Five years today since the baby blessing!!

Today is the five year anniversary of Logan and Ellie's baby blessing day!! They were six months old when they were blessed because we had to wait until their adoption was finalized in court. That's when their names were legally changed and we could give them a name and a blessing. At the time of their baby blessing we lived in Logan, Utah in a three bedroom apartment. We were in the transition stage of our move from California back to Utah, and would soon be moving into our first home.





For their baby blessing Logan wore a little white jumper with a white satin jacket. My sister Kim sewed it for him. All the tiny details and stitches are so sweet. I love it!

Ellie's dress has significant meaning for me and will always be a special heirloom for her. My mom passed away from cancer two years before Logan and Ellie were born. In the blurred days after her death, my sister was looking through my moms sewing cupboards. (She was an incredible, meticulous seamstress!!) She came across a nearly-finished baby dress made from something obviously vintage. None of her seven daughters knew what it was for. We showed it to my Dad to see if he knew. He got all choked up and said it was a blessing dress that she had been working on as a Christmas gift for me that year. He said it was made from something that belonged to her mother, but we don't know what. Maybe a slip or a tablecloth. I did not have children at the time, and like I said, Logan and Ellie were born two years later. At my moms passing I was freaking out because I would never have anything sewn by her for my children--like all the older grandchildren do--blankets, PJ's, special occasion dresses, etc. Two and a half years later Ellie wore her special blessing dress. Such a treasure for me and for Ellie to pass on. (We did spill baby food carrots on it that very morning--you'll notice the spot in the pictures.)


Ellie was given the name of Elleah McKelle Jones. Originally we were going to name her Leah, after my middle name, Lee. But we extended it to Elleah. Her middle name McKelle, is after Darin's middle name, Michael. In her blessing she was told that she came to this earth with many spiritual gifts. She was also blessed with the strength and the courage to fortify others.

Logan was given the name of Logan Jacob Jones. It took much threatening and pleading for Darin not to name him Moses. He was convinced we should name him Moses!! We were at an NPR Bull Riding event in Anehiem, Ca when I came across the name Logan in a baby names book. It was perfect since we were from Logan, Utah--and were married in the Logan temple, etc. We did have Dakota picked out for his middle name. But his birth mom had named him Jacob and we really liked it and thought it had much more meaning. So Logan Jacob it would be! In his blessing he was blessed with a clear mind. (This is significant with Logan's diagnosis of Aspergers syndrome.) He was also blessed with the capacity to learn and understand knowledge, especially the knowledge of the truth of the gospel. Also significant as he is a genious as far as his IQ goes, he is very brilliant. But he struggles with the abstractness of gospel topics, as he takes everything very literally.
Logan and Ellie were both very tired the day of their baby blessings, as they missed their regular naps. There were very few smiles from them in the pictures that day.
This special day of blessing the babies was the icing on the cake after going to court to finalize the adoption and to the temple to be sealed.
Thismorning I got out the baby blessing outfits for Logan and Ellie to see. They had never seen them before. Ellie wanted to wear hers to church. She thought because it was so long it would fit.