dedication

Josiah's first birthday fell on a Sunday this year and we decided to dedicate him at our church on his first birthday.

Our church doesn't have a group dedication, we just let them know that we'd like to dedicate our child, and they make a time for it during the service. Mom & Dad came in town for his dedication and one of Daniel's old roommates, Chris, came just for the dedication as well.

It was a really sweet time. Josiah of course performed for the crowd, smiling and clapping when they clapped, etc. We do have quite the social little man. Don Beacham was the pastor in charge of that part of the service, and if you remember, Don is the pastor who we trekked the mountains of Nepal with, so it was special to us that he was the one to be a part of the dedication. After all, Josiah hung out with him for 3 weeks before he was even born! ;-)

Daniel spoke sweet words over Josiah and shared about the confirmations we had received through other people guessing his name, through a dream our sister-in-law had about his name, and well, the bright red confirmation of his hair. You probably also recall that one meaning of "Josiah" is "fire of the Lord" and well, he came out with bright firey red hair! Daniel finished our time of dedication reading the passage out of 2 Kings about the King Josiah who became king at a mere 8 years of age. He was regarded as a righteous king and the Bible says about him that there was no one like him who came before or after him. Then we prayed over Josiah, dedicating him before our friends and family, to raise him as best we can in the righteous fear of the Lord. We are asking the Lord that our Josiah would be like the King Josiah - that he would walk righteously before the Lord and that there would be none like him before or after him!