Macfarlane's Making Memories: Kate's Blessing

Kate was blessed just 5 days after she was born. She was blessed on May 16, 2010 in the Pittsburgh 7th Ward. We had her blessed so soon so that James' mom could be there for the blessing and so that we could have our friends stand in the circle with James as he blessed her. We were leaving for Michigan on Friday, May 21st, for James' summer internship with Dow, so we wanted to bless her before we left as we thought some of our friends might not be in Pittsburgh when we came back. James gave a very beautiful blessing with the help of Blake Young, John Thomas, Shaun Moon (1st counselor), and Reid Reading (2nd/3rd counselor). We got to church about 15 minutes early so that I could nurse Kate and hopefully get her to fall asleep so that she could sleep through her blessing. I made my way to the Mother's Lounge for the first time as a mother and nursed her until she fell asleep. Our plan worked! Kate fell asleep and stayed asleep for her blessing - she was perfectly behaved! I finished nursing her and went back to the chapel just in time for sacrament to begin. I was going to try to take notes so that I could type up her blessing after the fact, but I was so emotional that the minutes James started, I began crying and couldn't see to take notes! Luckily, I have the best family and friends in the world! James' mom and my friend Anya and her mom all took notes and then compiled them together for me. This made it so easy to go back later and type her blessing. I am so thankful for their help in doing this!

After sacrament meeting, we were taking pictures and talking in the foyer and wouldn't you know it?! We had a fire drill!! That is right, the fire alarm went off! But, Kate was thankfully in a deep sleep and the alarm didn't wake her! I should mention that earlier this year we had the fire alarm go off at the end of our third hour of church - I think some kid pulled it. Instead of evacuating the building, the ladies in Relief Society (including me) kept chatting. Since we didn't clear the building, we were told by the fire department that we would have to have another fire drill for practice. I really didn't think they would plan the drill on the same day as a baby blessing, but I thought wrong! Anyways, we all evacuated the building and waited outside for awhile deciding what to do. Do we wait and go back inside when we are allowed to attend Sunday School, or do we call it a day and go home? We decided that with a newborn, we were going home. The only problem was that we parked right next to the building and were not allowed in our car until the building had been checked to make sure everyone was out. After waiting awhile, I decided to put Kate in her car seat to keep the sun from burning her precious skin. Of course, that woke her and she started screaming! So, we went to our car anyway, and after turning the car around in front of the whole ward, we left. What a day!