Our Baby's Dedication

Yesterday, Kevin and I stood alongside four other families that we love in front of church and hometown family we adore to commit to living and leading a life of gospel-centered parenting.

That's a lot easier said than done.

When Kev introduced us as a family, he comically but quite perfectly revealed where we're at with this whole parenting gig:

"Hi, I'm Kevin Dickerson, and this is my wife, Meagan, and our only son, Nolan. 

And we don't know what we're doing."

Enter...Jesus.

The service and message yesterday reminded us of nothing less than our need for Jesus and our need for him to work in my heart and in the heart of my husband's in order for him to be reflected as we parent Nolan. 

We will fail.

But I pray that Kev and I walk humbly and live transparently in front of our son, and that ultimately, Nolan comes to know, too, that he is loved and accepted by God because of what Jesus has already done.

Part of yesterday's message went something like this:

Today we publicly state, in a ceremonial way, that we are committing to raise our children to know Jesus and, by his grace, to join us as a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19). We are confessing that we are, by nature, a people of darkness but, by grace, are a people of light (1 Peter 2). We are boldly saying that together we will live, love, and preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God in the great hope that God would be pleased to translate our children from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved Son (Colossians 1).

Amen.

In addition to the serious nature of what yesterday's dedication represented, there were also some crazy, downright hilarious moments that I just have to share. It was a great excuse to snap a whole bunch of pictures, have an 11-person slumber party in our house (with blow-up mattresses everywhere), watch my son swoon over his future bae and act a fool on stage in the middle of the service, and oh the list goes on and on...

Such a fun weekend!

 Kevin Dorsey, Nolan Dorsey, & Hugh Dorsey

Nolan: Month Eight

Sitting down to write these posts has become even sweeter with time. I get to reminisce, write whatever I want about you, and not apologize for my oo-ing and aw-ing about how much we adore you. I wonder what you'll think as you read through these one day.

Sheer mommy-moment bliss.

Let's recap your eighth month of life:

Your daddy celebrated his 26th birthday this month. 

On his birthday last year, we found out we were having a boy!

You attended and watched your first baseball game. Bub catches for Pike County High, and I truly believe you're his biggest (littlest) fan. 

We hope you love baseball as much as we do.

We celebrated our first Easter as a family of three.

Bub went to his first prom, and we all got to see him off.

You have two teeth now! And no, I don't intend to document every single one ;).

*Getting a picture of your teeth is near impossible.*

You say "Da-Da" and "talk" a whole bunch. It's seriously the cutest thing. 

My favorite is when you go, "Haayyy."

Most days, you are super independent and perfectly content just living your life.

You still love food. It's hard to keep track of all that you'll eat nowadays.

Long trips have become a little more taxing. You get bored in the car after a while and are not afraid to tell us about it.

Shorter trips are still dreamy though.

You and I went to the Oatland Island Wildlife Center with a dear friend and her two babes.
Look, a bison!

You're laughing more often, and it is still just as adorable.

Crawling isn't happening yet, but you scoot (backwards) on your belly.

Riding in the jeep with the doors off and the wind in your hair is totally your thing.
Which is good because it's our thing too ;).

This stage has been my most favorite so far. Your personality is thriving and your dad and I couldn't be more terrified of what lay ahead when it comes to you and your spunky self, kid.

I joooke.

But you are spunky. And a hoot. And it is going to be an adventure. 

But we love it now and forever.

Happy eight months, buddy boy!

A Weekend of Firsts

This past weekend was CRAZY. Crazy busy but crazy fun.

Nolan's first:

time celebrating Daddy's birthday

baseball game

(lots of cheering made you cry)

Easter

Kevin's birthday was Friday, and celebrating him is always the best. 

We made a quick (and I mean quick) trip to hometown to watch Bub play baseball Friday night with his high school team (they won!). Life gets busy, and we didn't want to end up not seeing a game this season. It's a long story, but Kev ended up flying to Atlanta from the Bahamas to meet up with us. Good thing he made it for his own birthday party ;).

After the game, the family devoured some BBQ at one of the local favorites. There was cake, and there were presents, and Nolan was such a trooper. He stayed up way past his bedtime and hung in there with us until the very last minute when his head hit the pillow (figuratively, of course).

And then, yesterday, we celebrated our first Easter as a family of three. 

It was a weekend that left us tired, our hearts full, and our souls refreshed. 

And I think it's safe to say we'd totally do it all again and again...

 

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 Easter Sunday

Obligatory family photo

 Buds

Eiley Beth, Titus, & Nolan