Dedicating Anna

Yesterday we dedicated Anna to the Lord.  At our church, when you dedicate a baby, you have to come up with five things that you specifically want to pray for your child.  We cheated and chose six.  :)  They encourage us to pull them out every year at the child's birthday and see how we as parents are doing at instilling these values in our child.  It's a great idea.  Here is what we are praying for our Anna Pea.

Our Hearts' Desires for Anna

Anna means "full of mercy, grace, and prayer."

Mercy -- We pray that Anna would be full of mercy, that she would exude compassion, kindness, gentleness, and tenderness for all people -- both those "to whom much has been given" (Luke 12:48) as well as "the least of these" (Matthew 25:40). 

Grace -- We long for Anna to be full of grace.  We pray that she would receive Christ's gift of grace (Ephesians 2:8-9) and would in turn demonstrate it willingly and unconditionally to those around her.  We want for Anna's actions, words, and thoughts to be seasoned with grace.

Prayer -- We hope that Anna's life will be marked by prayer -- that she will go to God in prayer over everything: joys, thanksgiving, hopes, fears, trials, pain, longing, uncertainty, and doubt (Philippians 4:6-7).  We long for her to know the intimacy with God that springs from a prayerful life and pray that her first inclination in all circumstances is to go on her knees before Jesus -- for herself, others, and the world. 

Wisdom -- We pray that Anna will be a woman of wisdom, that she will embody the Proverbs 31 woman, "When she speaks, her words are wise, and kindness is the rule when she gives instructions."  We hope that Anna will be able to discern what is wise and what is foolish and that she will firmly place her feet upon the path of wisdom (Proverbs 4).

Faith -- We pray that Anna will put her faith in Jesus Christ from a young age, that she will be ever confident that God is with her (Zephaniah 3:17), that she will trust that His ways are higher than her ways (Isaiah 55:8-9), and that she can take refuge in the shelter of His wings (Psalm 61:3-4).  We pray that she will have the peace of God that accompanies a complete and genuine faith in Him.

Love -- We want Anna's life to be characterized by love for God and people.  As she is the recipient of the greatest love imaginable (John 3:16, I John 3:16, I John 4:10), we hope she will extend love to others, caring more about them than about herself.  As Christ loves her, we hope she will love those around her.

One of the things I love about Anna is the roundedness of her profile -- round head, round button nose, round cheeks, round chin...adorable.

Happy, loved girl

With the fabulous Thiels (minus Dave).  The Thiels are the people who are moving away, incidentally.  Dave is already in Texas.  I still can't stand to think about it.  Jonathan and Emily (the "kids") will still be in Georgia as Jonathan has a job here, and Emily is a junior at UGA, but losing Dave and Colleen will be a mighty, mighty blow.  They're the only family we have in town, and we are so crazy about them.

Love Bugs