Micah's 1st Birthday and Dedication

Micah turned one year old yesterday. We decided to do what we did for Aubri's first, and combine the birthday celebration with a formal dedication to God.

We asked our good friend, Pastor Bob Amos, to do the dedication since he dedicated our other two.

We had many friends and family there the celebrate the day with us. It turned out to be a beautiful day, so it worked out well to do everything outside in our yard.

I closed the dedication with a song that I "sort of" wrote the day before. I tried to find a fitting dedication song to sing, but the only one I found while searching was an old hymn called "Dearest Jesus We Are Here". The words are very fitting, but since I didn't know the tune I had to come up with chords and a new melody line, plus some sort of chorus. It turned out kind of cool, so I guess I'll probably record it sometime soon to share with those who are interested.

All went well, but towards the end of everything, Aubri was trying to eat the frosting off Micah's hands and accidentally bit his finger. Poor little guy! :(

At the end of the night, Sara and I reflected on the fact that this would be our last "1st birthday party" we'd have to plan. This thought left us with mixed feelings. On one hand, I think we're anxious for the kids to grow up out of the "diapers and sleepless nights phase"; but on the other hand, we realize that these moments pass quickly and I'm sure there are many things we'll miss about this phase once it's gone.

It doesn't seem like that long ago when we had Gavin's first birthday party... now he's five and going into kindergarten this year. It is amazing to think about how quickly kids grow up. Now, more than ever, we feel the responsibility to raise them the best way we know how... especially the older ones who will actually remember what we teach them from here on out. I think parenting is forcing Sara and I to want to become better people as well so that our children have something to model their lives after. We don't always succeed, but that is part of the goal. The other, more important goal is to teach our children to follow Jesus, to use the Bible as "life's manual", and to be used and transformed by the power of God's Holy Spirit. We can only do so much... God takes over where we fall short.