Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

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1 Father s Day Child Dedication Service June 20, 2010 Video: Father s Day Song: Because You Loved Me Video: Announcements Service Setup--Roger I want to thank God publicly today for the blessing of growing up with a dad who loved me almost as much as he loved God, a father who taught me to love and trust God, a father who loved my mom, and by his example taught me how to be a good husband and dad. It reminds me of the Bible s instruction in Ephesians 6:4-- Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. My dad was not perfect and did on occasion exasperate me, though I expect that had more to do with me than with him. Without question, however, he modeled the heart of God and taught me God s ways and instructions for life. As a simple way to thank and honor dads, we have some free gifts for dads at the back table as you leave this morning. There are a variety of things there. We have some gift certificates. We have some book and CD resources that can help you in your desire to be good dads to your kids. And I have two surprise gifts at the back, one for a Red Sox dad and one for a Yankees dad. You simply have to answer one secret question in order to receive the special gift. Since God calls Dads as well as moms to raise their children to follow God s ways, it is appropriate on this day to dedicate children. We have six different families who wish to dedicate a child this morning. With each dedication, you will see pictures of the young child, you will get to know a bit more about the child and his/her birth, and you will have the chance to join me in praying for the child and family. Sanderson Video and Dedication Parents: Brandt and Kathy Sanderson Zephra Katheryn Sanderson November 20,2009 When Zephra was born, Mom had no pain meds, and she was in labor 14 hours. Shortly after birth, Zephra wanted to eat, which is not terribly unusual. She ate for three hours. Apparently she loves free food, a quality she takes from her father, Brandt! Zephra loves crowds and is especially happy around people. She began

2 her acting career at two weeks of age, taking on the role of Jesus at a ballet in Clinton, CT. Her parents prayer is that she would love God and be herself. (Prayer for Zephra) Whitsitt Video and Dedication Parents: Mark and Kate Whitsitt Emma Kate Whitsitt Born Feb. 18, 2009 Kate says: Since birth, Emma has been a joy to our family. One of the meanings of her name is complete and she has completed our family. She has been a gift from God to us and we are so blessed to have her. Emma is a very sweet and loving baby. One of the first things we noticed about her personality was her big smile. She has always been a happy and friendly girl. We call her our social butterfly. :) Also, since infancy she has loved music. She enjoys singing and dancing. We desire to have a public profession of our commitment to raise Emma in the ways of God. Our prayer for Emma would be that she would always love God with all of her heart and put him first in her life. (Prayer for Emma) Sprague Video and Dedication Parents: Josh and Cassandra Sprague Ethen Quinn Sprague Born May 30, 2009 Ethen was a unique gift from God. When Josh and Cassandra found out they were expecting, they were surprised as they were actively trying to prevent childbirth, given a very difficult season of their lives. As soon as Cassandra heard Ethen s due date, she knew in her heart that God would bring the baby on her birthday, and He did. So, she calls Ethen God s Birthday Present. Ethen has a huge smile that lights up a room. He walked pretty early at 10 ½ months, and loves following his big brothers around. They are dedicating Ethen today as an expression that they d like God s help through their church family in helping to raise Ethen with a godly foundation.

3 Prayer: Cassandra would love a prayer for patience. (Prayer for Ethen) Songs: Here I Am to Worship, You Are My King Sahno Video and Dedication Parents: Daniel and Tara Sahno Nelson Daniel Sahno Born May 12, 2009 Danny and Tara would like to dedicate Nelson to publicly recognize that he is a gift from God. It is important to us that God and Jesus be an integral part of Nelson s upbringing. Nelson is named after Nelson Gustine, who along with Glen and the Gustine family has been a unique role models, and they have embraced Danny and Tara as family. Nelson was an unexpected gift from God. Tara says: After four years of trying, doctors said we wouldn t have any more children. SURPRISE! There were many obstacles, negative bloodwork. Doctors offered us to terminate the pregnancy. We told them we trusted God knew what was best for our family. Nelson turned to breach position four days before the delivery, leading to a c-section. Oh, and there may have been one other reason why Nelson was born--his sister, Kaia s prayers. We tease Kaia because she prayed for a little brother for so long, we think God got tired of listening to her and gave in! Interestingly, Nelson looks just like Kaia. Nelson has a unique crawl with his right knee bent and his left leg straight out to the side. Every morning, he empties every cabinet in the kitchen! When I was visiting their home a couple of weeks ago, Nelson had raided the cabinets. Nelson was born with some fingers fused together and has had surgery to have them repaired. He may need additional surgeries and his parents would appreciate prayer over that possibility. (Prayer) Field Video and Dedication of two Parents: Brad and Sarah Field Allison Faith Field Born December 18, 2009

