A Special Day

Father's Day was a special day this year, because we not only got to celebrate Daddy and Papa and Abuelito, but we formally dedicated Marek to God in front of our church!  We had chosen the Bible verse:

1 Samuel 1:27-28

"I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.  So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” 

We thank God so much for lending his sweet son, Marek, to us for his time on earth, and pray that no matter what happens in his life, he will choose to follow Jesus Christ and serve our Father.  We pray that for him and for our sweet Ellison.

We got a quick photo op in with Pastor Don Miller before the service started.

On a funny note, I have to relay how the dedication went.  Oh, poor Pastor Don.  He double checked with us   at the time of the above photo to make sure he pronounced Marek's name correctly, and we told him, "Yes, it's Marek Eli."  Well, he calls us up onto the stage, and says something along the lines of, "Here are Jonathan and Christina and their two beautiful daughters (gasp!).  I'm kinda partial to daughters since I have two of my own..."  As we were approaching the podium, I was completely panicking inside.  On one hand, I didn't want to embarrass Pastor Don in front of the congregation, but on the other hand, I didn't want Marek being mistaken for a girl (dressed completely like a boy, I might add) with the whole congregation!  So I tried to gently stop him as we walked across the stage, and loudly whisper, "It's actually a son and a daughter."  He didn't hear me, but it stopped him and he leaned over to me, "Huh?".  I repeated myself and he just looked at me and quickly said, "OK."  Then he went back to talking into the mic - "... and this is their lovely daughter Ellison, and their SON Marek.  And look at him!   He is ALL BOY!"  As he lifted him up in front of the congregation, "He's a linebacker!".  After saying a special prayer for him, and handing Marek back to us, he whispered, "Sorry about that!".  :-)  We felt so bad for him.  This all came after having a conversation with the grandfather of the other little boy being dedicated, who thought we said Marek's name was Mary.  Ugh, after going on and on about some little girl he knows with that name, Jonathan questioned him, and thankfully set him straight and made it very clear Marek is a boy.  This was after I jacked up his grandson's name.  I thought he kept telling me his grandson's name was Jack, and I would repeat it, and he'd say, "No, Jett."  I still didn't understand him, so I repeated, "Jack", and with that he gave up.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  At any rate, it all made for a good giggle.  And CLEARLY, as you can see from the pics above, Marek does not look ANYTHING like a girl.  And I'm not just sayin' that 'cause I'm his mama. ;-)

So after honoring Daddy with gifts and cards (and not feeling the least bit bitter because my Mother's Day was saved only by the fact that Ellison made me the sweetest gift at preschool - thank you, Ellison and teachers.), we all went over to the pool.  OK, that was harsh.  But in all seriousness, I truly did want the day to be about honoring Jonathan and the wonderful father that he is.  Ellison and Marek are so blessed to call him Daddy.  And I'm so blessed that he is my partner in raising these children.

Here's Koosky hanging out in the stroller poolside.  He's always moving the little screen to peek at what's going on behind him.

We had a great day, and hope it was a great one for you, too, Daddy!

[June 19, 2011]