Amelia-Day (Sealing Day)

I am trouble putting my feelings into words right now.

The day of the sealing was amazing. We woke up on time and things went smoothly at the house getting ready. We arrived at the temple and took pictures on the grounds. Family pictures and pictures of just us three for Amelia's special day. 

Then we changed into our white clothes and, after taking more pictures, went inside the temple. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Latter-Day Saint (Mormon) practices, couples marry in the temple, not in the court house or regular meeting house building. In the temple they are married, or as we say, sealed, to each other. We believe that when a couple who has been sealed in the temple has children, they automatically are spiritually bound to their parents. However, with adoption, that ceremony must be still performed since we did not conceive the baby ourselves. That is why we came to the temple on August 2nd. 

This is an incredibly significant event and one that, among other things, was the reason Meri decided to place Amelia for adoption. She wanted Amelia to not only have a Mom and a Dad but to be sealed to her parents. Following the tradition of others in our family who have adopted, August 2nd will be Amelia-Day in our family, a day to celebrate the adoption and the way we are spiritually bound. 

We have been looking forward to this day for a long, long time and it did not disappoint! 

In the temple, we wear white clothes as symbolism. We believe it is literally God's house and we want to keep it clean. Mia is already a perfect angel so she fit right in :)

I wore my ring & Amelia wore her bracelet that was given to her by her birthAunt. I made her sealing dress (with help from LF, Thank you!!) which had pieces of my wedding dress on it- a single pearl in the front (I wore a single pearl necklace) and a flower on the back. Brad helped me design the dress and I also made the headband. She was supposed to wear these beautiful crocheted booties which also had my wedding dress flowers on them but her long skinny feet didn't cooperate lol. 

Mia was perfect and slept through the sealing. It was incredible to be there surrounded by those we love so much. People traveled incredible distances to be there and I felt overwhelmed by the love I felt in that room. In fact, Brad proposed to me at this temple (near this very spot) and we were sealed to Amelia in the same room we were married in, now almost 10 years ago. Somehow with time, the room has only become more beautiful and has such a beautiful light. As I was in the room and looked at Amelia, I felt filled. I felt....peace and joy and elation and so many emotions. To each of you who made such incredible efforts to support us, thank you so very much. To us, it was a perfect day.