Royal Birth, Royal Promises

Derek has a goal to go on a mission.  Sierra has a goal to get married in the temple.   They are wonderful friends; focused on school, mission, college but they are also human and very attracted to each other.  They support each other in their goals but together they could also be the one thing stopping each other from meeting some of those goals.  They have set and re-set their own boundaries and stuck to them, for the most part.  They asked for help from friends, they spend less time together and then they asked for parent help.

We wanted to remind them of their Royal lineage so from Prince Derek, the Hinckley's requested a sword of chivalry in order to be able to see Princess Sierra.  It took him a week (a very long week) to come up with an idea that he thought would be sufficient.  Princess Sierra's father didn't give any hints to what he expected for the sword of chivalry so the standard was set high
by Prince Derek himself.

He spent nearly six hours forming, cutting, sanding and painting an actual sword while, at his request, his mother made a
frosted brownie sword and heart.

While working, he thought over his feelings, goals, and the Princess he so loved and wrote his thoughts which became the
Sword of Chivalry.

“Sword” of Chivalry

I, Derek Andrew Edwards, do hereby swear on this day to always

hold true to the the values that I know to be true and to always, to the

very  best  of  my  ability,  hold  to  the  honor  code  associated

with  the  great  chivalrous  code  of  the  Armor  of  God and

to, with all of my heart, love the beautiful Daughter of God that you

have raised and brought into this world and to protect her in all

things that I can, to respect her honor and her virtue forever and

always no matter the circumstances, feelings, and desires of the world

that I have. I will always treat her with the respect that I know she

deserves and to help keep her on the track back to our Father who

dwells in heaven above so that we may both return to god with our

heads held high at the great and last day knowing that we are clean

and that we made it when so many others failed and when the world

we lived in tried its best to tear us down. I take into my protection

a true and worthy Daughter of God and I will never do anything to

change or alter that in any way lest it be in righteousness. I say these

things in promise to hold to them to the very best of my abilities.

X ___________________________________________

For the Edwards castle we requested from Princess Sierra a banner of virtue.  Again, no specifics were given.  We wanted this to be thought out by Princess Sierra and to be personal for her, not for us.  After nine days she came up with a plan and the courage to do her first sewing project with silky fabrics.

She took time shopping for the perfect trim, found gold to highlight it and after spending much time with her own thoughts, she wrote her feelings for what became the Banner of Virtue.

Banner of Virtue 

I, Sierra Jade Hinckley, do promise to always maintain a high moral standard.  

To be the best person that I can be, To help Derek to remain worthy to do his duty to both himself and his Heavenly Father by serving a mission.  To help maintain an environment where we can have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost and live my life in accordance with the teaching of our Lord and to help Derek to do the same.  To do nothing that would deter either of us from our path to 

Eternal Life.

The Sword of Chivalry remains at the Hinckley castle as a visual reminder and the Banner of Virtue hangs
at the Edwards castle doing the same.