Giving Her Back

9/8/12

Renna's special day came; an extremely meaningful day to us, as her parents- her dedication at church.  For every child, it has meant way more to me than a simple tradition or ceremony.  I spend days in advance pondering the significance; the fact that Renna is simply on loan to me.  God has entrusted her care to me and with that comes the responsibility of her physical needs and spiritual maturity.

But Renna is not mine.  Her life is His alone.  There was nothing I could do in my own power to create her.  I have no control over how many breaths she will breathe.  But He does. 

So in advance, I chat with God.  Unending gratitude for the miracle that is this loan, this girl.  Pleading on her behalf for a long, healthy, happy life.  Wrestling with that "c" word.   Control.

Do I trust you, Lord?  Do I trust you to take better care of her than I can?  Do I trust You with Renna like Abraham did with Isaac?  Or Hannah with Samuel?  

She is fearfully and wonderfully made.  And when I come to a place of trust, knowing and believing that every moment of her life was written before a single day had passed, then I am able to bring her to the altar of dedication, committing myself to doing my very best, but also giving her back.

I was so happy to find the dress that Mom had made for Madison's dedication 11 years ago!  She looked so pretty.

Before the service, all the babies and their parents met in a room for instructions and prayer.  We were given two roses, the red symbolizing the blood of Christ, the white symbolizing purity by the blood.

In the service:

As the babies were called up, their picture was on the screen.  This is the one we chose:

Dear friends, Larry and Lil, were the elders praying with us.

The boys wrestled in the foyer.  Tears quickly ensued.

Despite a horrific report of thunderstorms and possible tornado, our favorite people gathered at our home afterwards.  It was simple- pizza, salad, paper plates, nothing from any Pinterest board, but PERFECT.  It was a lovely evening with our closest friends and family.  Afterwards I remarked to Colombo [again] how very blessed we are by our wonderful friends and family.

The guest of honor showed us her new sitting tricks.

Your precious little girl
Is a blessing from the Lord,
A beautiful expression of God’s grace
And what His love is for
May she grow before the Lord
As His princess that she is
For she has come into the world
For such a time as this.
© By M.S.Lowndes

1st Grade Fun

Yesterday I was curled up on the couch listening to Trevor read.  It's one of my favorite times of the school day.  I love seeing the lightbulbs go off and the progress a new reader makes.

So he got to a point in the story where the book read "His big duck laid the eggs."

He started, "His dick..."
As I started chuckling I said, "That's a "b".
T: His buyg...
Me: No, short "i"
T: His big duck laid [singing now to the tune of Away in a Manger] laid down his sweet head.

At this point I just got giggling.  How in the world could one sentence take so long??  Thankfully that is NOT the norm and after that we were cruising.  So funny.

Later, Nathanael very excitedly said, "Mom!  That Mulligan guy started with 5 ships and at the end there was only 1 ship with 18 guys.  He didn't even make it!"

I said, "Nathanael, do you mean Magellan?"

Tomato, tomahto.

Week 36

Monday, Sept. 3rd

Labor Day.  We laid low after a full weekend of company and fun.  Still enjoying the beautiful arrangement Colombo brought home for me a few days before.

Tuesday, Sept. 4th

Wednesday, Sept. 5th
A little random, but while Shaun and Brent were in Europe for ministry purposes, Brent took this picture and sent it to Lisa and me.  Such a great picture of Shaun.

Thursday, Sept. 6th

Rocco working on his 'free-stool'.

Later in the evening, our company arrived!  Colombo's Uncle Tony and Aunt Cheryl came from Florida with their sons Danny and Matt, and Matt's lovely new bride, Rachel.  The purpose of their trip was to visit Mimi in Maine, but since they flew into Boston we got them for a couple days!  Yay!!!

It was our first time meeting Rachel.  She is a super sweet, energetic, bubbly, picture-taking queen!

Of course, the kids performed!  And the crowd demanded, "More! More!"

Friday, Sept. 7th
Cheryl has 5 grandkids so far and is a wonderful, loving grandma with a soft spot for all kids.  She treated ours like her own while she was here, loving on them, laughing with them, playing anything they asked.

After a leisurely morning at the house, we met Jonathan, Andrea, and the girls down at Mystic Seaport for the afternoon.  Incredibly, we got a darn good shot of everyone taken by the mandolin-playing dude on the gazebo.

Uncle Tony telling fascinating stories about himself and Colombo Jr. growing up.  He had us laughing til our sides hurt.

Geo-cache!!!!  You had to be there!

Once back at the house, I got working on dinner while the kids -plus Matt- got into a major Airsoft battle.  Like dripping sweat, running around the yard, falling into dog poop- all out battle.

We sat out back on the deck for filet mignon and lobster.  It was lovely.  Just lovely.

Saturday, Sept. 8th
Goodbye hugs and kisses.