Swisher Sweetness: Duncan's Blessing

In our church we have the great opportunity of giving our children blessings shortly after they are born. It is performed by a priesthood holder, and is an ordinance done as a way of giving a child an official name, dedicating his life to the Lord, and blessing him with guidance and gifts for his spiritual and temporal life. Many other churches have similar ceremonies like this, like a christening or confirmation; but in our church, there is no actual baptism performed, it is just the blessing. Chris performed the blessing for Duncan, just like he did for Mitchell, and he felt inspired to bless Duncan with some very sweet things: with strength to follow God's commandments, to be a good example to those around him, to bring contagious joy to his friends and family, to be able to feel the Lord's love for him throughout his life, with good health, with the opportunity to one day serve a mission for the Lord, and to be worthy to marry a great companion in the Temple. It was a very precious blessing, and I hope Duncan can look back at this blog someday to remind himself of his blessing, and all the wonderful things the Lord wanted him to have and know. We wish all of our friends and family could have been here for this special occasion, but that is the downside that comes with living so far away.

Awe!! All dressed up in his adorable blessing outfit. It is a family heirloom; Chris wore this for his christening when he was a baby, and Mitchell wore it for his blessing. And it is especially dear to our hearts considering the fact that Chris's grandma Swisher made it herself.

All the priesthood performing the blessing: Duncan's grandpa, Bro. Barton (counselor in our local church leadership), our Bishop, and Chris. Normally, blessings are done at the church in front of the whole congregation when a baby is about 1 or 2 months old. But, we wanted to have Duncan's blessing while my dad was visiting, so that he could be a part of it. Which meant doing Duncan's blessing when he was only one week old. Because he was so young and new, and with the weather being freezing outside, the bishop kindly offered to come to our home to do the blessing to help limit Duncan's exposure. It was very intimate and a sweet family moment.

I love this moment! Everyone was chit-chatting prior to the blessing, but Chris only had eyes for his precious son.

Grandpa admiring Duncan from across the room as Grandma held him. Haha, and Mitchell having to sit next to Grandpa (Mitchell wanted to be anywhere Grandpa was).

One overwhelmingly happy momma:)

Too precious!!

He was so excited to hold Duncan! He's looking at us and saying, "baby." And I think this is a very angelic picture of Duncan... so comfortable in his brother's arms.

We did our best to get a family picture, but Mitchell wasn't having it. We even tried bribing him with cookies and candy to get him to smile, but nothing stopped the tears. Lol!