Thanksgiving & Ethan's Dedication

We have had such a busy time this past week. Oswald's parents came into town on Wednesday night to stay with us over the weekend. This was the first time Thanksgiving was at my house and it was so nice! My mom and Buck came to join us as well as Jean Young. I can't remember a Thanksgiving at home without Jean and so I am glad she came over. I didn't cook a turkey. I bought one from Publix as well as the dressing and sweet potatoes, but I made everything else. We had so much food. Mom brought her famous lemon cake, fruit mold and a beautiful flower arrangement. After we ate, Oz and I took Ethan down the street to see Gwen & Don and Gwen's family. We had a nice visit. I posted a picture here of Ethan with Great Grandpa Don and Great Grand Nin. I gave Ethan some sweet potato for Thanksgiving, but no turkey this year! :)
On Saturday, Oz and his family went to Columbia for the Clemson game. Ethan and I drove to spend the day with Mom and Buck. We had a nice visit. I spent half of the morning in Mom's bed napping. That was nice!
Sunday we had Ethan's dedication service at church. I was so excited that the day had finally come. I have been trying to get it planned for months now. It was the best service. Ethan was dressed in his little Christening tuxedo and looked adorable. Our church is very small. And when I say small, I mean small. We usually have about 20 in the congregation each Sunday. Oswald and I have tried several churches around Atlanta that each had thousands of attendants. After I met Don, he invited me to come to DeFoor Ave. Baptist Church where he taught Sunday school. I went once and the rest is history. Oswald and I loved it and joined last year when I was pregnant. Pastor Moody likes to joke that Ethan heard him preach for the 9 months before he was born.
Our church did so much to make Ethan's dedication special. The whole service was directed towards Ethan and us raising him in a Christian home. Ethan was so good during the service. Don gave the opening prayer and he begun it with this: "Bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me. Bless His holy name" Well, as soon as I heard that I burst into tears. That is the song that he always sings to Ethan and it touched me so much to hear him say it in his prayer. We sung 'Jesus Loves the Little Children" and it was great to hear and sing a children's song. During one point of his dedication, we had all of his Grandparents up at the front of the church with us. The church presented us with a personalized picture frame that has a place for a picture of Ethan for each month of his first year. They also gave him a Bible with his name on the front. Eva, the pastor's wife, made a program for the service that was really nice. Pastor Moody told us that the back of the program was blank, just like the clean slate of Ethan's life. What we teach Ethan will in large part help to fill the slate of his life. We learned a lot during the service about teaching Ethan about Christ and setting examples for him. I hope Oswald and I both remember all that we learned. It was such a great service that I wish we had it recorded for Ethan to hear one day.
Afterwards, we had a nice lunch in the fellowship hall. Sarah brought most of the food and Mom brought a beautiful cake. Mom presented the church with an adorable picture to put in the church nursery in honor of Ethan's dedication day. Kim, Eli & Mr. Herington came over to spend some time with us after we left church. Kim gave Ethan a savings bond and the nicest card. Gwen & Don gave Ethan a beautiful Christian ornament and Gwen wrote the sweetest letter to Ethan. Gwen is a writer among many other artistic and crafty things and everything she writes is eloquent and profound. I am keeping the letter in Ethan's baby book. At the end of it she wrote "Don't forget us". I will make sure that never happens - how could Ethan forget family?
Sunday night Oswald and I decorated for Christmas. It is kind of early to decorate, but every year I have done it by myself and he said he would help me if we did it before he went out of town. The house looks great. We put on Christmas music and had fun doing it. I will post pictures of our decorations soon. I thought Ethan would be really interested in the tree and the lights, but he really didn't give it much attention. Maybe he would have if it had blinking lights. Oh well. I guess I better enjoy it because I know next year he will be paying attention. It will probably be hard to keep him away from the tree - he will be pulling everything off of it. I can't wait to send out our Christmas cards. They have the cutest picture of Ethan on them. We also bought him a santa outfit that he can wear on Christmas day. Time sure has gone by fast. He will be 5 months in two days!