Bechtel Family: Lillie's Dedication Weekend!

Last Sunday we dedicated Lillie in front of our church family here in Macon! It was such a special time for us and our precious baby! We did this with Gracie when she was 5 1/2 months old in Valdosta. Lillie was 3 months old. On Sat. we had our parents and a few friends over for a BBQ. We had a fun time of fellowship with everyone. On Sunday we had the dedication service. Our church makes it so special for the parents and children on dedication Sunday. They do it twice a year so we had seen it before. We love our pastor and he is so personable with each and every family. Before the service we all met together and got a few instructions about how the service would go and then had a time of prayer. Craig and I got the chance to pick out a life verse for Lillie and pray it over her before the service began. We picked Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understandings, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." During the dedication each family walks out on stage and greets the pastor and takes a picture. Then we sit on the stage and watch all the families come out. The pastor says a few words and then comes and prays over each child. I got very emotional during this time. It was just so sweet and touching. I have to admit that I was nervous the whole time we were up there in fear that Lillie might start crying. They told us that we could do whatever we needed to if our child started crying but you just hope it doesn't happen to you while in front of the whole church~ HA! I have to say Miss Lillie did great! She was asleep until we walked out on the stage and then her eyes popped open! She was awake the whole time just looking around. Another sweet moment was looking out into the congregation and seeing my sweet Gracie. We let her come into the church service to see Lillie. She was all smiles the whole time and would wave at us. It just melted my heart to see her big blue eyes looking up at us. It made me think how fast they really do grow up and how I need to try and cherish this time with both my sweet girls! Here are some pictures from our weekend!

Little party at our house!

I forgot to take pictures until the end of the party. I asked Craig to take some random pictures (I meant ask people to pose but I wasn't clear enough for him. He just started clicking so the next few are truly random!:))