Briella's dedication

Last month, when we were in Australia, we had Briella's dedication service at our home church. I did a little speech and thought I might as well share it here as well. 

Dear Briella,

I am writing you this letter on the eve of your dedication. You are loved by so many people, and most of all, by your family – your daddy, your two big sisters and me. I always said that I wanted three girls, and God saw fit to give me that desire of my heart.

It took me a while to decide whether or not to have that third baby, afraid of repeating what was a traumatic pregnancy, afraid of having to relive some of the hardest days of my life. When we finally decided to have you, God gave us you quickly – maybe he knew I might change my mind.

At first, I was selfishly hoping and praying that you wouldn’t have the dwarfism that affects your sister, but I knew deep down that God knew the perfect child for our family, and that child was you. I didn’t know it at the time, but God has already used you so much to heal me from the negative experiences that I had previously. I don’t think that would have been possible if you didn’t have dwarfism.

It took us a long time to decide what to call you. Your daddy and I often have very different tastes! We both had lots of ideas but we couldn’t find a name we both loved. In the end, your daddy said he wanted a name with “El” in it so he could maybe call you “Ellie”. I wasn’t even sure if “Briella” was a real name until I looked it up and found that it is a short form of “Gabriella”, meaning “God is my strength” – perfect for you.

We knew your middle name, “Faith”, before you were born. You see, Lana’s middle name is “Joy” – she was given my middle name, as our first born daughter. We planned to use family names for all of our children, but when we were expecting Maddy, “Hope” was something we had to cling to through some very dark days so it was only natural to give her that name. Having started a new tradition, there were only limited names to choose from and your daddy and I (miraculously) agreed that we liked the name “Faith”.

Its interesting though, the bible says that “Faith is the substance of things hoped for” – “hope” is something that is often tentative and flickering, like a candle in a dark night, but “faith” has substance and a basis for strong belief. With Lana, we had the joy of having an easy and perfectly average baby. With Maddy, we had so many worries and fears that at first, we had to choose to hope. That hope grew and grew as we saw her doing things the doctors said she would never do, and as we grew in confidence in parenting her. With you, we never had many of the same worries – we knew that you would figure out how to use those fingers that do not bend. We knew you’d walk and talk – maybe a bit slower than other babies, but in your own time you’d get there. With you, we have faith.

We have many dreams for you. We hope that you will grow up to be sweet, kind and generous. We hope you will be loyal towards your family and friends, innovative, strong and positive. Most importantly, we hope that you learn to love Jesus. Ultimately, this is your life to live. We will try to give you the tools to equip you for whatever life throws at you, but you will need to make these decisions for yourself.

Whatever comes your way in this life, we will always love you and be there for you to support you however we can. We are family, and in the words of Lilo and Stitch, “Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten”.

Love always,

Your mum.