Today my baby NW is 16 months old. Time flies!
Each year, stakes in the LDS Church have a Priesthood Preview. This is a meeting for boys age 11 who will become 12 the following year and their parents. The program is speakers who talk about preparing to receive the priesthood and how the boys can prepare themselves and how their parents can help them.
My oldest boy, JJ, will be 12 next year. He has been looking forward to his 12th birthday for awhile now.
I am grateful for the priesthood. I do not hold it myself (women in the Church do not hold the priesthood itself but they are beneficiaries of its blessings) but it has blessed my life in many ways.
The Writer was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood as a deacon when he was 12 years old. When he was 14 and 16, he was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood offices of teacher and priest. When he was 18, he was ordained to the office of Elder in the Mechizedek Priesthood. At age 19, he served a full time mission for the Church for 2 years. At age 30 he was ordained a High Priest.
The Writer and I were married in a Temple of the LDS Church. We believe marriages performed in temples are for time and eternity, not "until death do [us] part". We also believe that children born to a couple who were married ("sealed") in a temple are also bound to their parents for time and eternity. Thus our family unit is forever.
After each of our children were born, at about 6-8 weeks of age, they were given a name and a blessing by The Writer in Sacrament Meeting (the Sunday church meeting for all members to meet together).
Two of our children have been baptized by The Writer. He has also given them the gift of the Holy Ghost, with the participation of other male members of our families who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood.
Each year the night before school starts, our school age children are given a father's blessing for school. When they or I have been really ill, we have been given blessings of health.
Next year, The Writer will have the opportunity to ordain JJ to the Aaronic Priesthood office of Deacon.
I am grateful for the priesthood and the many blessings it has given in my life.
I love reading these remembrances; for so many of these experiences for you (and likewise, for those of our own), we have been grateful to be a part of them. Thanks in arrears, in advance, and just all around. Sorry we don't see you guys as much, but we still think about you. Cheers to you, The Writer, et al.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Doug. As our children get older and busier, it gets harder to arrange times together but as you know, in the Deaf community, you may lose touch for awhile but you never stop being friends.
DeleteHope all is well with your family.