The Rachel Way: February 2016

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Baptism Quilt

One of the amazing things my mom does when one of her grandchildren gets baptized is she makes them a very special black and white quilt.

Madeline was anxiously waiting for her turn to get hers. Each one is beautiful and different. With lots of black and white prints and a splash of another color. Her cousins have yellow and purple. Ethan's has blue. Of course Madeline's has pink.

She was so excited. She was thrilled! She LOVES it. And it is gorgeous!

Mimi wrote, "Just as black will never be white, wrong can never be right."

I hope every time you look at your special quilt you will remember to always choose the right.

The quilt is just amazing. And it matches Madeline's room perfectly.

This is one happy girl!

And I can hardly believe I have two kids with black and white baptism quilts! Crazy and amazing!

Monday, February 15, 2016

Madeline's Baptism

It was a day when I felt closer to heaven than normal. And I liked it. My angel girl was beaming with excitement and truly glowing with happiness. She told me at breakfast that she'd been awake since 4 AM with excitement!

Her beautiful baptism dress was a gift from Mimi. Madeline designed it and Mimi made it. I thought it was really special for her to be able to be baptized in such a beautiful gift.

Here we are!

Seeing Todd and Madeline like this just made me really happy.

Madeline and I were asked to sing the musical number for the baptism. It was my dream come true to sing with my girl. I felt like I could see a little sliver of eternity and her incredible potential while I sang with my sweet daughter. It was powerful! I had to try and avoid eye contact with all my loved ones in the congregation though, so I could make it through without crying. (Thanks Laura for sneaking a picture!)

The baptism and confirmation were sweet. Perfect and powerful. And I felt God's love. Madeline told me later that she loved getting baptized and wished she could do it again and again. She just loved the feeling of going down in the water and coming back out.

And her confirmation dress? Can I just say Madeline is one lucky girl, because it was yet another incredibly beautiful dress made by her other grandma, Nana! I was blown away seeing Madeline in this princess gorgeous dress. It was a perfect dress to put on after her baptism.

I felt like she was an angel all day!

Thank you Nana! Ack! So perfect!

We had a happy day. The luncheon was filled with people we love and good food. And perhaps a few too many cookies.

I sure love Madeline. I'm so proud of her choice. Her faith and her goodness. I'm so grateful for my girl.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Madeline's Baptism Photoshoot

Madeline's Baptism yesterday was one of the most beautiful experiences I've had in life. The day was perfectly wonderful. I have lots of pictures to go through and thoughts to sort out. Until then, enjoy these lovely pictures I took of her in her baptism dress.

Monday, February 8, 2016

Oliver

Oliver!

This kid has stolen my heart. I appreciate so much his mellow nature and patience with the chaos that often is our lives. He has a quiet way about him that helps me feel calm and happy. But he also can be really silly! He loves sniffing and laughing and pulling funny faces.

He is sooooooo close to walking. He can take about 4 steps, but usually just leans until he starts falling and I catch him. He has 100% confidence that I'll catch him every time. I mostly do. He's getting better. But he's cautious and doesn't seem to feel rushed about mastering anything. My back will be happy when he can walk though!

He is good at saying "Dada" and "Mama", "hi" and "all done". He imitates our sounds for a lot of other words too. I'm pretty sure he knows what's going on a lot more than we think! 15 month olds are so fun!