Prayers for Elijah from Baby Dedication (June 14, 2009)

We dedicated Elijah to God before our church community, family, and friends on June 14, 2009, a few days before we headed back to India. I finally got around to transcribing our prayers from the video. I thought this prayer would be an appropriate way to conclude this blog.

from Mommy:

"Father, we thank you for giving us Elijah, for creating him, knitting him, and forming him in his inmost being.

Each time I look at Elijah, I am reminded of your marvelous design and your perfect wisdom. So we acknowledge Father that from the very beginning he has been given to us by you, as a gift and that he is not ours but yours.

So we pray today that you would grant Paul and I wisdom, love, and character so that we can steward this gift well.

We pray that Elijah would bring the joy of the Lord to whoever he meets.

We pray that he would grow up knowing that he is your son, and what great and marvelous thing that is.

We ask that he would learn to love you with all that he is and we pray that we would model that for him.

We pray that he would be a person who is unashamed of you, who deeply understands and experiences the depth of your great love."

from Ah-pa:

"Lord we thank you for Elijah, we dedicate him to you because we need you and he needs you. Only in your hands, arms, and in your presence he can truly live. We pray that you would grant him the grace to know you at an early age, to see you. We pray that you would give us pure hearts that put our trust in you and that he would see that and he would put his trust in you. Lord Jesus, we pray that you would teach him to love you and to love the things you love, to tackle the trials of this world with faith and zeal and that he would be able to rest in you and put his hope in you. Jesus we give you thanks that you are the great shepherd, you are the revealer, and that we can trust in you in all things."

From Pastor John:

"So Lord I ask in the name of Jesus that you would grant Elijah the wisdom and knowledge of God of his father and passion and zeal of his mother. May he be endowed with the full measure of the Holy Spirit from birth even as John the Baptist was. And we ask O God that in the course of his life, many will come, see, understand, and experience the incarnated Christ through this young man. In the name of Jesus we pray. 

Amen."

Elijah, we have dedicated you to our Father in Heaven. May you live your life in such a way that brings pleasure and glory to God. For our heavenly Father has never been unfaithful to us.

Love,

Mommy and Ah-pa

Big Brother

Elijah became a big brother today. He has been waiting for his twin baby sisters to "come out" from mommy's womb and they came out at 5:13 pm and 5:14 pm, February 10th, 2011. Their names are Rena and Sophianne.

Unfortunately, E will have to wait a few weeks to actually meet them in person because they are in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). We can't wait for him to meet them! Our intuition is that he will be a sweet and caring big brother, as well as perhaps a little bossy too. But, how can the first born not be a little bossy, right? ;)

 Rena asleep -- one week old

 Sophianne asleep on mommy -- one week old

Meanwhile, he continues to practice his brother skills by pretending that his stuffed animals are his babies. It's really sweet to hear various comments from his little mouth..."Oh, they're so tiny....so cute....it's okay...I cry sometimes too...." He is so affectionate and gives little kisses to his stuffed animals. It will be interesting to see how he interacts with his sisters when they come home.

P and I have been trying our best to help him understand what is happening with his sisters by taking lots of photos and videos of them. I know that he has his lifetime to bond with his sisters, but I also want to facilitate bonding and love for them as much as we can even though he can't hold or touch them now.

Elijah helping mommy eat her hospital food

Elijah, you're a big brother! God has given you little sisters and I pray that you would grow to love and cherish them. We are so blessed to have you as our son, and now two daughters. Mommy and Ah-pa are truly blessed.

From the mouth of a two year old....

For the last couple of days, at random points, he would say, "Jesus is coming back!!" I love having that reminder every day!

At Sunday school, I guess a boy in his class took a toy car away from him. Paul said that he was pretty upset and was crying when he went to pick him up, so we were processing that experience over lunch:

E: "Mommy, Noah take away my car."
M: "That must have been upsetting. Were you angry?"
E: "He take away!"
M: "You know Elijah, the next time someone tries to take away your toy, you can say, 'No! Don't take away my toy. I am still playing.' Or you can say, 'Here, you can have it.' Or, 'Wait! You need to wait your turn.' You can choose how you want to respond.
E: "Wait! You need to wait your turn!" (I guess that's the response he would like to give.)
M: "Did Noah apologize and say sorry?"
E: "No."
M: "I'm sorry Elijah that Noah took your toy car away. That was not very nice."
E: "Thanks, Mom." (I still can't believe that he responded with these words....I guess he understands when someone is being empathetic....)

As E is leaving for preschool, he says to me,
"Bye mom! Stay in the kitchen!!"
He forgot to add "barefoot and pregnant." :)
How random....

Today, after preschool, he wanted to play school.
E: "Mommy! I'm the teacher. You go sit over there!"
M: "Am I a student?"
E: "You, Winnie the Pooh, and King Babar... sit over there at school."
(I have this feeling that we're probably going to play school a lot and he probably will always be the teacher! I can already see him playing it with his twin sisters!)


I love his spontaneous, "Mommy, I love you." There is nothing like hearing those words from your child...

I Love You, Elijah!

Playing Baby Sisters

It was nap time and, as usual, he grabbed his King Babar, put his head down on his pillow. But we heard him playing, singing, and jabbering for quite some time. Finally, I decided to go in and take a look at what was going on. He was playing with his King Babar and Froggie with blankets around them. He was playing "babies."

By that time, I was also feeling tired and ready for a nap too. One of the things E and I have been enjoying since my bed-rest has been snuggling up together in bed and taking naps together. We have also begun playing "Name that Tune" which he thinks is hilarious. I'll hum a tune and he'll guess what song it is. He is really good at it! So, we did that for a bit and I was getting sleepier and sleepier.

But, E had lots of energy still and proceeded to play "baby sisters" lying next to me. He would hold both Froggie and King Babar on his chest and give them light kisses. Then, he would tell me, "Mommy, they are crying."
I asked, "What should we do?"
He proceeded to try to comfort them by saying, "Oh. It's okay..." with a big hug.
Spontaneously, he says to me, "Mommy, I love my baby sisters. I love them."
To which I respond, "They're so happy you love them. They love you too and they're so happy to have you as their big brother."

I don't remember what else we talked about, but he spent some time fussing with the blanket making sure that they were being kept warm and just showing lots of affection. A couple of minutes before falling asleep, he turns to me and asks, "Mommy, babies names?" I guess he was wondering what his sisters' names are. I explained to him that we are still working on the names but most likely they will be so and so. He seemed pretty satisfied with the answer. And we both fell asleep. Interestingly, in the evening, he randomly tells me, "Mommy, I like the name Rena" I had no idea he remembered but he did....

E is processing in his own way the impending transition of the new additions to our family. I am so thankful that he can articulate what he is thinking because it really helps me to know how to be a better mom. A lot of processing these days is coming out in play-acting or pretend playing. It's interesting and joy giving to watch and to be a part of his world....