A Baby Dedication

My parents came to visit on Monday. So for that one day, we had all four grandparents and a great-grandpa in town. How special!

Since we've had all four grandparents at all the other four baby dedications, we had a little baby dedication celebration. Of the 25 people in attendance, there were

• all the grandparents and a great-grandpa
• a majority of all Lykoshes in the country: nine of us
• an elder from our church in Boulder and an elder from our church here
• the music minister from our church in Boulder and the music minister from our church here
• two babies under a month old, along with the friend who was expecting when I was expecting Caleb
• two children about age eleven, along with the friend who was expecting when I was expecting Jadon
• at least some of the all the families I have spent Thanksgiving with over the last 34 years
• another fifth son to celebrate the birth of this fifth son
• our family doctor and friend
• a family Phil has moved to be near both of his moves as an adult
• our community group hosts and our Bible study hosts.

As I looked around the room, it felt like an infinite loop, or maybe just a circle of love, all the connections and interconnections around our family in the body of Christ.

We sang beautiful songs by John Bunyan and Charles Wesley, an one or two written by our host. We read beautiful Scriptures about raising children. We had a beautiful time of prayer, with elders and grandparents and even a Lykosh brother or two coming to lay hands on the baby and his parents, just like we have with the other four boys. And Caleb cried, as I especially remember Jadon crying. (With Caleb, it made me chuckle internally. With Jadon, as a young, stressed, tired mom, I remember getting to the end of the prayer time and almost shrugging: "Did that even stick?" I'm so glad that I will never be a first time mom again.) We had moments of shared laughter.

And then, to make me feel especially loved, everyone stayed and talked and laughed and ate until after 11pm. I love how my friends and family, even if they have never met each other before, can genuinely enjoy one another.

A well-traveled friend of mine once said that American parties are lucky to last three hours, but they don't usually go any longer than that (busy Americans). So I'm always immensely gratified for parties of over three hours.