blessing day for moses thames
deep in the heart of texas

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from new york city, we flew to dallas, texas – where ian’s parents live. we had decided to have moses’s baby blessing there, at grandma and grandpa wright’s house. {in the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, new babies are given a priesthood blessing in their first few months of life. the person acting as voice for the blessing – usually the baby’s father – declares the name the baby will be known throughout his/her life and on the records of the church, and vocalizes blessings (as moved upon by the holy ghost) for the child’s physical and spiritual welfare. it’s really special and aptly celebrated.} we were excited to be with ian’s parents as well as his brother and sister-in-law who also live in dallas, and my parents flew in for just twenty hours for the occasion.

we kind of haphazardly invited ian’s brother and his wife and four kids, who live in ohio, to come down to texas for the blessing weekend – knowing that it was very unlikely that they would be able to make it. a couple of weeks before we arrived in texas, they let us know that they had plane tickets to come join us! of course ian’s two sisters that live in utah (one of whom just got back from her mission and the other of whom just got married!) were also invited but we weren’t sure if they could swing it. we ended up donating some frequent flyer miles to get rachel to the party, but had to resign that we’d see sarah and michael when we got to utah. but then…! they showed up on saturday morning, surprising us all!

so, we had nearly the entire wright family together for the weekend and for moses’s blessing! we sorely missed ian’s oldest brother and his wife and five kids, who were (ironically) in england (but we had had a great time with them before we left!). since everyone lives quite spread apart from each other, it was pretty epic to be all together. and moses was so showered with wright family love – it was so so wonderful!

click through to see some fun pictures from our time together in texas and from baby mo’s very special blessing day.
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^^ meeting cousins! caleb was absolutely enamored with moses, always wanting to hold him and so cutely bouncing and talking to him. it was pretty heart-melting to watch them together. moses would calm right down whenever caleb would gently tell him, “everything’s alright, everything’s alright.” when moses was fussing in someone else’s arms, caleb would be quick to instruct:  “you just need to tell him everything’s alright!” caleb also repeatedly cuddled moses close and said, “you’re a very good moses.” and one of the very best compliments moses probably will ever get came from caleb: “you’re the second best moses i’ve ever known.” haha! i guess you have to part the red sea to be number one. ^^
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^^ moses with josh and esther. they both loved baby boy, but maybe not quiiiite as much as caleb :) (can you spot caleb’s hand reaching out to pat moses’s head?) ^^
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^^ on saturday night, we went to a football game at allen high (the alma mater of all the wright kids). high school football is legit in texas! check out this stadium! and that marching band? the largest one in america! ^^ after being across the pond for over a year, it was pretty fun to attend a good ole american football game.
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^^ we had to document moses’s first sporting event! ^^
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^^ caleb snuggling moses again :) and sarah and her new husband michael! it was so fun for me to meet him and hear all about the wedding since i had to miss it. ^^
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^^ moses takes a ride on the porch swing with grandpa. ian found them out there just having a tender little moment together! and we were so grateful to nate & margaret for coming down to texas from ohio with their whole clan. they even made and brought a special present for moses – long story inside joke on “hoss.” ^^
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^^ aunt rachel loved meeting baby moses … and snapped this adorable photo of him! ^^IMG_5049 IMG_5054
^^ my parents arrived saturday night. we all went to church together sunday morning and then gathered at grandma and grandpa’s wright’s house for the blessing. i just love these two together!! ^^
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^^ we got moses all dressed up in his special blessing outfit. my mom and dad bought this get-up at harrod’s in london just before my oldest nephew max was born, and it has been used for the baby blessings of almost all the eyre grandsons. isn’t it darling?! we got little mo situated on the ground for some photos in his white outfit before the blessing. he had a whole slew of loved ones egging his smiles on! ^^
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and here’s nearly a dozen of the hundred photos i took – because i love every single expression on this darling sweet blessing day boy! >>>>>>>>>>>>
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^^ right after the blessing. i love that our baby moses was surrounded in the blessing and will always be surrounded in life by all these good, good men. (three uncles, two grandpas, and his glorious dad.) ^^
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^^ the whole group! moses is such a blessed boy to have all these stellar examples and supporters. ^^
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^^ my dad snapped this selfie while grandma wright was setting up the tripod for the group photo. don’t you just love it?! ^^
grandpa wright had to leave the house for a meeting and by the time he came back, my mom and dad would be on their way to the airport. so, even though moses was a bit grumpy, we took some photos of him with all four of his grandparents. as you can see, he wasn’t enjoying it much…
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ha! still, i love these series of photos and they will be a treasure forever!
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and a little later we took some family photos of moses with his happy, grateful, loving mom and dad…
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and snapped a few of little mo with his adoring aunties!
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and that evening moses had some more quality time with cousin caleb…!
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^^ caleb is coaching moses through tummy time, which was noooot his favourite activity when he was eight weeks old… ^^
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^^ but caleb helped him enjoy it a bit more than usual. ^^
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^^ and clearly i couldn’t decide which of these photos was the best so i’m posting them all. so so sweet, right?! ^^

