Child Dedication

On Sunday, February 24 our church, Magnolia Ave Baptist Church, had a parent-child dedication service for parents to publicly promise to raise their children to know and love Jesus.  At the same time, the church promises to be a part of his spiritual life.  My dad also prayed for us as part of the service as the first pastor of our family. 

Parent Commitment

We commit ourselves before God and our church that we will teach Andrew the ways of the Lord.  We will be intentional to not provoke him to resentment towards God, but we will take Andrew by the hand and lead him in the way of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4

 

Realizing that parenting is a divine calling, requiring wisdom and strength, we will commit ourselves to placing a priority upon God's Word for our spiritual growth and to teaching Andrew, as "we are in our home or walking down the street; from the time we get up to when we fall into bed at night." Deuteronomy 6:6-7

 

We will lead Andrew to grow as Jesus did "in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men." Luke 2:52

 

Understanding that parenthood at times may be a struggle, we dedicate ourselves and our home under the Lordship of Christ so that Andrew will have ample opportunities to know the difference Jesus Christ makes in a home surrendered to him.  We will commit ourselves to "love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength." Mark 12:30

Father Commitment

Further, I choose this day to publicly pronounce that "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  I commit to lead my family, not as mere followers of religious rules, but in a living relationship with the King of kings and Lord of lords.  Joshua 24:15b

 

Church Commitment

We are one body united in Christ.  As Christ has loved each one of us, we will show that love to each other, so that everyone will know we are His Church.

We commit to:

encourage you in truth--Ephesians 4:21

be gentle in our corrections--Ephesians 4:32

life you up in prayer--Ephesians 3:14-21

challenge you to God's best--1 Corinthians 13:7

make our debts be one of love to each other--Romans 13:8

Christmas Recap 3: Christmas Eve at Church

 After visiting with our grandparents, we headed to Faith Fellowship for the Christmas Eve service. Celebrating that Jesus' birthday is an excellent way to finish the day!  Steve and the choir helped us make beautiful music.

 Andrew sat, walked, climbed, colored, ate/spilled goldfish, sang, and moved for the entire 52 minute service, but did not make any noise.  At one point, I tried to take something away and he didn't like it, so he got 1/2 inch away from my face and said 'MINE' clearly and very quietly.  The defiance was clear, but the mode of action was so darn funny.  I have my hands full already...

 Grandpa preached a short message about 'touching heaven' and Andrew was pretty excited that Grandpa was up on stage.

 We tried to take a family photo afterwards, but Andrew just wasn't having it.

 Melissa and I took one instead.

 running up and down the stairs was much more fun! 

After church, we headed to Marie Calendars for dinner.  Surprisingly it wasn't packed, but it did take awhile to eat.  By the time we left it was already 8 pm and Andrew was exhausted, cranky, and over ready to sleep.  Thankfully he slept the entire way home and didn't even wake up when I changed him into his Christmas PJs for bed.  No Christmas eve traditions for us at home this year, but it gave Santa extra time to come and get stuff done!



Easter Recap

Andrew's first time at church was Easter (such a perfect day to celebrate HOPE!). We drove to La Palma to go to my dad's church; we started getting ready about 6:30 am for the 10:30 service. We left at 9:15ish and made it with plenty of time; however, Drew decided to have a screaming fit after getting his diaper changed so we hung out in the fellowship hall and missed the first two songs as he screamed. He was a hit, everyone wanted to see him, and he must have been called "adorable and tiny" about 100 times. After church, we headed over to my parents' house for some Easter dinner and egg hunts (for the "kids" and grand kid). My mom had planned a yummy dinner of ham, corn on the cob, mash potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, biscuits, and strawberry pie for dessert.

Melissa and Grandma found the most adorable "bug" eggs complete with a bug catcher net that was in Dave's basket for him to play with Drew (next year). The grown-up kids searched high and low for our eggs--there were tons of good hiding places in the new house, the hunt took longer than normal. Rest assured, no eggs were left missing because mom had a clipboard and diagram for each egg! Drew didn't quite seem interested in the egg hunt, he just decided to sleep through it!

We ended the wonderful day by celebrating my dad's birthday! Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

Look what the Easter Bunny Left

Oh, I LOVE Easter! The amazing sacrifice that is Jesus' life for mine and the pure excitement that Jesus rose from the dead to walk as a man always makes Easter my favorite time of the year!

Andrew has already heard the real meaning of Easter! I look forward to the years ahead where he actually can show that he's listening and that he understands what happens; even more exciting, I look forward to when he can understand the meaning for him personally.

He has risen! He is risen indeed!!

Dear God, thank you that you sent your Son,
Jesus, to die for our sins. Thank you that He
arose from the dead and is now living; and
because He lives, we can have eternal life.
In Jesus' Name. Amen.

God's in Charge!

My entire pregnancy has been filled with doctor's telling me something will/may be wrong, but they are the ones that have been wrong. Obviously, without a shadow of a doubt, Andrew is a blessing from God, meant to be here on this Earth from God, and protected by God. There is no other way to look at it.

Psalm 139:13-16 (Message):

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;

you formed me in my mother's womb.

I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!

Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

I worship in adoration—what a creation!

You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;

all the stages of my life were spread out before you,

The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day.

And the verse that is above Andrew's crib, James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Mt. Rubidoux

In 1906, Frank Miller and Henry Huntington decided turn Mt. Rubidoux into a significant part of Riverside culture. Before the 1930's hit, they had insituted it as a Riverside landmark, make sure that it had a paved road, a cross, and a multitude of people admiring it.

In 2001 at CBU's new student orientation, I was introduced to the mountain. As part of the orientation week, students and student leaders walked the mountain to sing praise songs together at the top. I dreaded the climb, but went. Several overweight people and myself walked slowly stopping A LOT in order to make it. By the time we reached the top, the worship team was done playing and were packing up the small sound equipment they had brought with them. It took me almost two hours to get to the top.

After that awful day, I refused to go each year as a student leader during orientation. It was humilating, even though no one said anything negative to me. Last year after I had successfully lost 70 pounds, Des and I decided that we'd walk up it and we made it. As I reached this top this time, I had an incredibly different feeling of accomplishment.

I want to make the walk a habit. Last weekend, Tawni and I hiked up. Today, Reese and I went up by ourselves. I made it to the top in 40 minutes. Even better, I passed A LOT of people on my way up. It was the best feeling ever.

As I reached the top, my Zen was playing "what an amazing God you are, I stand in awe of you." I stopped and thanks God that He gave me the strength and the determination to change my life for the better and that he made a mountain like Mt. Rubidoux to show me that I can accomplish new things with Him.