This weekend was perfect. It was everything we dreamed about and more. On Saturday, in the privacy of our backyard, with our family present, we dedicated our daughter to God. We committed to raising her in a Christian household, and prayed prayers of blessings over her life and her community of family. It was beautiful.

We’ve known since she was born that we wanted to do a formal dedication of Ada. The problem was, we don’t belong to a church right now. We felt like this was a very personal decision, and so important to us, that couldn’t just pick any church for the sake of doing it in a church. We wanted it to be more personal than that. It took us a while, but we finally decided to dedicate her at home with family.

This is the house she was born into, and this family is her network. These are the people that are going to watch us, and help us, raise her. They play an important role in her life. They’re who she’ll run to for help when she needs it, they’ll be her shoulders to cry on, and her cheerleaders through life. We realize more now than ever that it truly takes a village to raise a child. This is our village.

For the ceremony, we asked a dear friend of ours, Doug Porter, to officiate it. He and his wife have been such a blessing to us over the years, and we are so thankful for them and their friendship! We asked him to do a small sermon, and then have everyone share something they were thankful for about their family. He closed out the ceremony with prayers of blessings and guidance over us as a family, her godparents (my sister Carter & her husband, Shane), and over Ada, that she may grow to love God herself. Tears and laughter were shed by all, Baxter snuck out of the house and made an appearance, and Ada talked through her entire ceremony! Cherished memories, right there.

A beautiful part about Saturday was the support we had putting this all together. My mom handmade her dedication gown even before she was born, and gave it to me at my shower : ) The streamers are re-purposed from a long drape my sister had hanging over a tree branch in her wedding. We gathered sticks out of our woods for the centerpieces and for hanging the streamers, and bought 13 yards of natural muslin and cut it into table cloths. The benches were lent to us from Farm & Filigree, the tables were borrowed from The Bradford, and the flowers & floral crown were graciously donated by Serendipity Designs. Somehow, I barely touched the food prep, display and cleanup, thanks to our lovely family. I’m still not sure who did it all, but whoever you were, thank you! It all came together exactly like I’d imagined in my head. Except for the temperature, I was hoping for 75 and sunny, but alas it’s March, so we ended up with a high of 45. We warned everyone to bundle up, built a bonfire, and no one complained, not even Ada.

We are so thankful to everyone who had a hand in her dedication day. To our family who traveled in to celebrate with us from DC, Asheville, Richmond, Fayetteville, and all those local, THANK YOU. You made us feel more than loved, you made us feel cherished. To Doug & Kristen, we love you guys, and you will always hold a special place in our hearts because of the role you played on this very special day. To the vendors who donated, thank you so much! I love that our wedding community was excited to contribute to Ada’s special day.

To Ada Pearl, your mom and dad love you so much. We are beyond blessed to call you our daughter. We pray your happy spirit stays with you the rest of your life, and that you use that beautiful smile of yours to impact others in a positive way. We hope you grow up to love Jesus and have a relationship with him that brings even more happiness into your life. We love you with all our hearts.