Parker's Dedication

Parker was dedicated at church today. 

The ceremony began with a welcome and prayer given by our Kids Pastor, Sara Richards.  Each family introduced themselves and gave a quick sentence on why they wanted to dedicate their child.  Ours went something like, "We are choosing to dedicate Parker because we want to publicly express that we will try to raise him in a way that is pleasing to God.  We hope that he grows up to love the Lord and choose to have a personal relationship with Him."

Sara then read a Pledge of Dedication:

Before God, our family, and this church we declare our desire to dedicate you to the Lord.  Our commitment is to raise you in the love of Christ.  With God's help, we desire to be examples of His grace and His love.  Our prayer is that you will hunger and thirst for God's righteousness   May you be filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit, and may you choose to follow Jesus your whole life.

By this time, Parker had fallen asleep!  It was past nap time and he was getting really cranky.  He stayed asleep for the rest of the ceremony.

 Our family and prayer sponsors (Parker's uncle Dave and aunt Julie) gathered around Parker and prayed for him.

 We then anointed him with oil.

 He did the best he could, but was just too tuckered out!  He slept through being loaded and unloaded from the car and snoozed for another hour and a half at my parents house.

 My parents were gracious enough to host lunch at their house.  I made key lime cupcakes, which were delicious!  The cupcake toppers were my first experiment with the silhouette pens.  We also had sloppy joes, baked beans, tuna salad, fruit and chips.

 We thought it was going to be rainy, but it turned out to be a gorgeous day!  We got to take full advantage of the outdoors.  My dad even took my nephews new dirt bike for a spin!

 He also gave twister rides to all the kids!

 Parker just enjoyed pushing his ATV around.

 It was such a blessing to have both of our families together to celebrate Parker.  I am also impressed that Parker is looking at the camera here since I had it set on a timer!

 One last picture that embraces exactly who Parker is at the moment.  He loves wheels and anything that spins.  My dad says he will grow up to sell tires one day!  He should be an expert by then.