Glory to God

Before the world was made, before You spoke it to be
You were the King of kings, yeah You were, yeah You were,
And now You're reigning still, enthroned above all things
Angels and saints cry out, we join them as we sing

Glory to God, Glory to God
Glory to God, forever

Creator God You gave me breath so I can praise
Your great and matchless name all my days, all my days
So let my whole life be a blazing offering
A life that shouts and sings the greatness of our King

Glory to God, Glory to God
Glory to God, forever.
                                                                     -- STEVE FEE

This past Sunday we attended church to have Chad dedicated.  The Baby Dedication is always huge with close to 50 babies.  And, as always, it is a fabulous time.  As parents, we have homework to prepare ahead of time.  The dedication is what you make of it - the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.  The church asks each of the parents to come up with five values that we wish to instill in our children, and also two habits that we will practice daily, as much as possible, to help instill these values.  The values we chose (which are the same as the ones we chose for Cari's dedication) are Integrity, God-fearing, You-person, Hard working, and Trustworthy.  The habits that we practice to instill these values are to eat dinner together every night at the table, and also to read the Bible and pray every night before the kids go to bed. We have done a great job with both of these so far.  We truly feel that the most family bonding time comes from discussion around the kitchen table.  We talk about how our days went, we talk about what we hope to do tomorrow, we talk about how we felt about today's events, etc.  It is a very comfortable, warming, and inviting place.  We also hope that reading and praying every night before bedtime will help both of the kids develop and desire that habit on their own as they get older.

We had Bebe and Grandpa, Grandaddy and Grandmama, Uncle Jay, and Ms. Kristy join us for the celebration. What a wonderful time we had.  Always spectacular.  And always entertaining.

It, evidently, was not too entertaining for a little 2-year-old though.

Perhaps the best part of the entire celebration is the very first taste of cupcake that Grandaddy gives the kids. Cari had her first lick of icing at her dedication, and of course, so did Chad.  (I have to admit, those are probably the best cupcakes I've ever eaten!)

Chad spots the sweet goodness and goes in for the kill.

He spots the one he wants.
(Good one, Chad! Chocolate....mmm-mmm good!)

What is this stuff, anyways?

A little taste....

To which Grandaddy says, "C'mon Chad. Let me show you how it's done!"

And the look on his face says it all. That stuff is purely divine.

No worries. His sister was able to partake as well.

We tried to do the traditional family group photos, but Chad wasn't very happy, to no surprise. He just wanted to be in Mommy's arms. Never changes, does it?

Interestingly enough, Chad didn't cry the whole time that Uncle Jay held him.  I remember this being the case at Christmas when Chad was just two weeks old.  Coincidence??

Chad sends many kisses to all of you he misses. 

And just for kicks, since Cari's Dedication was way before the birth of the blog, here are some old school pictures of her celebration.

This is the face that Gramma taught her, just before her dedication.

Cari sends lots of love as well.