Oliver's Dedication

Last month we had the honor of dedicating Oliver to the Lord in a service at our church.  We were glad to have our in town family join us for an afternoon celebrating our committment as a family to raise Oliver in the knowlege of our great Lord and Savior.

The kids were champs...getting right up on stage with us and participating in the whole event.  Somehow, having a specific even meant a lot to their processing of what nurturing God in a baby brother might look like.  When we got home, Natalie matter of factly said, "Now we need to teach Oliver about God.  Mom- you should read him his OWN devotion at night in his rocking chair."  :)  

It was fun to see them excited and taking responsibility for their little brother! :)  As parents, we were asked to write a blessing for Oliver child, which we read in a quiet family time during the service.  We were also asked to have a special individual pray over and for our child.  We chose my dad.  God, in his awesome plan had placed the same verse on the heart of Wes and my dad.  Without knowing it, the same verse was dedicated to our sweet boy by his parents and grandparent.  We serve a great God!

Here is the letter we wrote to Oliver (Wes really wrote the bulk!)

November 23, 2013

Dear Oliver,

Today we are making a declaration to our family and church that we dedicate you to God but even before you were born, we were trusting God for you.

We prayed that if God willed, He would bless our family with you, our third baby.  God answered us by giving us you!  We have been praying for and overjoyed by you since we found out that you would be a part of our family.  God brought you through a complicated pregnancy and on August, 21, 2013, our biggest and only brown haired baby arrived!  You blended into our family immediately and were met by doting siblings and grandparents in the delivery room before you were even weighed!

We must have softened our parenting style when you came along because the “Ferber method” went out the door.  You slept in our bed nearly every night until you were six months old.  While we didn’t get much sleep during those first few months, your slobbery kisses and hugs every morning more than made up for the difficult nights.

Even today, as you are walking and starting to speak your first words - “gank u” (thank you), “haauu(g)” (hug) – you are easy to love.  Natalie and Stratton, love having a little brother and watch out for and care for you easily.  As the youngest, we wondered how you’d manage to keep up with your siblings – but that has not been a problem.  Your “no fear” attitude and determination make you “all boy.”  You wrestle, squeal and hold your own but at the same time, are quick to give a hug. 

God has made you with a heart of gold and the willpower to muscle through any circumstance.  We pray that He would use those unique traits for his glory and that he may give us, as your parents, the wisdom to nurture your faith as you grow into the person he created you to be.

Oliver, we praise God for you, an answer to prayer and total joy.  We love you.  We seek to honor God as we nurture you and teach you about his ways. God is good.  He is worthy of our trust and praise. Our hope and prayer is that you will trust Him with your heart and that your life would magnify Him. 

As your family: “We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, ¹⁰ so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” (Colossians 1:9b-12)

All our love,

Dad and Mom