Austin's Baby Blessing

I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet. Wow. I'm a slacker!

Well, back on July 1st, our sweet Little Man received his baby blessing. But I'll tell ya what... there sure was some craziness that came with this blessed day. The craziness actually started the month before. We were initially going to bless him the first Sunday in June, but the week before that, as we were heading to church, Jim made some comment about blessing Austin that day. And I was like, "What? No... we're blessing him NEXT week." I mean, after all, he wasn't in his blessing outfit, we had just seen all his family the day before and had told them the blessing was the next Sunday, so none of the family was there... I just wasn't understanding where the idea came that we would be blessing him that day. Then, as I was sitting in the mother's lounge nursing Austin during Sacrament meeting, I heard them begin to announce that Baby Austin would be blessed that day. WHAT??? Did I somehow get knocked unconscious for a week of my life?? Where was all this coming from?! Needless to say, I went wide-eyed and quickly made myself presentable, then peeked into the chapel to see what was going on. I saw Jim heading up to the pulpit to let them know that we would NOT be blessing Austin that day. Wow. Still confused, but thinking we were all on the same page now that we would be blessing Austin the next Sunday, I later heard the announcement that the next Sunday our ward would be meeting at 8 AM and only having our Sacrament meeting block of church. (This was due to another Stake needing to use our building for a reorganization of their Stake or something.) So again... WHAT??? There was NO WAY this was going to work to bless Austin the next week now. For one... I did not see any possible way I could be up and have our entire family ready for church by 8 AM and still be feeling the Spirit. :) For two... there was no way I wanted to ask all our family and friends that were going to be driving one to two hours in order to be a part of this to have to get there by that time either. For the love! This was just craziness. SO, we decided to just do the blessing on the first Sunday in July instead.
Sunday July 1, 2012 came and we have 9AM church, so we were a little rushed in the morning to make sure we had everything ready and were out the door on time, but I was able to snap a few pictures of this precious boy before we headed out. And thankfully so... because as you're about to see, things got a little crazy... again. :)
But yes, Sunday, July 1st, 2012 little Austin was given a name and a blessing by his daddy. Standing in the circle was Daddy, Papaw Roberts, Uncle Randy, Andy Gold (one of Daddy's best friends), Laaman Ramirez (family friend), and Bishop Rindlisbacher (also a family friend). The blessing was very sweet... from what I was able to catch. It just so happened that at the same time Austin was being blessed, sweet little Summer Anne had an insatiable desire for some crayons and a book to color. I was trying to write the blessing down and didn't want to miss any part so I kept just trying to shush her, but she was one persistent little booger sweetheart and wouldn't relent. Fortunately I was still able to hear the words of the prayer and write them (even if I wasn't necessarily able to feel the spirit of it at the time) so that I could go back later and read the sweet blessing that it was. This little guy is destined for great things, I dare say.
Well, anyway, (the drama continues) after Sacrament meeting everyone quickly dispersed to different classes and what not, so we weren't able to get pictures taken at that time. But I figured, no big deal... we'll just take pictures after church. So we went to our classes and meetings, and wouldn't ya know that it started pouring buckets of rain during our last hour of church so that by the time we were done the halls and foyers were packed with people trying to make mad dashes to their cars amid the downpours. So okay... pictures were not at an option at this point. But no big deal... we'll just take pictures at home. So we get to our car and head for home. And yes, more craziness... on the way home, we noticed that a few light signals next to our subdivision were out. Dread sets in as I realize the power is likely out in our subdivision, and we've got a houseful of people that are coming over for lunch. We get to our house to discover that, indeed, the power was out. Oh. my. goodness. Mom and Dad Roberts were already at our house, along with Randy and April's family, and they had set to work at finding candles and what not to get some light in the kitchen so they could work on lunch. Mom and Dad were so generous in providing all the food and THANKFULLY all the meat had already been cooked and just needed to be heated up... but again... we were without power (for the LOVE!). So Jim went out to the garage and got the generator and hooked it up to the fridge and fans (yes... fans were definitely a necessity in the middle of Houston summer with a houseful of people and no AC!) and we also ended up plugging our little toaster oven in to it to warm up the meat. (Thank goodness for the generator! And fans! And a toaster oven!) :) The rest of the meal was cooked on the gas stove (thank goodness for a gas stove that still works during a power outage!!). It was a crazy whirlwind. And needless to say... pictures did not get taken. I was so sad when it was all said and done and I realized I had not gotten a picture of Austin with his Daddy on his blessing day. But, the important part is that he was blessed and we were surrounded with people we love and who love us.
The power ended up coming back on about two hours after we got home, and we were able to finish up visiting with family and friends in the comfort of air conditioning, but it was definitely a day for the books. I was definitely grateful when that day came to a close. :)
But, our sweet Austin, I sure hope you know how loved you are. You are truly a blessed Little Man.

And here are the few pictures I was able to snap prior to heading out the door for church that morning. Not what I had intended for keepsakes, but clearly they will have to do. :)

P.S. Please note the SUPER cute little outfit he is wearing that was made by Grandma Packard. Austin wore something made by my mom and I wore a pearl necklace made by my dad so that I felt in some way they were still represented there and could join us in spirit. :) We love you and missed you, Mom and Dad.