Families Can Be Together Forever

Saturday, March 5th we were blessed to have our sweet baby girl, Sophie, sealed to us in the Bountiful, Utah temple. It was such a special day! I am so grateful for the priesthood power that is here on the earth today and for the temple ordinances which bind us together as families for eternity. It was a wonderful experience to have Sophie in the temple with us all dressed in white. My sister Nicole held Sophie during the ceremony, so she was dressed in white also. When she walked in the sealing room holding Sophie, they looked like two angels. Sophie came in smiling and pointing. She just learned how to point and as soon as she saw Jon and I, she pointed to us. I did very well during the sealing, until I looked up and saw tears rolling down Jon's cheeks. Once I saw him crying, I couldn't hold back my own emotions. I was filled with joy, knowing that my Sophie will be ours forever. Nothing and no one can ever change that. We have taken several steps throughout the adoption process, but this was the most important step of all. We were blessed to have our families with us in the temple. We know our friends in Mankato were with us in spirit. We appreciate the love and support and many prayers that we have received throughout the adoption process.

Don't mind my hand, I don't know what I was doing. Sophie looked like a little angel in her beautiful dress.

My angel baby! She did so well during the ceremony, other than she didn't want to leave her hand on mine. I ended up holding her hand with my thumb.

Our eternal family!

Kisses from Dad!

I just love her little smile. My cousin, Jonathan took pictures of us, so these are candid pictures that my dad took.

That afternoon, after pictures we had Sophie's blessing. We blessed Sophie at my parent's church and we were blessed to have more family and friends with us. Jon gave Sophie a beautiful blessing and in it he thanked Sophie's birth parents for listening to the spirit, and being willing to give Sophie to us, to be a part of our family. We are eternally grateful to them for their sacrifice and the wonderful gift they have given us. We love them very much and are grateful for the opportunity we have to be parents. Sophie is such a sweet baby, and we are so blessed to have her as a part of our eternal family. We had a wonderful day! It was a long day and Sophie did so well, it was as though she knew what a special day it was. She was so tired by the time we did her blessing, that she fell asleep on Jon's shoulder during the blessing.