Baby Dedication

Last night we attended the Baby Dedication at Richland Hills for all babies born and adopted in 2009 ... and there were a lot of them! (Because there are so many babies born each year in our church, the Children's Ministry has one big Baby Dedication each year, for everyone.) There was a Reception and Shepherd Blessing for the families and then a Churchwide Blessing during the evening worship service.

It was really nice reception and we got to see a lot of our friends at the event as well ... there were a lot of us pregnant all around the same time last year! All the Shepherds and their wives were stationed throughout the the room ... so each family could sit & visit one of the them.

my little family ... the 2 BIGGEST Blessings I've got! I don't think I'll ever truly be able to express how much I LOVE my GIRL and her DADDY!

We met with one of the church Shepherds and his wife, Curt & Jan Parsons ... Curt gave Kendall a blessing and prayed over us ... praying for us as her parents in being entrusted with her ... in teaching her and guiding her ... and praying over Kendall and all that God has brought her through so far ... and for her heart and the choices that she will make as she grows up ... there was a lot more to the blessing & prayer ... it was very touching & we are so glad we were able to meet with them.

At the reception, each baby also received a cross, a little Bible (with an inscription to them), and the Shepherd's Blessing card (as a keepsake for their baby book).

We were also given a Children's Bible as a family Bible ... this is given by all the Shepherd's wives to each family after you have your first baby ... so we got our family Bible last night.

They had asked each family to provide a picture of their baby and one of the family ... the baby pictures were all hanging up on clotheslines (super cute!) and the family photos were being played in a slideshow on the big screens. This was what they made with Kendall's picture we'd submitted.

Kendall sitting with Emerson Walton ... future Best Friends in the making, for sure! (We love the Walton fam! Cody & Chesley Walton both went to ACU with us ... Ches & I are in Ladies Bible Class together & we've both just started putting our girls in the nursery. They have 3 precious kiddos ... a 4 1/2 year old son Garrett (who is the sweetest boy!), a 2 year old daughter Ansley (who is the cutest, plus I've LOVEd the name Ansley since I was in 5th grade!) and now Emerson, who is 6 months old and will be a Bestie with Kendall!) Kendall loved interacting with Emerson (or at least Emerson's bow) and Emerson loved Kendall's shoes ... and then they both held hands ... sooo sweet! I'm so happy Kendall is going to be growing up with so many sweet kids that are her very age!

Standing up ... this girl loves to be standing up whenever she gets a chance! (Auntie E gave her this cute pink dress ... I LOVE smocking outfits!)

There are lots of babies that are Kendall's age and now that she's getting to go to the nursery, she'll get to play with them! We wanted to try to get these 3 together ... however 2 of them are crawlers, so we weren't sure how long they would stay put for pictures ... ha! This sweet boy is Spencer ... he is 8 months old now ... and this is he & Kendall's first interaction with each other. Now that Kendall is crawling, she'll be moved up to the next nursery class (the crawlers), so she'll get to hang out with Spencer more! They were both very interested in each other ... as usual, Kendall was a bit touchy & grabby ... sorry Spencer! These pictures crack me up ... everyone has so many different faces & expressions in each shot ... oh, these sweet babies!

We are so blessed as children of God and are so grateful for our precious Kendall!