Many of you have asked about LG's beautiful dress. It's the same one M was blessed in two years ago and the same one all of her Tobler cousins have been blessed in...
Miss Lucy was named after her great great grandmother, my great grandmother, Grace Leona Montague Head Howell. My grandma Grace has a city in Idaho named after her. My genealogy books have a story that when this small town was being named and a post office added, the person in charge saw a beautiful baby laying in a drawer for a bed and asked her name. He then named the city after her. I don't really remember grandma Grace but when I ask my Mom about her, she always says, "she was a delightful and talented woman." My sister is also named after grandma Grace so I guess LG is named after my sister in a way as well which we love. Lucy? We just like the name! That's kind of how we do things, choose a first name we like and a family middle name. Just ask her big sister.
My mother made this dress with lace that was handmade by grandma Grace herself! The bottom trim is actually from a pillow case. My Mom then added a long dress to it and made a slip (not seen) that is also trimmed with handmade lace made by grandma Grace. All of us grandkids (my siblings and cousins of my generation) were blessed in a very fancy, old blessing dress that was made for my great uncle and made by grandma Grace. It was handed down to my grandma Bobbie and many of her grandchildren wore it (my generation). It was retired either shortly before or after 2000 when grandma Bobbie died. So my Mom made one for her grandchildren. All seven of them have been blessed in it. Many of them also wore handmade booties made by grandma Grace but my girls wore beautiful satin baby shoes given to me for my girls by my Grandma Betty (who we were living with recently). I made her bow (to answer Emily's question) My mom then embroiders the name and date of their blessing into the slip as a record. It's pretty cool.
ps- W's new job is with a health insurance company. It's a temp-to-hire job while he looks for a more permanent place. We're thrilled though because for the first time in 2008, when I ask how his day is, he says "good" rather than me dreading it's going to be worse than "okay" again! He's liking it and we're still interviewing at a few other places. I got offered a part-time position that I'm currently thinking about taking. We'll keep you posted but we are so blessed that he found this position so quickly to keep income coming in and to keep him busy and from going stir crazy!!!
