Emmeline's Blessing

Emmeline Rose Eyre Shumway
Emmeline was blessed on December 14th at our Revere ward. We had so many dear family and friends there....I wish we had gotten a picture of all of them. Jeff's parents and sister were in town and Jeff invited a ton of work friends who were so nice to come so far to an unfamiliar church and support our family. We also had a lot of great neighbors there and friends from other wards. There were a good 15 people in the circle blessing little Emmeline. It makes me happy to think that she has so many adults in her life who care about her. That is a pretty significant thing.

Jeff performed a beautiful blessing. I love listening to those blessings, it really helps me see my little babies for the distinct, eternal souls that they are. Emmeline was blessed that she would always have people around her who loved her, that she would do good things for the world and define herself by that service, that she would understand people and their needs, that she would love her siblings, that she would know of Heavenly Father's love for her.

We sang "Beautiful Savior" as a family during sacrament meeting.....well, actually, it was mostly Hazel who sang. She sang the first verse right into the mic all by herself as planned, and then we were supposed to sing the second two all together, but she got very (visibly) displeased as Jeff moved the microphone away. It must have been a sight to see from the congregation. I was just happy that she held things together and didn't burst into tears.

She sang like an angel and had people in tears. She is a good little singer. To give you an idea, here is a video of her practicing at the church. Our dear friend recorded the actual blessing day performance, but I can't figure out how to upload just an audio file....any ideas?

Jeff with his two little girls.

It was so nice to have Grandma and Grandpa Shumway around to represent the grandparents who love this little girl. It was also nice to have them around because they helped out a ton with the open house we had afterwards.

And, of course, we were thrilled that Auntie Kiecoo (Karen, jeff's sister) was around to represent Emmeline's 17 aunts and uncles who couldn't be there.

I got this blessing dress in Spain while I was on my mission. Hazel wore it 4 years ago. Poor little Emmeline didn't fit quite so well into it. Her little double chin made it so we couldn't button the thing up....but I don't think anyone noticed anything but how angelic and cute she looked.

Sometimes I can't believe that our little family is a family of five now:

And other times I can believe it and it kills me:

Don't worry little Hazel, you have certainly not been replaced. We love you.