What A Blessing!

You are more perfect than we could have hoped,
More beautiful than we could have dreamed,
More precious than we could have imagined...
...We love you more than we could have known.

On Sunday, May 3rd, Norah received her name and blessing. It was such a wonderful day. Just full of deep, deep joy. Among other things, Norah was blessed with strength and health and was told that she would be a good friend and example to her sisters and to her mom and dad.

It did feel a little bit like deja vu. I mean we did just bless Laurel and Maisy last year at this time but this year for me was different. I felt such love for our families and for Jeff. Not that I didn't love all of these people before...but this day, it was just so much deeper.

Jeff's brother Ben and his family just happened to be in town that weekend for Kirsten's (their oldest) baptism. Kirsten's baptism was so special...we love this little girl SO MUCH and felt so privileged to witness such an important decision and event. Then to have Ben be one of the group of amazing men in the circle surrounding Norah was such a special thing for us. It was a wonderful day on so many levels. Norah is so blessed and so are we to have so much love and support. Thanks to everyone who came.

Norah has been such a joy. She has a very special spirit. She really is an angel baby. I feel so lucky and excited to be her mom, to watch her grow and to really know her.

When we were trying so hard to start our family, I remember after a particularly painful miscarriage driving home thinking of an EFY song (I was working for Youth Programs at BYU at the time) that talked about the promise that Heavenly Father would give "beauty for ashes". I thought to myself "If this time in my life is not ashes, I don't know what is" and then I remember firmly believing that someday these ashes would become something beautiful.

When the twins were born I was sure that this promise had been fulfilled. Heavenly Father gave us two beautiful little girls...TWO. But as always happens, he gave us even more than we could have ever comprehended two years ago...he added even more beauty and gave us sweet little Norah.