{angels among us}

Have you ever seen a more beautiful little girl? Our sweet Seneca Zella truly is living proof that there ARE angels among us. The spirit of this little one is so pure and tender and loving. BOTH of our little ones are such, that we feel closer to Heaven JUST by being near them. Beautiful. So hard to believe that our baby is eight years old. Seneca lives so very close to her Savior every moment of her life, that it came as no surprise that she wanted to be baptized and dedicate her life to Him. In preparation for this special day, we decided to head to Copperton to do a little photo shoot of our angel in her beautiful baptism dress.



I started looking for baptismal dresses MONTHS before Seneca's special day. She is such a unique little girl, that I wanted her dress to be just perfect. She is so beautiful and absolutely radiates pure joy and love. I wanted a beautiful dress that would match her spirit, yet without distracting frills and lace....something simply elegant...just like her. Having heard of my search, my dear friend Katie mentioned that she happened to still have her daughter's baptism dress and that I was welcome to simply have it as a gift, if it was what I was looking for. I was so grateful for her generous offer....but also knew that it simply had to be "the dress." I couldn't believe my eyes when I picked it up from her house. It was, without a doubt, perfect. It was simple and elegant......and fit our sweet Seneca like it was MADE for her. So grateful for tender mercies...and dear friends like Katie who are absolutely in tune to be His hands. To top it off, my sweet friend Brandy offered to make two very special flowers, especially for Seneca, to match her dress. Two flowers that were absolutely unique....just...like....her. The feathery flower in the pictures below, was my absolute favorite. Perfect.




Next in our preparations, was designing Seneca's baptism invitations. As with Kaden's special day three years ago, not only did I want to design a beautiful invitation to send to our dear friends and family, but I also wanted something that would be a precious keepsake from her special day. Using her favorite color (light blue) and a little bit of yellow, I came up with what I felt was the perfect invitation for our little angel. The invitation (front and back sides are shown in the picture below) included a special insert to those invited to a luncheon in her honor after the baptism....and another personalized insert to those who had been invited to stand in the circle for her confirmation. When my Mama received her invite, she told me how much it moved her to see "Seneca Zella" written so beautifully. She is still so touched that our little angel was named after her. I can't think of any another woman in the world that I would rather have my Baby Girl named after. Seneca is so proud to carry Oma's name.




After a little bit of tension about Seneca's sincere desire for who would baptize her, Jeff and I finally discussed the option of having Opa perform the baptism instead. We hoped that this suggestion would, first and foremost, bring peace to Seneca's little heart and prevent her from feeling as if her decision would disappoint someone she loved, and in addition, ease any tension that would take away from the spirit of her special day. Seneca decided that Opa was a wonderful alternative...and we agreed. What a beautiful thing to have our little angel baptized by my Dad - my hero. In addition, she decided that she would love Grandpa White to confirm her. Another wonderful choice. Such a sweet blessing to have her baptized and confirmed by two men that I love and respect.


Love these priceless pictures below of our Baby Girl with her Opa and Daddy Jeff.....




More priceless family pictures from Baby's special day....

Oma and her sweet little namesake. And, three sweet generations. Love, love, love!

I can't tell you how it touched this Mama's heart, to see so many friends and family gathered together for our Baby Girl. We were especially touched that Kory and Allison drove all the way up from Enterprise with their kiddies, just for the baptism. Seneca felt so very special...so love and supported. What a sweet blessing for her to be surrounded by the Dahlquists, the Smiths and the Whites....three wonderful families who absolutely love her. Pure awesomeness.

At the baptism, while I was helping Seneca get dressed again, I asked my Mama to pass around a matted photo of Seneca for everyone to sign. I did the same thing for Kaden's baptism, and it has been such a precious keepsake. Love seeing both of their signed frames side-by-side. Sweet.



After an absolutely perfect baptism where the Spirit was undeniably present, we returned to our home with the Dahlquist and Smith families for a special luncheon in Seneca's honor.

In addition to being thrilled to have everyone over to celebrate sweet Seneca, it was so fun to be able to have family over for the first time in our new home. We had everything decorated in light blue (Seneca's favorite color) and yellow...to match her announcements. Oma even picked up cookies in those same colors....with S's on them. :-) So fun! We served delicious soups...chicken tortilla soup and broccoli cheese soup with Foccacia breadsticks (Baby's favorite).



What a perfect way to end a perfect day....surrounded by family we love so much. Seneca had so much fun playing with cousins and enjoying the wonderful energy of the day. How grateful we are for her decision to be baptized and for such amazingly loving and supportive families (all three of them) who went out of their way to support her. I could not have imagined her special day turning out any more wonderful than it did. What a great blessing for our precious little angel.