God-Parents

We are having Ander's infant dedication at our church on March 7th. It's exciting to finally be able to take him out somewhere other than the doctor's office and grandparents' houses. We returned to church earlier this month and nobody noticed Kyle and me. :-) Ander was definitely the star! He is the first baby born into our little church. We love our church family! We're smaller and close-knit.

Infant dedication brings up the necessity for God-parents. This is an important role. my God-parents were my aunts and uncles. While I care very deeply for them, none of them were the perfect fit. God-parents should share the same beliefs as the parents, both so they can be a spiritual advisor as the child grows and if anything were to happen to the parents they would raise the child in the belief system that the parents would. This might not matter to some parents, but it is something Kyle and I highly value. If you're going to believe in something, you better take full stock in it and desire that for the ones you love. Believe in what is true and pray that your children never fall for a lie.

Another aspect of choosing God-parents for our kids is proximity/familiarity. If a child loses their parents, that is enough trauma to deal with and to add moving across the country to live with people they don't know very well or see often would be placing more difficulties on them than they should have. Kyle and I can think of friends in multiple states and other Montana cities who would make wonderful God-parents! But that's just not fair to Ander! We need someone he will be around to have a relationship with and live in an environment he's already comfortable in, Both sides of our family are here and that adds further support.

The third thing that we look for in God-parents is stability. How settled are they? This is why we won't choose any of our siblings at this point. None of them are married. A further perk is if they already have children so we can see how they raise their kids.

With all of this in mind, we have asked Jim and Tammy, our neighbors/friends/brother and sister in Christ to be Ander's God-parents.  They are such wonderful people and Kyle and I have always admired how great they are at parenting!  Jesus is their center and we are so blessed to know them!