Adelaide Joy

Sara, my former next-door neighbor, recently had a daughter after four wonderful boys; here's her blog about the amazing news: …A Girl!

Last August Sara blogged:

...I am thrilled to think that there will be a little girl coming into our lives and a little nervous; will I know what to do with her after all this boy training? ...will I be the kind of role model she needs me to be? Will she say someday as I say so often "I learned it by watching my Mom". ... Will she want to hold fast to her testimony because she knew that her mother held fast to hers? Will she want to know the Savior because her mother sought to know Him? I can only do my best, take things one day at a time and pray that I can be all those things I think a little girl deserves in a mother.

Adelaide Joy was Madison County's New Year's Baby!

It's exciting that Adelaide Joy arrived on earth at the start of the second decade of the 21^st century. Those of us who anticipated a new millennium also had some anxieties about computers rolling over without reverting to pre-historic or antediluvian dates, which never happened, anyway. The 1990s had been a little retro and a lot of light, bright, clean, green and natural; 2000 - 2010 continued the trend, adding a marked multicultural, international sensibility. That first decade is over, and Adelaide starts her new life at the beginning of the 2^nd, and in such a great setting! Derek, her dad teaches at BYU-Idaho, a university with a familiar, world-renowned reputation but the Idaho campus is trying new, non-traditional learning models, just as a brand-new 21^st century baby will be exploring life in ways people who experienced the 20th century might not imagine.

Sara and Derek are outstanding parents to their four boys. They're bright, intelligent, well-educated and mature (but definitely lots of fun). Adelaide has been born into a large, faithful family and as Latter-day Saints often describe it, she has been "born in the covenant," providing her a healthy and nurturing setting. She'll learn the scriptures, attend church and Sunday school; she'll be baptized and take the sacrament every Sunday. Sara wondered "Will she want to hold fast to her testimony?" Gradually Adelaide will step outside of her first space of family and church, into schools and other organizations where she'll meet strangers, choose her own friends and be friended by others. Eventually and necessarily she'll begin defining her unique identity that will grow, change and expand throughout her life as she becomes a citizen of the world and take her place amidst the rest of creation. Adelaide Joy eventually may go to school and live outside the state of Idaho. Will she hold fast to her testimony? She'll meet people who are members of other Christian denominations, people of other major faith traditions and people with no religion or spirituality at all. She may have major doubts.

On one of my blogs Sara commented she'd heard that to remember is to live the gospel in one word—how excellent, how straightforward is that? Throughout scripture we hear a refrain of remember, remember, remember... Adelaide will remember God's charge to trust and obey; she'll carry and treasure memories of family, friends, and the narratives of scripture. All those will help guide her journey as part of the people of God in every time and every place. Will Adelaide hold fast to her testimony? Throughout the ages, the Church throughout the ages has testified most of all of the grace and faithfulness of God, the God who first remembers us...

Welcome to the world, Adelaide Joy!