John’s baby blessing – 1985
By the time we were able to officially bless John in church, he was 14 months old. At that time, the Church recommended that adopted babies not be blessed until the adoption was complete, and this process for John took over one year due to Missouri state laws. The long-awaited Sunday arrived, and I was faced with a dilemma. How would we hold a very active, vocal, and mischievous 14-month old in our arms to give him a name and a blessing? I knew that the traditional method used with infants, this is, having the circle of priesthood holders gently bouncing a reposing baby was out of the question. John, by now, was walking, very inquisitive, and a hefty 20 or more pounds. My plan was to simply hold John upright in my arms and to have others in the circle touch his legs or feet. On the blessing day, Susan had John dressed in a cute blue pair of shorts with suspenders, a white shirt, blue bowtie, white knee-high socks, and cute oxford shoes. By the time our Bishop announced John’s name and asked us to come forward for the blessing, John had removed his bowtie, his suspenders, his shoes, and his socks. Attempts to re-dress him were met with yells and protests. I thus carried our shoe-less, sock-less, tie-less boy up to the stand, where John’s uncles and grandpa joined us in the blessing circle. John immediately began squirming and twisting as the brethren attempted to place their hands on him. Only my death-grip around his waist and legs kept him in my arms. As someone in the group held a microphone near my mouth, John grabbed it and attempted to dissemble it. Failing in this attempt, he then proceeded to pound on the head of the microphone. This wrestling match continued for the 2 or 3 minutes that it took me to pronounce the blessing, and I then made a hasty retreat to the pews with John. Heeding the spirit and concentrating on the blessing were difficult at best, and I can only hope I uttered some inspired thought which will come to fruition at some future time in John’s life.
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