A name and a blessing

Trying to catch up!


Vander David was blessed April 10th, 2011 when he was almost two months old. My memory of the blessing itself is a little fuzzy (can you say "sleep deprivation") but I remember that Nathan blessed him to be a peacemaker in our home. When Annalee was blessed, Nathan blessed her to be a good example to future siblings and a caring older sister. She has fulfilled that blessing so well!

He was offically given his name, Vander David. (Have you noticed I never post our last name on this blog?) I think I've mentioned before where the name came from. I've been jealous of gals who can take their maiden name (Cooper, Jackson, etc.) and use it as a boy's name. VanderBeek didn't exactly work that well. But I fell in love with "Vander". We briefly considered "Beek" for a middle name . . . for about 2 seconds. Then we thought of other names that start with "B" but none of them meant anything to us. One night, I realized his middle name was David, like Nathan's dad. That meant he was named after two grandfathers. I just LOVE his name!

Before Vander was born I stressed out about what outfit to have him blessed in. I had made Annalee's blessing dress but I was just too tired out and crazy to attempt a blessing outfit for Vander. Finally, I realized that I had made a blanket for Vander but not one for Annalee, so they are even. I dressed Vander in a baby blue satin outfit my friend Jessica made for her son. We were in such a hurry to get to church that day that I didn't grab a picture before we left, but I swore I would get one when we got home.

Well, I'm sure you know how that story ended. Several weeks later, when I thought of dressing him up again just for a picture, the outfit no longer fit. So here is a picture a month later of my two men dressed for church,though this picture is more what Vander looked like around the time of his blessing.Aunt Tara came for the blessing, as well as Aunt Sarah (but no pictures, argh!)

As opposed to the food extravaganza after Annalee's blessing, this time I bought some milk and cookies. A few friends came by. It was a nice, relaxed day.