Dedication

As I mentioned in my last post, Jacob's baby dedication at church was this last Sunday. (Yes, I'm running a few days behind... Lack of sleep, my excuse.)

Let me tell you how it went:

Just ignore how un-flattering this picture is of me. That's not what we're focusing on.

Can you see Nathan's face? That pretty much sums it up.
He bumped his mouth on the armrest of the pew as we went up front. It wasn't a bad bump, and definitely didn't warrant the sobbing he was doing, but that's what started it.
In the picture, he was sobbing, "Mommy! Mommy!" So we did a baby shuffle - I passed Jacob to Janice, then took Nathan from Paul, then Janice handed Jacob to Paul. I tried to get Nathan to quiet down with his sippy of milk - works every time at home, but didn't do a thing this time. He wailed the whole time we were up there. I'm assuming it's because we were up in front of all those people, and they were all watching, but still....
I didn't hear a thing the pastor said, because Nathan screamed the entire time. I took him out as soon as Pastor was finished (and of course, this is the Sunday the media team didn't record the sermon!). As we walked out the back door, Nathan abruptly changed his tune, "Daddy! Daddy!" (I think he knew what was coming.)
But it got me to thinking.... Double meaning of baby dedication: We were dedicating our baby to the Lord.... To raise him according to the Biblical principles and to teach him to love God. But we are also dedicating ourselves to our babies - to love them no matter what, to discipline them when they need it, and to be there for them.
And some days, it takes more dedication than others.