His Special Day

On May 5th, a beautiful warm and sunny day, our friends and family gathered together as Erik blessed our son Ethan Victor. It's been all about Ethan lately, but we have been more than happy to oblige.

Ethan is very fortunate to be surround by so many wonderful people. All of his "Olafsson" aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents were in attendance. Regrettably, the only members of my family that were able to make it were Aunt Donna and Uncle Gil. All of my siblings live out of state and my parents are in Norway serving a mission.

Surprisingly, the morning of Ethan's blessing, I was very calm. The day Claire was blessed, I was completely stressed out. I thought for sure she would either cry through the entire prayer, go to the bathroom all over the men holding her, or spit up all over her beautiful outfit. None of which happened by the way. I knew all would go well this time around and even if it didn't, I could handle it. As expected, Ethan was a perfect gentleman.

The preparation for such an event always makes me anxious. I spent hours thinking about how I would coordinate our outfits, deciding on what food to serve during the after party, and trying to figure out what time everything needed to be prepared by in order to make it there on time. Of course, all of the above contributed to a successful afternoon. Erik gave a very thoughtful blessing and though I don't remember every word, I will always cherish the feeling I had as my husband stood amongst all of us giving our son a blessing. I am so grateful for Erik's prayerful obedience to the Lord.

Below are images of some of the most important people in Ethan's life.

Starting from the top left:

Ethan's Farmor/Farfar, and Bestemore

Ethan's Great Grandpa/Grandma Madsen

Ethan's Great Uncle Gil and Great Aunt Donna Meier

Ethan's Uncle Steve, cousin Vivian, Aunt Liv, cousin Roman and Soren Moffat

Uncle Steve and cousin Vivian Moffat

Uncle Tom, Aunt Kari, cousin Evelyn and Emma Lane

There were two things missing from Ethan's blessing day that created a very dismal feeling in my heart; my parents. It's been very difficult for me to go through the pregnancy, birth, and newborn stage of my son without the companionship of my parents nearby. I miss them dearly and that sunny afternoon, I was heartbroken that they couldn't be there. With that said, there was a tiny piece of light in a sort of gloomy situation. The advances of technology made it so Ethan and I were still able to see my parents and speak to them for a few moments outside of the church prior to the blessing. I know Ethan had no idea what was going on, but he amused me by staring at the iPod while my parents spoke to us. I was so grateful to see them and hear their words of encouragement that day. My parents and I had a very brief conversation outside, I shed a few tears, and then collected myself and headed in. Thank you Ranae (Ethan's Farmor) for capturing these images for me. They are so special and bring me such joy.

Before I end this post, I need to give a special thank you to my parents for gifting Ethan with his charming blessing outfit, to Erik's parents for stepping in and being there for me when I needed them, and to Erik for being the most wonderful father a woman could give her children. Ethan and Claire are very fortunate. Love you all!