A Name and a Blessing

 

Sunday was Miss Ruthie's blessing* day and it was beautiful. There were some funny and awkward moments, but overall- beautiful.

Ruthie decided that she would only snack a little bit in the morning (though I tried to feed her several times before church) so, of course, she was starving by the time we got to the church building. She looked like a little baby angel, but she was not a happy camper. 

Regardless of the crying, Scott was able to bless her through the priesthood power. She was blessed to be a steadfast member of the church and to be a rock to those who doubt. It really was a beautiful blessing. Even if she did wail through the entire thing.

Scott gave her the name Ruth Pearl Chapman (same as the one on her birth certificate) and I'm happy he didn't change it. You can do that. But he didn't since it was a long hard road to get a name we agreed on!

See, back when I was very pregnant with Georgia, I was watching TV and some girl power commercial came on. There were little girls saying their names.
"I'm Elizabeth."
"Hi, I'm Aubrey."
"I'm Courtney."

And in the mist of all of it came the sweetest little voice joyfully proclaiming:

"It's me, Ruthie!"

My heart jumped and I knew that if we had another little girl, that would be her name. Scott was thrilled and we had our Georgia and put the name Ruthie in the back shelf of our mind.

So when we found out we were having our 2nd girl, there was no question that she would be called Ruthie. It bothered us that it was not a family name, but we felt strongly about it.

Well, my mother's name is Lorna (which I love all on it's own) and she has no middle name. While I was telling her about the name Ruthie she mentioned that the only name she ever liked with Lorna was Ruth.

Lorna Ruth. How adorable is that? Georgia Rose and Lorna Ruth. I was in LOVE.

I had never been one to think about having a child go by their middle name but Ruth Lorna sounded pretty dumb and suddenly the whole middle name thing was no big deal to me at all.

To Scott, however, this was treading on IMMORAL territory. He and his family felt so strongly that it was JUST WRONG to have a child go by their middle name as if the kid would have this great burden their entire lives.

That's when the playful fights started. I just couldn't believe that he was so against our daughter going by her middle name and he just couldn't believe that I was actually considering it.

That's when the playful fights turned not so playful. He couldn't give me a better alternative to Lorna Ruth. He felt it was unfair that I was using his mother-in-laws name in the situation. As if striking down the suggestion of Lorna Ruth as a slight to my mom.

That's when we started getting recruits. We talked to everyone and asked their opinion. We built small armies in our defense. But it turned out for every person who thought it was dumb to go by your middle name, there was another person who said they liked it/it didn't matter.

That's when we started to negotiate. Late one night, when Scott was almost asleep, I asked him what I would have to do to name our baby whatever I wanted. Rolling over onto his back he thought for a minute and said: "Get us out of debt."

That's when I started pinching my pennies. You guys, I paid off A LOT of debt this summer. Like, A LOT. At least, I think so.

This is also about the time we just stopped talking about the name. I was settled on Lorna Ruth and I was going to basically buy my way. Scott was settled on Ruth Undetermined and his family ran to his defense whenever the name issue was brought up. Pretty soon, we just stopped bringing it up.

One day, when I was REALLY pregnant, my mom called me up. She said that she had just gone to the temple and that she did the temple work for a woman named Victoria Pearl. I thought that was a really pretty name but a bit fancy for my taste. I wondered why she would bring it up since we had already been so settled on Ruth. Then she said "I was thinking Pearl..."

Ruth Pearl. Ruthie Pearl.

My heart did the same jump as it had 2 years earlier when listening to the little girl on TV. I knew that that was the name. I got really excited and my mom got really sad since we weren't going to use Lorna.

Later, I told Scott about it and I mentioned that it was not a family name, but that it was so pretty. He loved it (obviously) and THEN told me that it kind of WAS a family name. His Grandpa Chapman had been raised by parents who were not in the LDS church and his grandmother would take him to church every Sunday. Because she did that, Grandpa Chapman stayed active in the gospel and the active membership of the rest of the Chapman descendants is accredited to Great-Great-Grandma Chapman. Her name was Edith Pearl.

So there you have it. Once it was decided we felt so much better. Both because we found a name we loved and because we got out of a lot of debt in the process! Now that she is here, it is clear that her name just fits her perfectly.

Scott got me this beautiful necklace that I wore to Ruthie's blessing on Sunday to celebrate our two beautiful girls:

I love that I have my Georgia Rose and Ruthie Pearl. My Rose and my Pearl. I'm so lucky. 

*In the LDS church, babies are not christened or baptized. Baptism comes later, at the age of eight. Babies are born pure of sin so have no need to be baptized out of the womb. Instead, they are given a blessing by someone who holds the priesthood (traditionally the father) and given a name to go on the records of the church and to bless the child with spiritual and physical welfare.