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Last Sunday we dedicated LilliAnn at our church, First Baptist Church of Seminole. In the Baptist church the meaning of the baby dedication ceremony is that we are committing our child to the Lord and committing ourselves, as parents, to the Christian nurture of our child. We had a lot of family attend the dedication ceremony and church service, and this Sunday was extra special because it was Father's Day. What a great way to celebrate Father's Day by dedicating LilliAnn to our heavenly father! During the baby dedication a little bit is told about each child, including their birth date, place, time, and weight, introduction of family members, as well as the reading of a life verse that the parent's have picked for their child.
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Reid's Life Verse:
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
3 John 1:4
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LilliAnn's Life Verse:
For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11
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Being introduced by our interim Pastor, Tom Eliff
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A slideshow is also played with a few pictures of each child. Here are the five pictures I chose for LilliAnn.
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A tribute to her daddy since it was Father's Day
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After the church service - Lil was getting hungry!
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LilliAnn with her Great-Grandfather Glenn & Great-Grandmother Lucy
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Lil with her Great-Aunt Gayla (my mother's older sister) - Aunt Gayla hand-smocked this gown and bonnet for LilliAnn before she was even born!
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A true southern baby - and a fussy one at that!
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With Second Cousin Amy Elizabeth
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My little beauty
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Our little blessing
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LilliAnn's Grandmother, Missy Rollins (Jeb's mom)
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Papa Kelly & Nana Karen
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A Prayer for LilliAnn...
LilliAnn, I've spent many nights praying for you. I've prayed for you since I was a little girl myself - asking God to one day make me the mother of a little girl. God blessed me with this beautiful little girl and on April 6, 2010 I held you in my arms and knew that our family was complete. It seemed like an eternity from the moment daddy said, "here she is," to the time I heard your first cry, and now the last two months have seemed to pass faster than the blink of an eye. You're already becoming quite the social butterfly and tonight you rolled over for the first time. When I was younger I remember thinking about all the things that I wanted for my daughter - for her to be pretty, take dance, be able to sing...then as I got older I remember adding some things to this list - for her to be intelligent, be able to hold her own, have a strong personality, love to read, appreciate all different types of people, love and respect her body...then after I had Reid and became a mother, I added more to this list...to be healthy, have an outgoing personality, not to fall in love with the wrong boy, to be open with me and have a good relationship with me, to be "daddy's girl" and have her daddy wrapped around her finger, to be a mother one day and experience all of the same joys that I'm experiencing...but the one thing that is most important to me - the thing that I want the most for my daughter - what I want for you even if you never have any of these other things - is for you to have a personal relationship with Christ. I pray that your dad and I will teach you about Christ and instill in your heart a love for him. The older you get I want you to have a desire to learn more and more about who God is and the sacrifice He made so we could one day live in a beautiful, perfect place with Him.
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LilliAnn, life's not easy...you will cry, girls will make fun of you about something unimportant like your hair or your clothes - but it'll seem really important at the time, you will have worries, a boy will break your heart, you will fight with your brother, you will get mad at your dad and I, and people will disappoint you, but God WIll NEVER forsake you. One thing you can always be sure of is that your dad and I will always love you and so will your heavenly Father. My prayer for you is that live for the Lord and glorify Him in all that you do. If you build a foundation on Christ then the rest of your life will fall into place.
Remember, this is our temporary home and everything we do should have the goal of furthering His kingdom. Always be kind to others, for you know not where they have been or what they are going through. There is an answer to every problem in His word - read it often. One of my personal goals over the next few months is to really delve into the Bible and learn more about Christ - as I know that doing this will help me in teaching you about Him. I pray you will make this a priority, just as I need to commit to doing as well.
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Your great-great grandmother, Lillian McKenzie, who you were named after, wrote a letter to me when I was in high school and I will share it with you one day. She read her Bible daily and was the most wonderful, Christian woman I have even known. I pray that you are like her - strong, courageous, bold, generous, beautiful, and kind. This is my prayer.
I love you LilliAnn McKenzie Rollins. - Mom
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Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
