents who had seen me through all the pain of losing 2 babies.  My parents who probably wished they could make it all better for me, so many times.  My parents, who went through this exact moment 30 years ago when they had me.  So the first time I cried after having JJ was when my parents walked in the door.

And this picture pretty much sums up...I don't know what it sums up.  But it sums up something, and it does in pretty well.

and some more...

 

(random pictures stolen from my family members facebook pages)