Isla's Dedication

Can you find anything in these first two pictures that is the SAME?  (The first shot is of my parents and I).

Last Sunday, April 11th, we dedicated Isla to the Lord at our church, Bethany Community in Seattle. It was a beautiful and very special day. If you couldn't figure it out, the answer to my introductory question was: the DRESS. Isla wore a very special heirloom, a 62-year-old white dress, a hand crocheted piece made by her great-great grandmother (my dad's mom's mom)--the same dress that I wore for my dedication when I was 2 1/2 months old.

It was made in 1948 for my Aunt Mary's baptism and was worn by all of my Dad's siblings (6 in total, him included). It was passed on to the next generation and 6 of us girl cousins wore it at our baptisms/dedications. As of last Sunday, Isla was the 4th great-great granddaughter to wear it--pretty special! 

For a while there I debated whether or not to buy my own special dress for Isla, one that I could give her someday as a keepsake. But when I unwrapped this family heirloom and a note from my grandma fell out, written shortly before she died (addressed to my cousin and his wife, stating how excited she was that they wanted to borrow the dress for their daughter's dedication), I burst into tears and wanted Isla to wear it too. Now I don't know how I could have possibly thought otherwise!

I added the pretty pink ribbon so that we would have something we could save aside for Isla as a keepsake when she's older. You should have heard the ladies in the fabric store when I was picking out the ribbon! Of course I had the dress along--I've never heard so much ooohing and ahhhhing that it was handmade!!

We chose Colossians 1:9-10 as our verse (and prayer!) for Isla:

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God."

Isla, you are a beautiful girl with such an energetic spirit. Our prayer for you is that you will grow up to know and love Jesus, understanding that his love for you is unconditional. We pray that you will know that there is nothing that you can ever do or say that will make him love you less. You are a treasure and we are so blessed to be your parents! We pray for grace as we raise you, that we may be godly examples to you.

Love, Your Mommy and Daddy

Thanks to all of you friends and family who came to support us last week. It meant so much to have THREE FULL ROWS (and some!!) of people committing to pray for us as we raise this precious girl. For those of you who weren't able to be there, I'm posting a video, however, it might be better to just watch it on You Tube as my blog cuts off the right side for some reason (which is basically all the footage of Isla). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU3dZcoIa4M  Enjoy!