DEDICATION SERVICE AND FASHION RUNWAY!

I feel kind of "sheepish" including such a spiritual subject as "Dedication Day," with fashion news....but the truth is....the two little ladies had cute new dresses! Even Granny had a new dress that was made the week before for the wedding of a friend.

On Mother's Day we had what we normally refer to as "baby dedication," at our church. Emma and Sophia were the only two children dedicated this particular time. Our church does not baptize infants because we adhere to what we term as "believer's baptism." Therefore, we only baptize people upon their confession of faith. Sometimes older children are mature enough to understand baptism and so occasionally they are baptized, but only after they come to an understanding of salvation and can ask for baptism themselves. Instead of baby baptism, we have a dedication ceremony in which the parents come forward and we pray for the children, blessing them and charging the parents and the congregation to bring them up in the nurture of the Lord. Clint preached a wonderful sermon on the Proverbs 31 woman and the church presented each lady with a rose.

This last Sunday was Emma and Sophie's special day! Granny made dresses for them. I think I wrote about the dresses several months ago. Yes, I began the construction on them quite a while back. We were getting a little anxious thinking that Sophie would outgrow hers before the ceremony. You can see the pretty details of her two piece gown in the picture of her in the chair. Her dress and Emma's were made of the same fabrics with a few different details. Emma's had a bolero jacket, while Sophie's had a long scalloped-edged coat with ruched ribbon. Both girls had dresses of silky rose fabric covered in sheer shimmery fabric. Emma's featured a matching lace belt at the bodice and Sophie's had two rows of ivory lace at the hem. Don't they look cute?

My dress was the one I recently made from a Folkwear pattern. It is fashioned after the turn of the century tea dresses worn in the early 1900's. I love it. I found enough fabric while in Iowa to make 5 more for about $30. Each one will be different and the sheer overdresses will mix and match with all the underdress fabric I purchased! CAN YOU SAY, 'GOOD BARGAIN!?'

You will notice in the one picture that we are posing in one of my favorite places--in front of the spirea out in my English garden. Taking formal pictures in front of spirea is one of my favorite traditions. Clint and I have a treasured prom picture of us back in 1980 in front of his grandma's huge spirea. I was wearing a "Gunne Sax" pattern dress, specially made for the occasion. Spirea are one of my favorite flowers and they figure in to my first book, "The Fields of May." You need to read the book to see why!

What a wonderful day it was! Mother's Day was very special to me this year as we watched our two little granddaughters dedicated to the Lord. It kind of made all the years of parenting come into perspective. After church, both moms and Rhiannon and JT, Kori, and Emma and Sophie all came over for dinner. We used the new china I was given by my mother in law. We set a beautiful table complete with lace tablecloth, bouquet from the English garden, and stemware, just to eat grilled burgers, brats, hot dogs, and baked beans! Oh, well, sometimes you must celebrate the simple things in life!!!! Blessings, LORI