Baby Dedication

Two days ago, Dennis and I stood in front of our church and "committed ourselves to the Christian nurture" of our daughter. It was a precious moment, celebrated with family and friends. Micah won't remember the day. She won't remember the prayer. She won't remember the way she wriggled in my arms and tried to eat her shoes. But we will remember.

I've always been amazed that God would give me a job so important...that he would entrust me with the task of raising one of his sweet little children. I try to be a good mother not just because I love my daughter. Not just because I'm a perfectionist. But because for some crazy reason, God gave me this task. I want to do well because I want God to be pleased with the job I've done.

Micah is a sweet little girl. We rarely have days when I want to call a do-over. She's got an infectious grin and a laugh that bubbles out of her. Every day, she shows me a new facet of her personality, and I'm quite surprised that so much life can fit into such a tiny package. She's a sweet and precious gift from God. She's cute as a button too; that doesn't hurt.

It is my prayer that she will grow into a beautiful young woman who loves the Lord and chases after him with abandon. I know that I can't shelter her from pain, but I pray that the hard times she faces will help her appreciate the good even more. I pray that God will transform us into the kind of parents that he created us to be. That he will grant us patience, and kindness, and grace and mercy as we raise his baby girl. I pray that God will help her forgive us when we make mistakes, that he will cultivate a gentle spirit, a contrite heart and a sweet disposition in her. I thank God for Micah every time she falls asleep in my arms. I pray that she will make her heavenly father proud. I pray that she will love him. I pray that she knows how much we love her, how much we care for her, how often we pray for her. I pray that God gets ahold of her in the same way he got ahold of me - in a way that will leave her forever changed - for the better.

These are the things I pray.

Some of them, anyway.

Will you pray with me?

The thing I love about baby dedications is that I get to pray for a tiny little person and his parents. That I get to call that child by name and ask God to protect and nurture, to guide and bless him. It's a privilege that I love to be a part of.

I love it, because I feel like we're really being the church when we commit to help raise a child. Will you be the church for us and pray for our family as we raise this precious little girl?

Until next time, grace and peace.

Can I Have a Do-Over?

I call a do-over. Today has been a bear of a day, and it's only 1:45 in the afternoon. It started out way too early, but that's only because I stayed up way too late doing random things that I should have done when normal people are awake, but since Micah's awake when normal people are awake, I have a hard time completing all the tasks that I think I ought to do. Like balance the checkbook.

And pay the mortgage.

And wash dishes.

And put away the four dozen pairs of shoes that have collected in the den.

Stuff like that.

So anyway, I crawled into bed at 1:48 a.m., Dennis rolled out of bed to go to work sometime around 5 a.m., and Micah woke me up at 7:36 a.m.

I'm not exactly sure how long she'd been awake. She was cooing and talking to herself, and since I had been dreaming about my sweet daughter talking to me, I'm pretty sure that she had been awake for quite some time.

I pried one eyelid open to look at the clock.

Then I did what all good mothers do.

I rolled over and pretended that I didn't hear her.

Don't act shocked.

You know you do it too.

But then she became more vocal, so I dragged myself out of bed and tried not to fall asleep while I fed her.

Then I counted down the minutes until it was time for her morning nap.

Because then I could go back to sleep.

In case you haven't noticed, Sleep and I are good friends. I like to hang out with Sleep for an obscene amount of time. When I don't see enough of Sleep, I make life miserable for everyone around me. Trust me, you want me to spend time with Sleep.

So when the hands on the clock inched past 9 a.m., I decided it was time for Micah to close her eyes, because that's what I wanted to do.

She had a different idea about that.

Apparently, she decided that she didn't need her customary two-hour-long morning nap.

Today, about 30 minutes was enough.

Thirty minutes.

Let that sink in.

Do you know how difficult it is to get a good nap in 30 minutes?

Do you know how impossible it is to take a nap and get something else accomplished during that time?

Eventually I gave in and rescued Micah from her cage crib.

A couple of hours later, and she finally gave it up. I hope she stays asleep for a good long time.

Doesn't she know that I have about 153 things to do today?

Now I can actually start working on getting some of them done. Like writing on here. Only 152 left.

Until next time, grace and peace.

Telling Nashville's Story

I never know what to say when people ask me where I'm from. A part of me wants to answer, "I'm a Mississippi girl," because the truth is that I've spent the vast majority of my life in the Magnolia State. But another part of me wants to answer, "Nashville," because that's where my parents live. It's where I learned to drive. Where I went to high school. Where I spent a summer working. Where I was baptized {again}. Where I accepted a call to ministry. Where I spend holidays. It's the place I go when I go home.

So you can imagine how absolutely horrifying it is to see pictures of a submerged Music City in facebook pictures and on youtube. It breaks my heart to see the city that I love so much under water.

photo courtesy of Rachael Moore

It's shocking to view pictures of the Opryland Hotel literally filled with water.

I never took Micah there.

Just a week and a half ago, we spent the weekend in Nashville visiting with the fam, and we spent a day at Opry Mills. Stacy {my sister} mentioned going to the Hotel so we could take a few pictures. But by the time we finished shopping, Micah was cranky, we were all tired, and we piled into the van and went home.

It's something I regret now.

Because the Hotel's gorgeous atrium is now a swamp.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Lee

And what fan of country music wouldn't be dismayed to see this image from the Opry house?

Photo courtesy of The Grand Ole Opry

Billions of dollars worth of damage. Dozens of lives lost. Thousands of lives changed. An entire city devastated by the monumental amount of rain that deluged the city over the weekend.

Let's not forget all the people who are going to need help recovering from this disaster. Let's not ignore the devastation of a 1,000-year flood. Let's not pretend that nothing happened.

Let's remember.

And let's do something about it.

Let's tell Nashville's story.

Let's give our money.

Let's give our time.

Let's give our attention.

Let's give our love.

Let's give our prayers.

Until next time, grace and peace.