Ella's Temple Sealing

This temple has come to mean so much to us. We both got our endowments here (a time when you make a deeper committment as a follower of Christ), we were married here, we had Angie, Sunny, and Logan sealed to us here, and now we have had Ella sealed to use here. As we first walked into the temple I just felt such a wonderful Spirit there. We went over to the records office to make sure everything was scheduled correctly and we saw Bishop Crockett there. He is a man in our ward and he is a sealer at the temple, so we had asked him to perform the sealing for us. Right when I shook his hand I felt such an overwhelming testimony that this man was worthy to hold the priesthood and seal this baby to our family forever through Jesus Christ. It was very powerful, and it was real. I am so grateful for this beautiful blessing on the earth today!

Here we are right after the ceremony with our precious baby.
Grandma and Ella having some fun times
Grandma and Grandpa Neilson and Ella--don't you love the look on her face?
Our precious children--the older kids all were able to be there for the ceremony as well--the temple workers provided them all with white clothing and the girls even got to keep their beautiful white bows. Logan told us at first he was pretty scared, but when I saw him in the sealing room he just beamed up at me as if to say, "Mom, this isn't scary at all--it is awesome!!"

Beautiful Ella and Daddy outside the temple

Goofing around--Jacob and Trevor had a bunny ears face off that day.
Aunt Jennie can always get smiles from Ella!
Love it!
A few weeks ago at church I was gathering up all the kiddos and holding Ella and trying to get out to the car. As we are going past our home teacher he said to me, "And I can still remember when you didn't have any kids--Look at you now!" I jokingly said, "Yeah, be careful what you wish for huh?" but really, what more could we wish for? Don't get me wrong, out life is not a bed of roses, and motherhood is a daily learning experience for me, but wow are we blessed or what? When we first thought we couldn't have kids, it was such a heartache, and here we are with four beautiful children! We will always be so grateful to all those who have helped us in our adoption journey, and especially at this time Ella's beautiful birth family. It has truly been a miracle in our lives! Thanks everyone who came for supporting our family in this special day!