A Dedication and A Baptism

What a super great day! First of all, it is beautiful in Los Angeles – sunny with temps in the mid to high 70s. Love the shirtsleeve weather and hate to think about going back to rain and cold.

Today I had the very special privilege of dedicating Jeyanthi Marie Taylor. The place was Marina Christian Fellowship. The church is actually in Culver City and close to Marina Del Rey but for all practical purposes it is in LA. Korak has attended there for over 22 years, he and Jana met there, they were married there almost 16 years ago, and Josiah and Lilly were dedicated there. It is a great church – multi-ethnic, fun, lots of spirit, good teaching and preaching.

The dedication was during the second worship time after the singing and before the Bishop preached (more about that in a moment). I commented about baby dedications, read a couple scripture verses and then had Jana and Korak come forward with Jeyanthi. I told about her name, commenting about the Taylors (see the above paragraph), then telling that Marie is a family tradition for middle names for girls – there are at least 5 on the Taylor side and at least one on my side. Then Jeyanthi: it has various meanings in some of  the languages of India but the most common is “victorious.”

Next, I asked Korak and Jana some standard questions about raising Jeyanthi according God’s word. Then I asked Josiah and Lilly this question: “Josiah and Lilly, as big brother and big sister, will you do your very best to set a good example for Jeyanthi modeling what it means to be a Christian?”

Then the really fun part. I got to hold Jeyanthi for the actual dedication and I added my own blessing (which I also did for the other kids when they were dedicated). It is kind of special between Jeyanthi and me but since the entire congregation got to hear it, I’ll share it with you.

Jeyanthi Marie Taylor, we dedicate you to the Lord Jesus. May you, at an early age, come to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. May you know victory as you journey through life; may you be fearless in the face of defeat; may you be able to fight spiritual battles and be victorious in the power of the Holy Spirit. May you show compassion, patience, and a sense of humor. All these are meanings of your name. May you be one to say like the Psalm writer: “I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation.” Then, eventually in the days of eternity, may you be one of those about whom Jesus says, “To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God.”

To put a real solid exclamation point to this, I asked the Taylor and Mumau families to come and make a circle around them symbolic of the love and support that constantly surrounds them. There were quite a few Taylors there (aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma) plus Ginger, Joyce and I. Then I asked the congregation to touch a hand to a shoulder – the ones in front touching one of the family and the others touching a person in front of them. This was symbolic of the connection we have in the church and an indication of acceptance of the concept that it takes a village (church) to raise a child. Pastor Kevin closed this part of the service with prayer.

At the conclusion of the worship time, Korak and I baptized Josiah. This was rather standard with some questions for Josiah, a prayer by Pastor Kevin and then the baptism. Only thing – the heater didn’t work so Josiah was in COLD water. Korak and I got to stand on the outside of the baptismal!

Between these two special events, one of the Free Methodist Bishops preached. We only have three and it seems they were meeting in Los Angels on some church business. A few weeks ago Kevin got an email asking if he would like to have Bishop David Kendall preach. This dedication and baptism was already planned but he couldn’t turn down a Bishop so… one of the highest executives in our church preached on this special day for the kids.

That was today. Ginger left this afternoon for home. We’ll be back there before the week is over. Last night Ginger and I took Josiah and Lilly to experience a Pirate’s Dinner Theater. The “set” was the bow of a pirate ship and the audience sat around in a semi-circle at narrow tables being served our food. The pirate cast had a good show and the food was pretty good, too. It was expensive but done very well. We all had a good time.

Jeyanthi is doing well. She has regained the weight she lost right after birth. Jana is healing nicely and feeling better everyday. I have to keep bragging, so here are a few more pictures.

Can you guess whose feet?

The dedication

Baptism

Good night, all.

More Pictures

Grandma and Jeyanthi

Hands -- one has experienced life; one is innocent

Lilly and sister.

Jana getting to see pictures of the delivery. Friend Rosy and Ginger enjoy it too.

Here and below – she had an awake time today. Looking around, exploring her new world.

Okay, enough bragging. Don’t forget the survey.

It’s A Girl!!!

Jeyanthi Marie Taylor made her arrival into the world at 8:32 a.m. on 1-11-11. She weighed 6 pounds, 3 ounces and was 19 inches long. She is cute!!!! Of course this is grandpa’s opinion but honestly, she really is. No crinkled up face, scrunched nose or all those other things some babies have. Well, judge for yourself:

See. I told you so. As you should already know by now, she was born by caesarian. Korak and Ginger were in the room and got to watch the procedure. It all went quite well except that it did take a little longer getting her out because she was tucked in at an odd angle and they had to pull and pry on her and push on Jana’s stomach. As a result Jana has been nauseous at times throughout the day but that will pass. We are blessed and grateful. Momma and baby will come home Saturday.

Our trip down was uneventful. The only “event” was that we left GP Saturday about 1:00. The weather was supposed to be “iffy” for Sunday going over the Siskiyous, we had finished the work we wanted to do, and we were bored. So we loaded up and left. That meant we got here Sunday evening – a day early. But it was okay and we were able to see Josiah and Lilly a little longer.

Last night (Monday) we watched Oregon play Auburn in the Championship game. Too bad Oregon didn’t win but it was a really good game – and really close. I tell you all this so I can say that we had our Christmas at the Taylors during half time. It worked pretty well. When we got here the kids still had their tree up with various presents under it. We added ours, then used half time to good advantage.

Want some more baby pictures?

Look ma, no teeth.

Korak cutting the umbilical cord

Grandpa and Jeyanthi getting acquainted

Aunt Ginger and Jeyanthi getting acquainted

Momma and Jeyanthi getting acquainted (somehow we didn’t get a picture of grandma with baby. We’ll fix that tomorrow.

Josiah and Lilly getting acquainted with their new little sister.

They went to school as usual (except aunt Kay took them). Near the end of the school day, Ginger and I went to pick them up. We had two balloons that said “It’s a Girl.” (Remember, they didn’t know if was going to be a boy or a girl). We went to Josiah’s class first with a balloon. This is how he learned he had a sister. Then we did the same with Lilly. Josiah was okay with it; Lilly was ecstatic. She wanted a sister! This had all been arranged with the teachers by Jana in advance. In fact, she had arranged everyone’s life before going to the hospital. There are notes everywhere!!!

Ginger and I took the kids to the hospital to see their sister and spend a little time with mom and dad. Korak is staying at the hospital – Ginger, Joyce and I have Josiah and Lilly duty. Ok, one more picture…

Now, take a look at the survey to the right. Who has the cutest baby of them all?

Ready To Leave

We are packed and ready to hit the road at 6:00 tomorrow (Thursday) morning. We need to be in GP by 10:30 so Joyce can visit a doctor to get a cortisone shot in her knee. We’ll be in GP doing some things on the house and visiting a few friends. Sunday we will attend early worship at the Nazarene Church, then – “LA here we come!” We’ll probably not drive all the way in one day. But have to get there by 5:30 PDT to watch the Oregon Ducks whoop Auburn.

Tuesday morning we get to welcome our new grandchild. As you can surmise, he/she will arrive via cesarean. Are we excited? What do you think?

The  last couple weeks have been very busy with Christmas, New Years, visiting, and simply catching up. I preached last Sunday so a fair amount of time was given to preparation. I’ve decided moving is a lot of work and moving to a rental is even more work. It makes us feel temporary. We can’t find what we need; in fact we don’t even know if it is in one of the boxes in the garage or still in GP. So we do without or start rummaging through boxes. Oh well, that’s the way it goes.

I’ll blog and also post on Facebook as soon as I can after the baby is born. Stay in touch.