Cherise's Creative Energy: Rhyder's Dedication

I have wanted to sit down and blog SO many times in the past few weeks, but there is always something more pressing to do. I have finally started...let's see if I can finish! Life has been a whirlwind...between Derrick being gone for work 4 out of 7 days a week and Rhyder growing up so quickly, life has been tough, but totally rewarding. Sunday nights are tough because it means the weekend is coming to an end and the harsh reality of the week is kicking off again. The darkness around 6:30 is actually physically depressing (something I struggled with every night after Rhyder was born but has gotten much much better)..but Sunday nights its still around. Mostly because I know we are losing Derrick for the next 4 days and we miss him a whole lot.

I honestly can't remember when I last blogged so I'm not sure what we've done since then, but I do know this weekend was quite special. We had the opportunity to sign up for the Baby Dedication at Grace Bible this morning. We have chosen to publicly dedicate our precious boy to the Lord...we know he isn't even ours to begin with but that he's been gifted to us for a time by God. Its our job to raise him in a Godly home dedicated to introducing him to the Lord and loving him beyond measure. We take this job seriously and have asked the people at Grace and our family and friends to help us!

This morning was even more special because our dear friends, the Maders, also got to dedicate their baby girl, Rilyn Kaylee so we got to stand up front with people we love so much and their 3 girls.

The verse we chose for Rhyder was 1 Tim 6:11-12:
"But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called."

Wow...powerful words if you break them down. Ladies, can you imagine a man who truly pursued those specific characteristics - what a blessing he would be! We hope and pray that for our little man. We pray he will come to know Jesus at an early age and that he fulfills the purpose for which the Lord created him.

We are so grateful for everyone who came to support us. Both mine and Derrick's whole families stayed with us this weekend. Thanks Linda, Robert, Logan, Kelly, Austin, Mom, Dad, Jason, and Hali!!! We love y'all. We toured Messina Hof winery, we played Settlers of Catan til 1:30am, we all went out to Rudy's BBQ, we ate homemade chicken fried steak and chocolate cake, and we sat around and talked and it was an exhausting but wonderful weekend.