Sunday was a wonderful, important day for our whole family! We had the honor of standing in front of our church congregation and publicly committing to raising Sadie in a way that’s glorifying to God. We have so many dreams for our baby girl, but above all of them is that we want her to choose to pursue God and have a relationship with Him. We couldn’t imagine our lives without our faith and trust in God, and we pray that both of our girls see the importance of this and want it for their own lives.
Finding a date to do her baby dedication was really tricky. Not only is Jamie’s work schedule super wonky, but one set of Sadie’s grandparents lives 11 hours away and other lives 12 hours away. After hoping the right time would present itself to have everyone in town at the same time, it became pretty obvious this fall that that sadly wasn’t feasible. We knew Sadie’s dedication would be more low-key than Hadley’s, and we were okay with that. We were just excited to make this step as a family in making a public commitment.
We actually originally scheduled her dedication for mid-December, but then Sadie spiked a 102 fever the day before and it was the weekend that the temperature fell to -10 degrees (actual temperature… not windchill.) We didn’t immediately reschedule because we were unsure what weekends that Jamie would be home for sure, so when we knew this date (February 19th) was open, we snagged it!
Sadie was the fourth baby girl to wear this dress. My mom wore it for her infant baptism, then I wore it for mine, and then Hadley wore it for her infant dedication. I wish I had a better solo picture of Sadie in the dress because she truly looked beautiful! I remember making a headband for Hadley the morning of her dedication, so I put the same one on Sadie.
We celebrated by going straight home from church and putting Hadley and Sadie down to nap. 🙂 It was also a big day for Hadley; she and Jamie had a little dance to attend that afternoon.
One of the least fun parts of moving around with the military is finding a new church home because we’re always comparing churches to what we’re used to. It takes us a while to feel comfortable, welcomed, and happy. I’m glad we pushed through and found our church home here in Kansas. This church will always be special to us because it was Sadie’s first one. It’ll also be the first church that Hadley will have some kind of memory of. I love that.
If you’re frustrated and feeling less than motivated to find a church home, I encourage you to keep on searching. Sometimes it takes really putting yourself out there by meeting with the pastor, serving in an area of the church, or plugging in to a small group and getting to know people before it really feels like “home”. Finding a place to discover or grow in your walk with Jesus is so worth it!
PS: Hadley’s Baby Dedication at 3.5 months old | Why Finding A New Church Home is So Hard
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo