The meaning behind her name...

Bryan has been working on this paper to put in Mandalen's scrapbook for the last two weeks that fully explains her name.  Putting spiritual feelings into written form is very difficult, but I think he did a great job.  It's pretty easy as you read to tell which words are Bryan's and which words are mine, so just bear in mind, he is, by far, the more articulate of the two of us :)

  Ever since we first decided on Zerin's name nearly 10 years ago, it became important to both of us to have our kids' names to hold some special meaning, to stand for something, and to serve as a kind of type and a shadow for them to look to every time they introduce themselves to new people, every time they put their name on a test, every time they sign a contract or agreement.  We wanted to instill in them that not only do their names mean something special, but, “That when [they] remember [their] name [they] may remember,” (Hel  5:6). 

“We are not left alone to wander through mortality without knowing of the master plan which the Lord has designed for His children” (Elder Perry). God has given us types and symbols to help us to remember His plan for us.  The name Mandalen comes from the word mandala. “A mandala is an integrated structure organized around a unifying center” (Longchenpa). “It represents wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself--a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds” (The Mandala Project). Mandalen is a Christ-like symbol , “a unifying center” around which people will come to learn “His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize [our] divine destiny as heirs of eternal life” (A Proclamation to the World). Mandalen will “remind us of our relation to the infinite” and His plan. 

 
                The symbol of the mandala can be found all around us. Mandalas are carved into stone, they are painted on the walls of sacred buildings and the pages of inspired books. Simple or complex, these geometric shapes can “bring all things to our remembrance, whatsoever he has said unto us” (John 14:27).

 The symbolism of the mandala on “temples and scriptures help to tell us of still other worlds-of a universe drenched in divine design” (Elder Maxwell).  Just as the symbol of the mandala, Mandalen will help others to “realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life” (A Proclamation to the Family).

The simple mandala...or circle (eternity) in the square (time), is prominently featured on the Bountiful Temple.  Bountiful is where Bryan and I were both born.  The Bountiful Temple is the first temple we were both able to go through during the open house while in our teens.  It is the temple where we both received our endowments.  It is where we got engaged.  And, on May 5, 2000, it is where we were sealed together for time and all eternity, and where our eternal family unit began.  We see this beautiful building from our front yard and it serves as a constant reminder of not only our beginnings, but our ultimate goal as a family to be together, forever. 

I deeply wanted to name Mandalen after one of my grandmas or great-grandmas, but none of their names felt right.  I realized that naming her after just one of them felt like a short change to the others...how do you pick, seriously?  If I didn't believe this would be my last baby, the pressure may not have been as intense, but knowing this was our last hurrah, we didn't want to make a flippant decision by just picking one of them.  I thought about what it was about my grandmas, and my mom and mom in law for that matter, that I was wanting to honor.  Since naming her Ruthlucilleludeanshannacherylrubyharrietlauramaryann wasn't really an option, a person came to mind that was the next best thing to my grandmas...Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley.

She has been one of my heroines since my teens.  I admire so much about her.  On days when I feel myself slipping into a whiny, ungrateful state of being...I pop in my VHS of her speaking with her daughters, and I'm brought back to remembering what a wonderful miracle and blessing it is to be a wife and a mother.  I cannot think of her without also smiling...she brought joy with her when she walked into a room.  She had a gift of humor, empathy, love, happiness, and doing hard things with a smile on her face.  There is much about who and what she was that I want for my little Mandalen Pay.