Baby (and Daddy's) First Blessing...

In the LDS faith, we have a custom of blessing a baby within the first few months of life. It's a ritual that probably most closely resembles a Christening. Only, we do have a full immersion baptism at age 8 and there's no water in the baby blessing.

The object of this blessing is to present the baby before the Lord, give him or her a name by which he/she will be known by the records of the church and an initial blessing. One of the interesting things about being a member of the LDS Church is that unlike most every other church, the lay members of the church can hold the Priesthood, or authority to act in the name of God.

Being a holder of the Priesthood, I had the privilege of performing the blessing. I've used the Priesthood many times before. And I've administered priesthood blessings more times than I can remember. But this is the first time I've done this particular ordinance and as this was not just a baby, but my baby, I was extra nervous. To add to the pressure, this blessing is done during sacrament meeting, before the entire congregation, and amplified through the sound system so that every throat clearing and oral nuance is articulated.

I followed the protocol just fine. When the time came to go "off script" and do the blessing as guided by the Spirit, I found my voice decided to wiggle and wobble beyond my control. And although I had some idea of what sort of things I would say, I found my mind a blank slate. I am pretty sure I repeated some things a few times. None the less, the blessing was completed appropriately.

It's not appropriate to take pictures or video in the chapel, so there's no record of what I said specifically. Although my sister, Lacey, did give us a handy baby book with LDS milestones included, such as baby blessing, which has some notes in it.

Part of the tradition is to have the baby in a white outfit. A dress for a girl, white suit for a boy. Since cameras are discouraged in the chapel, there's always a photo-op outside to follow. Since none of my family could make it for the blessing I had to post the pics online so everyone could see the baby in her white blessing dress which she'll likely only wear once. Here you go.














I'm sure you noticed Anna's mom in some of the pictures above. She is still with us, but leaving back to Vietnam soon. She doesn't speak more than 6 English words, but I think the experience and exposure to our faith has been positive.

So, I've completed my first baby blessing. And it was Maia's first blessing as well. I'm grateful that I was able to be the one to bless her. Like I mentioned above, it is unique to allow the general members of a religion to hold the priesthood. Although I've held that power for years and used it to bless others many times, it was something else to do so for my own child. That experience gave me a new appreciation for it. If only I could go back and do the blessing again with a little less vibrato in my voice...