He will rejoice over you with singing

While I was pregnant with Anna Kate, I began thinking of different verses that I wanted as her "life verse" and so many came to mind. However, the one that kept coming back to me was Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." There were so many verses that detail what I would like our daughter to accomplish, who I hope her to be. But as I prayed for our unborn daughter, God continued to reveal to me that my greatest desire for our daughter was for her to know WHO she is, not WHAT she could be. WHO she is is loved by her Father. Not only loved, but REJOICED over. He created her, knows her, loves her, delights in her, and rejoices in her. As she goes through her life, I pray that knowing WHO she is will free her to be anything she desires. That having complete confidence in her identity as a beautiful, celebrated, daughter of God will free her to not seek acceptance from those here on this earth - to not wonder if she is worthy, but to know without hesitation that she is. And that through that knowledge, she will be able to bless others. 


Even though I had been praying and had this verse in my mind, I hadn't shared this with anyone. So you can imagine my shock (and emotional outburst) when my sister gave little Anna Kate the most beautiful blanket for Christmas with this very verse embroidered on it! I could barely thank her over my blubbering :). 


I have been wanting to hold a photoshoot of Anna Kate with her blanket for weeks now, and finally got a chance to do so today. Our plan was almost thwarted by a dead camera battery, but AK's happy mood held out long enough for a mini charge :). A few pics are below: