a dedication

Have you stopped and wondered how you ended up somewhere?  Looked around and realized that where you are now is better than you imagined?  I've found that this is sometimes hard to do in our busy, on-the-go lifestyles but it happened a few weeks ago during the most beautiful celebration that I will always remember.  We dedicated little Nathan to the Lord April 5th at our church.  And all of the planning, prepping, and organizing consumed me until the day of when I stopped for a moment and took it all in.  Today, I'm married to this amazing man and we have a baby and we are publicly stating to raise him to love God.  This.  This is what gets me.  

You see, I wasn't raised this way.  As a teenager you play MASH to dream about who you will marry, how many kids you'll have, what type of house you'll live in and what car you'll drive.  But what I didn't imagine was this life, this life that is so good. Of course I knew I wanted to marry Daniel since I was 16 and he would tease me in math class.  But the thought of how we would live our lives and how we would raise our children weren't in the forefront of my mind.  

And it wasn't until we were sitting at this beautiful dedication amongst so many other families that it hit me.  God brought me to this place and it is so much better than I would've ever imagined.  

We stood in front of our family and friends, declaring to love our baby with so much love and to commit ourselves as parents to raise him in our faith.  Something that I learned from one amazing mama is a short, quick way to share God's love with your child-even as an infant.  

God made you.

God loves you.

Jesus wants to be your friend.

Whenever Nathan is sucking on his delicious hands or staring at his toes I say, "Do you see your toes?  God made those toes and God made you.  God loves you and Jesus wants to be your friend."  And then I tear up and thank God for this precious baby, for this life he has gifted me, and for giving me more grace than I ever thought I'd need.