Hardy Highlights : Nathan's Blessing

Nathan's Blessing Day, July 25, 2010

Last week we were delighted when Daren's family came for a visit to see the new baby-and his adorable big sisters too, of course! Daren's mom and dad, Devin, Julene, and Jena's son Spencer all came. It was so wonderful to see them. We wanted Daren's family to be a part of Nathan's blessing so we blessed him last Sunday. Then we got some more good news. Jon's family was going to be visiting Lancaster that same weekend, so they were able to come up for a visit too. It was the first time for many of us to meet Jon's son Tyler.

Unfortunately, Daren wasn't feeling very well the morning of the blessing. He had a low fever and was very tired. He took an ibuprofen, and off we went. When Brother Paulsen announced the blessing, he said, "We will now have a baby blessing. The Hardy's have a son to be blessed. Wait-did I say that right? A son?" Then he grinned. I thought it was pretty funny. Daren brought Nathan up to be blessed and while the other men were gathering around, Mackenzie was bent over Nathan giving him tons of kisses. Daren was telling her to get back to her seat but she kept trying to get one more kiss in. We were on the front two rows so it wasn't very far for her to get back to her seat. Daren gave Nathan a beautiful blessing. And he even named him Nathan William Hardy just like we'd planned. :)

Rachel Huber kindly wrote out the blessing for us. She said she missed a few things but these are the things she wrote down:

"Our dear Heavenly Father, we come before you this day in the power of the Holy Melchizedek priesthood to give you a name and a blessing. The name that will be recorded on the records of the Church is Nathan William Hardy. Nathan, we bless you that your body will be strong and healthy, that your mind will be sharp and quick, and that you will be able to discern between truth and error. We bless you that you will choose to follow the prophet and that you will be of service to your fellow men. You will be able to bless the lives of many through service. We bless you to be cheerful and to be aware that joy in life comes from service."

The men in the circle besides Daren were: Bishop Paulsen, Bishop Anderson, Will Ewer, Max Moffitt, Dale Hardy, Tim McFarlane, and Brent Cannon.

Because Daren wasn't feeling well, we decided to go home after Sacrament Meeting. Daren went straight to bed and his mom, Julene, and I got some food ready for a big lunch. Amy, Tim, and Juliet are also in town for a visit right now so they were there for the blessing and lunch also.

Here are some pictures from Nathan's blessing day: