A couple of Sundays ago on Quincy's two month birthday, Brian gave her a baby blessing in church. She was our first baby to be blessed in church instead of at my parents' home with a small gathering of mostly our family present. As much as we miss all of our family and the special circumstances of our other children's baby blessings, it was very nice to have her blessed at church. We have been here in Michigan about six months and as I looked at the group of men that Brian had asked to assist him in the blessing, I thought of the families that they represented and I was very grateful for the loving support of new friends.
Oh, how we love this baby girl. She is a good baby. She is my most smiley baby. She just gives the best smiles and she first smiled at me before she was a week old. I haven't been able to capture her big open mouthed sweet smiles on camera yet. The camera is a distraction to her smiles.
Look at these little cheekie chubbers and the sweet little double chin...
It's her very serious look. We see it a lot.
It's amazing how quickly these little creatures find their permanent we-can't-imagine-life-without-you spot in a family.
After about a bazillion tries, we finally got this shot of all four children...it's the most civilized of the bunch. And just for the record it's right after I threw Sidon next to his sister (like I mentioned before, for the bazillionth time) and said, "Look! There's an abominable snow monster eating Daddy's ears!" or something like that. They all looked.
This is a more natural/accurate photo of our crew...
And in case you are one of those relatives who are missing these kids. Don't miss them too much...
In her blessing, Brian spoke of Quincy's name and what it means. She was named after the town of Quincy, IL. We decided on her name during our road trip to Michigan. We were having a difficult time choosing a name. Brian was trying really hard and I was shooting his efforts down left and right. Anyway, on the road one day Brian asked, "What is the name of that city where the early Saints ended up when they fled from persecution in Missouri?" Neither one of us could remember, but we did remember the story of how the early members of our church had to flee Missouri to preserve their lives. It was winter and they had nothing as they crossed the Mississippi river into Illinois. The people in the city of Quincy showed great compassion and mercy as they fed and sheltered all those in need. After the winter those early members of our church moved up the river a bit and settled in Nauvoo, but the kindness given them in Quincy was not forgotten. A few years back the Mormon Tabernacle Choir held a benefit concert in Quincy and donated the proceeds to the city. It was a very small token of gratitude to the city that many, many years ago showed such great kindness. It's funny that we didn't remember the name of the town but liked the idea of naming our baby after it. When I looked it up later on, I was surprised and kind of happy that I actually sort of liked the name. It took me awhile to really commit, it sort of happened gradually. But after we mentioned it to the girls we were committed whether we wanted to be or not. They started calling their unborn sister Quincy right away and never stopped.
So Brian blessed her that she might be compassionate and merciful to all those around her. That she will open her doors to those who are in need and show love to them, just as the people of Quincy, Illinois once did for those Saints that one winter long ago.
Hers was a very sweet baby blessing and I pray that this little angel will always have a compassionate and loving heart, that she will bless all those around her, that she will even seek out those who are in need and that she will be happy.
