Josiah’s Baby Blessing

Today was a wonderful day. After spending a good portion of yesterday baking, cooking, and generally preparing, getting a little flustered and tearful about the fact that my family wouldn’t be there, it all went wonderfully well.

The prep started with the baking. With the weather so beautiful outside (some signs were saying it was 24 degrees today!) I was glad I had opted for making quiches, salads, pasta and sandwiches etc. followed by a pineapple upside-down cake, banoffee pie, carrot cake and Eton mess. It all went down very well! I was helped along by Mark’s Mam, Dad and Gran, especially when they spent some time tidying up and beautifying our roof top patio thing, which I had been very worried about finding time to do. They even got some beautiful flowers and planted them around!

Church went smoothly too. I had been a little nervous about it all, mainly about doing the prayer at the end of the church service. I chickened out of trying to remember the Portuguese words and read it instead, but nevertheless it had my heart racing. It made me realise how nerve wracking it must have been for Mark getting up and doing the blessing in Portuguese, but that too went well and little Josiah didn’t cry at all, but spent the whole thing just gazing at his Daddy. He was blessed that he would have a good life, that he would serve a full time mission and that he would do well in school, education and in his responsibilities…among other things. It was quite a feeling to see my husband bless my son, and I was completely filled with love for them.

Josiah seemed to love being the centre of attention today. He babbled and giggled happily, and even spent some time sitting up all on his own! He is growing up so fast, but he is still just as cute as the newborn was.

One of the most remarkable things about today, was that every single person we invited (bar one who had to be in another country) came to witness the blessing. Not only that, but they were all turned out wonderfully, and were so respectful to our beliefs in the church service. You don’t find friends like that every day! We were both touched by the love and friendship shown in this, and it truly helped numb how much I missed my family being there, particularly my father and brothers who could have helped bless Josiah with Mark. It was really fantastic to have Mark’s parents and gran there though…we had four generations together!

So to all of you who came, thank you for making today special. To all of you who we love so much and are so far away, we missed you, but you’ll be there next time!