4 I always ask parents if there is a special story behind the birth of a child. Brad kids Sarah: That s the last time I take a company trip to Paris with you! Allison is very expressive. You know very clearly when she is happy and when she is sad. She is very strong. She makes up for her size with her personality, mom says. Here level of engagement with people is remarkable, so that she regularly surprises people by her age. Catherine Marie Field Born Oct. 20, 2005 She is named after two great aunts( one of whom is 101?) Of Catherine, mom says, She was very strong-willed, even in utero! She was breach, a reflection of her desire to do things her way! At the same time, she is very outgoing and very sensitive, concerned about others. She views Allison as her little baby. She is very perceptive and very curious. Of late, she has been asking a lot of is that real? kinds of questions. As such, mom and dad ask you to pray for wisdom for them in answering her questions and teaching her. (Prayer for Allison and for Catherine) White Video and Dedication Parents: Keith and Kelly White Karson Lambert White Born October 23, 2010 Keith writes: His first name given to him for the uncommon nature and spelling (we thought about Carter but we knew too many Carters). His middle name does have a bit of a story. We were undecided as to what it would be (it had to sound right). So we were thinking about my middle name of Thomas which is my Dads middle name. But one Sunday morning I was talking with Hal Yost before the service (we have a common ground of the Pittsburgh Steelers) he had mentioned one of his friends was going to name their child Jack Lambert of the '70's Steelers. And that was all I needed. My Dads name is Jack. Karson Lambert sounds good and had a reference no matter how small to my Dad and our family's hometown. I asked Kelly her thoughts and there was no question in her mind either and that's how he came to be Karson Lambert White. Karson arrived about 7 weeks early. Kelly was given instruction by her doctor to go to the hospital and runs some tests and he ll be by later to go over what steps needed to be taken. So knowing how nutritious vending machine food is, we opted to have lunch at a KFC by the hospital. As the night wore on, we thought it would be best if I went home to pick up an overnight bag for the two of us. I was at home at midnight (about a half an hour

5 away) when Kelly called in a panic and said that I must hurry because the doctor was coming and so was Karson. Long story short, an Altima can get to Hartford from East Hampton in less than 15 minutes. Although when I got on the highway I found that rte. 84 was closed so my only alternative was to take an ON ramp OFF the highway. I raced through Hartford and made it to the hospital just before they were about to move Kelly to the operating room. I let her know I was there and the nurse informs me that I would not be able to come in due to the fact that Kelly was to be put completely under. Twenty minutes later they came out and handed me my son. The feeling was like none other and I was the proudest parent on the face of the earth. We only had one story/question during the first few months: would he ever sleep all night? We are older than 25 year old parents. We need our sleep. The White house WAS running on Dunkin. Karson loves the mirror(pretty certain he gets that from his older Sister). If you have a smile for him, he has one for you. He loves the water and will stop and look right at you if you have a camera in front of him. He has three musical interests: Heavy metal music at a little louder level than normal(that puts him to sleep in literally seconds), the church band, and Daddy playing acoustic guitar. (Prayer for Karson) As Keith and Kelly return to their seats, I am going to ask all of our dedicating parents to stand this morning. In Deuteronomy, chapter 5, the Bible says: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, NIV) A part of today s dedication is your commitment to follow God s instruction here, so I have three commitment questions for you. If it reflects your heart, please answer we will. 1) Will you commit to love and follow God with your lives, providing an example your child can imitate? 2) Will you teach your child about God s heart and His instructions for living? 3) Will you prayerfully guide your child to trust and follow God s son, Jesus? In light of your commitments, I am going to ask my wife, Joy, to come forward and offer a prayer over you as parents. (Joy prays.)

6 Response Time (With song: How Deep the Father s Love For Us) Song: Love is Here