it was a really wonderful wright family weekend, and a really special blessing day for mr. moses.

the next stop on our whirlwind usa tour was southern california…
to be continued…!

Comments

  1. Love those pictures. Caleb is pretty sweet.

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  2. Lovely pix.

    I love the outfit that Moses is wearing, he looks so cute in it.

    Did you manage to write down all the blessing or just parts of it? I always think it's a shame that members can't tape things like this.

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  3. we recorded the blessing on our phones. i don't think there is an official policy that says we shouldn't!

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  4. how do you feel about the fact that you and the grandmothers are not able to bestow public blessings on your child, acknowledged to be straight from HF, by all those that lovingly surround him and you? Do you think about hiw this looks and feels to your young neices?

    Beautiful cousin photos!

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    1. thank you! i appreciate your comment and question.

      given that i alone, as a female, was blessed to carry moses as he grew for nine months and then physically experience the miracle of this birth, and now am blessed to feed him in the most intimate way many times every day, i am so so glad for his dad (and male relatives) to have this special experience with him. i hope that my nieces and daughters develop a similar perspective.

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    2. So if you were and adoptive mother making the blessing would have been important but not in this case because you are the biological mother? (I believe adoption is an amazing, and God given, miracle.)

      What if your nieces aren't able to carry children for some sort of medical reason? with the larger # of nieces you have chances very probable that one or more won't be able to have biological children. How would your perspective make them feel then? The groundwork you and their mothers are laying for them now will last a lifetime.

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    3. i absolutely agree on adoption!! if i were an adoptive mother i think i would want to create special experiences for myself with our baby as well as for my husband with our baby (one of which being this naming blessing). i am not sure what that would look like but i am sure i would appreciate our child having this experience with his/her dad and male relatives.

      i would hope that my nieces, regardless of their child bearing or lack thereof, would appreciate the opportunity dads have to experience this special ritual with their children and consider other special ways they can, as adoptive mothers, bond spiritually with their children.

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  5. Congratulations on the blessing!

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  6. Charity,
    I have never commented before but I read your blog often. Since you had the experience of having a baby in London I have been wondering about your perspective on the healthcare system in England compared to that of the US.
    Adorable pictures by the way!

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    1. i don't know that my perspective is very insightful ... i had never been to a hospital or required heath care beyond routine check ups before we moved to the u.k. ... so i don't have much to compare our current health care to! i was very pleased with my prenatal care with the nhs, and i absolutely love the comparative lack of intervention and culture of fear related to childbirth here in the u.k. my birth experience was unfortunately quite traumatic and i was very disappointed with the care we received at some points - mostly when we felt that we were not being listened to by busy health care providers. the antenatal care has been excellent, but there are often long wait times.

      again, i don't have much experience with health care in the states to compare to, but overall we have been quite pleased (with the exception of some aspects of moses's actual delivery) with health care in the u.k.

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    2. the biggest difference - logistically speaking - obviously has been around insurance ... and it has been pretty nice to just know that essentially everything is covered and free...!

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  7. My ped just mentioned that holding baby up on my chest/shoulder (you know, how you naturally hold a small baby) is also considered tummy time! I don't usually do the "typical" tummy time because my kids have all hated it! What a relief, but I wonder if that's a new thing because I only have heard it since having #4!

    Wonderful pictures!

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