Dedicate

June 17, 2015

Dedicate

verb | ded×i×cate|

: to commit to a goal or way of life

From Merriam Webster Dictionary

Even while our little Queen B is still in my womb, J and I had already promised to God that we will raise her based on His truths. Our baby girl is an answered prayer from Him so it is only appropriate that she grew up trusting, fearing, and loving our dear Father. So on the 23^rd of May 2015, we had our Georgina Blair dedicated to our Lord.

A baby/child dedication is a public commitment that parents make before God, their church, family, and friends. It is a simple but very meaningful occasion. It is also the first major event in our baby’s life so as first time parents we are very excited to plan and carry out this small gathering.

We have chosen the Alabang Town Center branch of Cabalen as the venue for both the ceremony and reception of our little Queen B’s dedication. We want a place that is air-conditioned as we are in the middle of the almost unbearable summer season. It is also very accessible to all our guests since half of the people in our guest list are from the metro while the other half are from Laguna. Lastly, it may not have an extensive selection of dishes as with more popular buffet restaurants nowadays but it still an eat-all-you-can restaurant.

I highly recommend this venue for functions and simple celebrations.

As I don’t like the typical baby pink theme for baby girls, I incorporated nautical elements in our invitation, favours, and decors. A nautical-themed event can be done easily without shelling out a lot of bucks. Ours is not all out themed party. I just want nautical touches here and there. Thank goodness for Pinterest, I was able to have ideas of what I can do.

Message in a Bottle as our guest book. Can't wait for our little Queen B to read your messages for her!

Paper boats to add some nautical vibe. I actually have to research how to make paper boats as it has been ages since I last made one.

We have pillow cases sewn from the burlap cloth we bought two years ago (It is supposed to be for our Christian wedding that we postponed, the story of which I might share in my future posts). These pillow cases painted with an image of an anchor served as our token of appreciation for our baby’s godparents. For our other guests’ favours, we made dried tuyo also know as herrings in spicy oil. I personally prefer giveaways that are either useful or edible so I hope our guests liked our homemade thank you gifts.

Our homemade Spicy Dried Herring in Oil

Pastor Erwin Amador, our resident pastor in GCF-Santa Rosa, officiated the baby dedication. He explained to everyone the meaning of dedication, its biblical purpose and history. The scriptural beginning of a child dedication is found in 1 Samuel 1: 27-28 - "For this boy I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him. So I have also dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord”. It is part of Hannah’s prayer when Samuel was born. While in the second chapter of Luke, Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus to the temple and dedicate him. In both passages, the parents hand over their child to the Lord.

Pastor Erwin Amador of GCF- Sta.Rosa

During a dedication, the parents promise that they will raise their child in a Godly home. As said in Proverbs 22:6 – “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” J and I will do our very best to guide our Georgina Blair to become a child pleasing to the eyes of our Lord. Pastor Erwin explained what Georgina represents to us. The one that really stood out for me and J is that our baby is a manifestation of God’s grace. It was a humbling message. J and I are far from perfect. Certainly, we will make a lot of mistakes along the way. Like redemption, we don’t really deserve to have a baby to care and rear. We still continue to sin as it is our nature but with the guidance of the Holy Spirit J and I will strive harder to become more Christ-like in our actions, words, and even thoughts. Our baby’s first interactions are with us so we should be her role model until such time she can understand and imitate the PERFECT role model, Jesus Christ.

Listening intently as we learn another responsibility of parents: giving our child spiritual guidance

It is not only the parents who make a commitment during a dedication. Our little Queen B has godparents who also promised to help us in her upbringing. We believed we have chosen excellent godparents. These are people we admire for their exemplary Christian life, diligence in their respective careers; fine family values, and commitment to be the best version of their selves. J and I hope that our darling daughter will emulate their good examples.

It takes a village to raise a child so we need all the help we can have.

The last part of a baby/child dedication is the set of prayers. The first one is given by one of the godparents. The second is the one done by J while the last one is our pastor’s prayer. I hope our baby’s life would always be filled with prayers.

After the ceremony, our guests enjoyed the bountiful buffet spread of Cabalen. The ginataang kuhol (snails in coconut milk) is a popular dish as well as the spicy mussels among our guests. I was not able to have a full meal but I made sure I get to eat several pieces of my favourite kakanin (rice cake). It was indeed a good venue choice.

Those snails are a hit among our family and friends!

We are very appreciative to our family, friends, and colleagues who were able to join us in this momentous event. We are also thankful to all your thoughtful gifts for our little Queen B! Lastly, we are eternally grateful to our dear Lord.