Parent Commitment Ceremony

Last night, we attended a parent commitment ceremony for Peyton. This ceremony gave us the opportunity to express our desire and commitment to raise Peyton in a Christian home and to show her God's love every day. Our prayer is that Peyton will one day come to know Jesus as her Lord and Savior. The ceremony was held in the chapel of our church with 14 other families making the same commitment with their babies. There were about 75 close friends and family present in the audience to show their support for all the families. Gaw Gaw, Paw Paw, Camryn, Lauren, Gram, and Nanny were all in attendance to support us. Peyton was a little fussy right before the ceremony which made us a little nervous. Thank goodness for a paper coffee cup we grabbed at a reception prior to the ceremony and a pen that Brad had in his shirt pocket. Those 2 items seemed to preoccupy Peyton and keep her from breaking down after a long exhausting day with a very short nap. It did put us at ease when our pastor announced before the ceremony that any and all crying was welcomed either from the babies or from the grandparents in attendance. During the ceremony, each baby was presented to the church and then the pastor announced the meaning of their name and a Bible verse fitting that name. Peyton's name means 'Noble One' and her Bible verse was 1Peter 2:9 "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." We are overwhelmed by God's goodness that he would call us to be the parents of this precious and noble one. We praise him for the wonderful blessing we have in Peyton and look forward to the day when she enters His light and asks Jesus into her heart. We were very blessed by this sweet ceremony and so was our entire family. However, Camryn was a little overwhelmed with the ceremony. She actually cried when we presented Peyton. We had told Camryn in advance what we were doing and explained to her that it is our desire that Peyton will come to know Jesus and ask Him into her heart. We recently experienced the death of Brad's sweet Great Aunt Maudie who was 95 years old. We told the girls at Aunt Maudie's funeral that she had gone home to be with Jesus in heaven. Camryn thought that Peyton was going to meet Jesus last night. Needless to say, she was a little concerned for baby Peyton and did not want her to leave this earth to meet Jesus. We had a little explaining to do after the ceremony, but all is well now.

Is she a cutie or what?

Getting ready for the ceremony....all girls present!

Our public commitment with Pastor Gregg.