such Great JOY!

Baby N's birthday celebration and dedication was a great joy for us.

The entire service was composed around his dedication which was a surprise for me. For some reason I thought it would just be tucked in between the usual pieces of the service. Instead, it made the theme of the day. The scripture and hymns were all about children and raising children to know God. The new little family room was also dedicated that Sunday. The sermon was a poem about what children need. And then everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to my little guy at the conclusion of the service.

The birthday party was warm and chatty. It felt like a real party. Plenty of food. A real birthday cake with Baby N's name on it and colorful candy confetti. Everyone had someone to talk with. People from different parts of our lives shared in the same warmth and celebration. Baby N crawled around, person to person, to get scooped up into eager arms or just play at their feet. My favorite part: we put out crayons and paper and folks made colorful, thoughtful, funny birthday cards for N. I love looking through them and look forward to sharing them with him when he is older. They tell of the affection and value these folks hold for our boy.

It's been so much fun to share Baby N with the folks at Fremont Baptist. And this was, clearly, more than a birthday party to me. I wanted to give back to the folks of Fremont Baptist something that says what this community means to me and my family. I wanted them to have a chance to celebrate a little guy who seems to be special to them. I wanted to note a commitment within my family. I wanted a special event, complete with cards and photos and now a dedication certificate, to tell N and to show him, that he is special to his parents and to others for longer than he can remember.