I am often dry and brittle of heart. Here I lay out the kindling of my heart with strong and true things of God. What I can never do for myself, I pray God will do--to let the consuming fire fall and set my heart aflame with worship.
(enough for a snowman and some fabulous all-family sledding!)
A fun, creative, sacrificial hubby
who is a great lover of children (our own and others')
Special times with our extended family
An unexpected delightful "exploration walk" finding hidden Blue Oxen at Lebanon Hills
And, not pictured:
Cinnamon rolls, spontaneous family photos, a "Black Friday" outing to Menards, Grammy and Grandad coming to visit, chubby baby knuckles, and 5 days in a row with Daddy at home.
There are so many moments of grace each day.
But beyond all those, I am so grateful for a grace that fills all those other kinds of moments as well. I took the boys to their first funeral this week--for a tiny baby, who lived just a bit over one hour.
Deep loss like that, plus the daily rhythms of inconvenience, frustration, sorrow, and testing, finds its meaning in the universe-shifting gift of Jesus. What a Savior, who knows our sorrows, carries our burdens, was crushed for our sins, and rose triumphant to forge our open access to God!
Last Sunday, we were able to be a part of the Child Dedication at church with Elliot.
We love these "parental promises" and words of dedication.
It is our aim, with God's help:
1. To recognize our children as gifts of God and give heartfelt thanks for God's blessing.
2. To dedicate our children to the Lord who gave them to us, surrendering all worldly claims
upon their lives in the hope that they will belong wholly to God.
3. With God's fatherly help, to bring up our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord,
making every reasonable effort, with patience and love, to build the Word of God, the character
of Christ, and the joy of the Lord into their lives.
4. To provide, through God's blessing, for the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of our children, looking to our own heavenly Father for the wisdom, love and strength to serve
them and not use them.
5. Relying on God’s help to make it our regular prayer that, by God's grace, our children will
come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and for the fulfillment of all
his promises to them, even eternal life; and in this faith follow Jesus as Lord and obey his
teachings.
WORDS OF DEDICATION
Elliot James Katterson, together with your parents, who love you dearly, and this people
who care about the outcome of your faith, I dedicate you to God, surrendering
together with them, all worldly claims upon your life, in the hope that you will belong
wholly to God forever.
Here we are, marking another month of your life. Time is flying by!
You are still our sweet Mr. Chunker Monker. Nothing is so sweet to me as sweeping you up after a good snooze and snuggling your sweet squishy self. You casually rest an arm on my shoulder and let me cover your face with kisses. I love it!
In the past month ...
- You have begun eating cereal, and you really picked it up like you were born for it. Green beans on the other hand ... not such a fan! You made the funniest faces and grimaced and half-gagged at every swallow.
- Since it's turned a bit cooler, I am now bundling you with socks, onesie, footed sleeper, AND sleep sack, and you are now sleeping almost through the night! We have a meal sometime in the 3:30-5am range, and then you sleep normally until 7 or 7:30am.
- You are such a chatty little guy. "Da, da, da, da, da" and "Bot bot" or "Ma mam mam" are some favorite expressions. You'll often throw your head to the side and lounge back in your exersaucer after talking to us for a while, just to take the world in.
- You have slowed down on the blowouts, but our last one was notable. We were at the park, on a blustery November day, and I realized that my "back-up outfit" was a 3-6 month sleeper, which I couldn't possibly cram your generous self into. So you were kicking around naked in the chilly wind, whilst your big brothers played on the playground (and one of them got pretty scared by another child and was screaming frantically) while I tried to scrounge around for another option. Turns out Josiah's 3T pants were not unreasonably large at all!
- You roll all over the place when I put you down, but so far you aren't starting to actually crawl yet. But I know my days are numbered.
- You love banging your arms, putting toys in your mouth, seeing everything that is going on around you, and eating. And you're a good swinger.
I was reflecting on the meaning of your name this week, "The LORD Is My God." Oh little son, we pray that this will be true for you. In a world that is constantly changing, there is no Rock like our God. He is so faithful, so generous, so kind. He never changes, never fails us, never forsakes us. He is the Good Shepherd, who will tenderly guide us step by step along our path. He knows our frailties, our failures, and our foibles. He created us, wrote all our days in His book, and will fulfill all His purposes for good in our life. And most of all, He gave His own Son, Jesus, to pay the price for our sins, so that all who trust in Him could be with Him forever. This is our God, sweet son!
May you belong to Him forever. We love you, Mr. E!
I love Jesus poorly but want to love Him more. I am a wife, mother, sister, daughter, admin, and I want to spend my life on what counts. I hope you'll pray for me. The views and opinions expressed here are solely mine.
