Clara's blessing day

We interrupt our scheduled France vacation programming to revisit June 3, 2012.  My parents and Zack's parents all flew out for Clara's blessing day.

It was (is) hard to get out the door to church on time with a little baby, but we managed to do it.  Clara's blessing was near the beginning of the service, as they usually are.  She had been passed around a bit already, and while she is a very good baby, she was pretty temperamental at that time, wanting only to be held in certain ways, and, at times, only by certain people.  So I was not at all surprised when she started fussing before her daddy even took her up to the stand for her blessing.  She full-on cried throughout the whole thing.  Everyone got a kick out of it.  It was cute and to me, just seemed so appropriate for her.  I don't mean that in a bad way.  It just kind of suited her personality.  She has always been kind of a spitfire, even in my belly.

She wore a special dress for her blessing day.  My grandma made this dress for me when I was a baby, and I wore it on my blessing day.  She just barely fit in it, but she looked so adorable.  Note the matching booties.  We are not the best at photography, but we did get a few cute shots.

Wow, she has already changed so much since then.

The blessing was very special, and brought tears to my eyes.  I stuck a voice recorder in my dad's pocket so I could copy down the words later.  Some of it is hard to make out, especially considering the screaming baby the entire time, but I think I got a pretty accurate documentation of what Zack said.

By the power of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood and in the name of Jesus Christ, we take your daughter and my daughter in our arms to declare her name and give her a blessing.  The name we have chosen for her is Clara Marie Noyce. 

Clara has been enormously blessed already in her short life.  She has been born into the infinite blessings that are bestowed upon all of your children.  She has been born into a world created so that she could grow, learn, love, and enjoy her life.  She has a loving Savior who has already paid the price for any sins and mistakes she might make and who has already experienced her pains and sorrows as well.  Bless that she will recognize and appreciate the limitless blessings that You have already given her and give her the revelation necessary to understand Your eagerness to open the windows of heaven and pour down more blessings upon her.

Clara has a set of perfect parents that she shares with every person she will ever meet.  She also has a pair of incredibly imperfect parents who, at this time, she has all to herself.  Bless that she will learn patience if not from them, because of them.  Bless her to love them and bless them to treat her as You would like all your children to treat their children.

As we hold your child- my baby- in our arms, we do not know what her future will hold.  We cannot know how the world will change in her lifetime.  We don’t know what decisions she will face, let alone what decisions she will make.  Bless her with the wisdom to make right decisions.  Also bless her with the gift to share in your wisdom.  Bless her that no matter what decisions she makes and faces, the love of those close to her will never waver.

Here before You and these witnesses in this congregation today, I pledge my life and we pledge our lives to loving her and caring for her.  Bless her that she will be happy, that she will be loved, that she will come to know You and of Thy Gospel.  Bless her with everything that she needs in life, and lots of what she wants.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.