Ryker Dean BlairCame into or lives on November 18, 2010, @ 1:29pm, measuring: 7 lbs. 13 oz. 21 in.
We are so very blessed to have such a wonderful spirit in our home, bringing our family closer together!
Born into the Covenant because of a Miracle!
It is amazing to us how much our Heavenly Father watches out for each and every individual. He has clearly helped carry Dustan and I through the last few years. From the beginning, we are able to recognize the Lord’s hands in our life. By strange events we both ended up in Grand Junction around the same time. We actually both attended the singles ward for the first time on the same Sunday and we walked in at the exact same time in doors just opposite of each other (we were each the first person either of us saw). We were married a year later on June 26, 2009.
Knowing we had to wait a year to be sealed together and that a Temple Cancellation was a long and hard process, we kept in touch with the bishop and took what steps we could. Somewhat of a setback came in March of 2010, learning that instead of being able to go through the temple a year from the date we were originally married, we couldn’t even submit the papers for the temple cancellation until it had been a year. So instead we set out to have the papers ready and be sent in the first day we were able. We also found out we were expecting and the due date was November 15, 2010. I had written my letter to the first presidency, and also asked my ex-spouse in March to send a letter also. I gave his address to the Bishop to have a certified letter also sent requesting one. June came and went, and we still had not received a letter from him. As time continued to pass, we started to get extremely stressed and worried about the whole situation. November was approaching fast, and we still hadn’t received a letter from my ex.
We wanted more than anything to have our baby boy born in the covenant. We knew there was always the option of later being sealed but that complicated things for us. I had two kids with my previous marriage that Dustan has quickly become the father too, and the thought of being able to take our new baby into the temple to be sealed to us while the other two waited outside absolutely killed us! It was hard enough for him not to be able to have them sealed to him, let alone this. And then having to explain to the kids why they couldn’t be there, our hearts just ached. I kept up on the bishop and the ex. Dustan also wrote a letter and submitted it to the bishop. All we could do at the time was wait and continue to pray. We had done our part, and felt so helpless in the whole matter. It honestly felt as though everything was working against us, and hard.
Finally the last week in September enough was enough and we decided to go to the Stake President to see if there was anything more we could do. He gave us a list of each step necessary for the process; it was more than we had thought. Told us once the papers were submitted to the First Presidency, it took an additional 60-90 days, and that there was no way we would be able to go through before the baby was born. I left the office quite discouraged and decided I just needed to come to grips with it all. We had done our best, and prayed our hardest and there was nothing more we could do. My letter from my ex came a week later (it only took him seven months). We helped the bishop get things ready to send in, and he turned it all into President Summers a couple weeks later. President Summers informed us he sent out our paper work on October 16, 2010, and to keep in mind the process will take 60-90 days once it is received. Although we knew we weren’t going through before the baby was born, it was still a big relief the paperwork was finally sent.
On November 10, 2010 we received a call from our bishop asking us for our baby’s due date and if the baby had been born yet. He said that the paper work was being reviewed by the office of the first presidency. The next day, November 11, Dustan received a phone call from President Summers. A member from the First Presidency had just called him wanting to know if we had had our baby yet. We told him no, and he was quick to return the phone call to the first presidency. Dustan and I looked at each other with puzzled looks and the phone rang again. This time, President Summers explained to us that the First Presidency desired that we be sealed before the baby was born, and that the temple cancellation had been approved. President Summers asked if it would be possible to get to a temple and be sealed. We of course said yes, still puzzled and now in shock. President Summers once again called the first presidency back at told them that we would like to be sealed before the baby was born and we would do what we could to make it happen. At this point, Dustan and I were trying to grasp all that was going on. I told him if we really wanted to go it would have to be the very next day which was a Friday, because I had already been to the hospital once, with heavy contractions. President Summers called us back and asked us what Temple. We told him Manti but also that it would have to be the very next day. We decided the Manti temple would be our best option because it is still fairly close but also because Kadee knows the doctors at the hospital near there. I don’t think that’s what he was expecting. He then called the First Presidency back one more time to see if that was even possible. On the forth call it was set. In a matter of two hours we contacted the Manti Temple and set up a time and sealing room. The temple contacted the First Presidencies office and received oral approval for the clearance. We met with our bishop and President Summers to obtain our temple recommends. Our parents made arrangements to take off work. Both his parents and my mother’s recommends didn’t expire till the end of the month, and my dad tracked down his bishop and stake president to renew his. On November 12, 2010 Dustan and I were sealed together for Time and all Eternity in the Manti LDS temple. Ryker Dean Blair was born in the covenant on November 18, 2010.
I am touched by how much my Heavenly Father cares for and loves us. He hears each one of our prayers and answers each one according to His will in His own time. I am so grateful to the First Presidency for making the time for our family and soon-to-be born child, amongst all of their obligations and responsibilities. It’s amazing that “One” small families sealing, could be so important as to make a call and see that they get to the temple immediately and be sealed. Our new son has such a great spirit about him and we feel that Heavenly Father has special plans for him and our family. And with his help we can achieve anything and will continue to prepare ourselves and this family that we may all be instruments in His hands.
