We Bring This Child Forward

Evan blessed my baby today. My beautiful baby. All in white. She's precious. She's sweet. Charlie is the piece that has been missing in our family--she makes every one smile and awe. I can't keep the little hands, faces, and loves away from her.

For those of you who were there...thank you. It has felt lonely in my life for such a long time, at least the last year. We haven't made friends in our new ward (which they reorganized today, so I'll start in a new ward in two weeks). Old friends have not kept in contact. It's felt lonely, and while there have been good friends and family who have stuck by us; but it mostly feels like Evan and I have clawed along for so long.

So to see so many friends come to support us, people we love, people who love us, come and support us. It buoyed me up. I felt the camaraderie that has been missing from my experience in the Church lately. I felt Mosiah 18:9....my baptismal covenants, my baptismal people.

For those of you who couldn't make it to her blessing, this is the blessing Evan gave her.

Our Father in Heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Melchezidek priesthood which we hold, we bring this child forward to give her a name. And the name by which she will be known on the records of the church and in our household is Charlotte June Young. 

We also come forth together to give this child a blessing. Heavenly Father, we bless this child that she will have a complete and full understanding of the nature of the gospel. We bless her that she will understand the divinity that she is.  That she will go forth through life knowing and respecting herself. That she will go forth through with the strength and power that she has because she is a daughter of God. 

Father, through bringing this child into the world we know that it has been a struggle that it is something that we have prayed for, that we have hoped for, and that it is something that we have endured. We ask now at this time, Father, that thou wilt take those experiences and thou wilt endow her with an increased amount of intellect and strength of will, that she will as she goes through life, use these experiences to inform decisions that she’ll make. That she will take these experiences and that they will grow into more experiences that will build upon themselves and give her guidance. We ask, Heavenly Father, that Thou wilt do these things for her.

Please Heavenly Father, bless her body that it will, that her constitution will be sustained, that her bowels will be protected. And we say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I was very impressed with Evan. We've discussed the different methods parents use to prepare for blessings. Evan believes in just speaking from the promptings Spirit in the moment, but he had a prompting this morning before the blessing. He really felt like he needed her to know that no one can take advantage of her and she will never be less than because she is a female. I thought he did a good job in communicating that and it touched my heart that he wants to teach her that from such a young age. 

My sister took most of the pictures today on her camera. But when I get more, I will hopefully remember to post them here.