Piperleigh Priscilla Richards

We blessed Piperleigh today.  We had intended to bless her at church but as the time to bless her got closer we both felt uneasy about blessing her in front of so many people.  I just kept thinking about Laila's blessing and all the promises that were made for her and about the hopes we had for her future.  Of course, her blessing still applies to her now and the life she lives as a spirit but when I read her blessing (I write them down) I see that there is a lot missing in her blessing--husband, children, etc.--which seems right now that her mortal life is over.  I think we were both worried about what would be missing in Piper's blessing.  We decided that it would be easier for us both to bless her in the privacy of our own home where we would be able to process our feelings without the eyes of the entire ward.  We called the bishop and and  got his approval to bless her here.  So with the bishop and his counselors and one close friend, Mike blessed Piper in our living room.  Other than the fact that Eli thought it would be funny to let out burps through a large portion of the blessing, it was nice to just have privacy and time to talk to each other about the things she was blessed with.  It was a beautiful blessing and brought some confirmation, at least to me, that she should live a life longer at least, than Laila's.

We blessed her with the (very long) name of Piperleigh Priscilla Richards.  She shares the name Priscilla with my great grandmother (Emma Priscilla) and great, great grandmother (Priscilla Simms).  Both women lost children in their infancy.  Mike gave me a blessing after Laila passed away and mentioned that my ancestors were near to help me and protect me.  I have often wondered which ones he meant and have felt that it only makes sense that women that have gone through what I have gone through, would be the most appropriate choice to comfort and protect me.  So we decided to name her after them.

I chose not to bless Piperleigh in the dress that both myself and Laila were blessed in.  I have such few things of Laila's that I wanted to keep her blessing dress separate.  But, I still wanted a similar dress as Laila's so I got online and found a pretty but plain crocheted dress and my mom bought it for Piper.  My sister-in-law made these adorable crocheted flowers and I sewed them the to the dress to fancy it up and then a friend of mine helped me make this cute vintage headband.  I put the slip that both Laila and I wore for our baby blessings on Piper as well as some tights my mom saved from when I was a baby.  She also wore some cute little white shoes (from another sister-in-law).  Finally, when I put all of Laila's belongings in her cedar chest, I kept out the tiny bracelet she wore for her blessing and saved it for Piper's special day.  That way Piper could still have something special to share with her big sister.  I wish you could see the flowers on her dress better--they made the dress so pretty and feminine.

We are so happy to have Piper in our family and so thankful to be able to give her a name and blessing today.