Sweet Beginnings

Family

We had been married for two months, it was a Saturday morning and I was intently writing on my laptop. After a few hours my husband finally became suspicious, and asked me what I was doing. Baby names I told him.

 He paused, and asked me “is it for a game?”

“No, there for us!”

He turned pale and proceeded to stare at me.

“why do we need those?”

Well that was a silly question, in my opinion. We were married we talked about having a family; of course our children would need names. I was not going to let him name most of our children ‘Marlin Jr.’ like in Finding Nemo.  We needed a well thought out plan, and it was best to start early.

            After being very reassuring that I was not planning on having a baby, just naming them. He was able to relax, and then we found out how different our taste of names were. Before we were married, we had talked at length about discipline, and how to raise our family in a gospel centered home. We agreed on all of these tough subjects, but naming a person? Almost impossible.

            It also made me very smug to point out that I had giving us so much extra time to figure out our ‘problem.’ Because if you have every named another human being you understand the stress. I slowly became consumed about these future babies, they needed names, identities, perfect pinterest curated rooms. So with my persistents we settled on names, well in advance of having kids. I like to think my husband is grateful because it is one less thing to worry about.

Growing up in and LDS family, I was taught the importance of family from the beginning. In The Family a Proclamation to the World it has this to say about the Family:

THE FAMILY is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.