I am Elaine's great-aunt, her maternal grandmother's sister.  We live here close and my children have grown up playing with their cousin, Elaine.  As I was preparing to speak today, I was asking my children about their memories of Elaine and they wanted to know why I was asking.  I told them that I was going to speak about Elaine and our memories of her today, and Brynne, my six year old, said, "Mom, you know that if you are going to tell stories all the best stories start with "Once upon a time.."  As I was thinking about that I decided that she was right and that since Elaine was a child and had many friends that are probably here today, that I was going to address the bulk of my talk towards them.

Once upon a time, in a land very near at hand, there was a princess born to the kingdom of Andrew.  She had blond pigtails and blue eyes.  She was a great influence for good in the land and affected many other kingdoms around her, such as the kingdoms of Crook, Olsen, Johnson, Holmes, Smith, Shiman, Croft and many other surrounding kingdoms.  She just seemed to have that knack of making people feel good.  As with all good fairy tales, Princess Elaine had adversity in her life.  She had to battle what we'll call the Heart Dragon on an almost daily basis.  She fought with great courage and bravery, even through many battles, but always drove the Heart dragon back, with some help from her parents and the kingdoms great physicians.  Some of the battles took place in an arena know as "the hospital" while others took place at home, when the dragon would sneak up on her.  Many times, her grandma would sing an angel lullaby to her.  During one particularly difficult battle at "the hospital" arena, her grandma had to go and told Princess Elaine that "the angels will be here with you, grandma has to go, but the angels will be here with you."  Elaine would say, "I know."  Princess Elaine was already close to the angels and knew what her grandma meant.  In fact, I suspect that the angels helped her with some of her battles against that old Heart Dragon.  Elaine loved to be outdoors.  There was never enough time spent outdoor with the flowers and trees and playing with friends for Princess Elaine.  Every time she would come to play with her cousins Brynne and Bree she wanted to go outside.  Bree says she loved to play with Elaine because she's fun!

Princess Elaine helped get her little sister, Violet, ready for life by tormenting her, just a bit, like all big sisters are obligated to do.  And as soon as Violet got big enough, she was happy to reciprocate.  Another time that princess Elaine was fighting in the hospital arena, she was tired and would have liked to go home.  She was asked, "Do you even miss Violet pulling your hair?" and she would sigh and say, "yes."  She did really enjoy riding in the wagon, though.

Sometimes princess Elaine would travel to other kingdoms to spread her light there.  When she was in the kingdom of Shiman, her cousin, Jared, and she liked to run around and play chase.  She would giggle and giggle when Jared chased her.  When her parents were ready to leave and continue the journey back to their own kingdom, Princess Elaine waved goodbye and said she'd stay there for awhile instead.

One time, princess Elaine's Aunt Donna gave her a collapsible light saber.  Elaine loved to extend and collapse and extend and collapse to practice wielding it.  She had to make sure she could get it out fast enough in case she ever needed it.

Finally, it came down to one great battle between Princess Elaine and the heart dragon.  Many times, Princess Elaine fought that dragon and seemed to be prevailing.  But in the end, her Heavenly Father called Princess Elaine home from her fight.  She had fought valiantly here in this great battle, and now he has other tasks for her to complete, that only she can do.
Princess Elaine was sleeping while her father held her and her mother and family surrounded her as she peacefully passed away.

In the world's view, this fairy tale would not seem to have a happy ending, yet we know different.  We know that Elaine is in a better place.  She doesn't hurt anymore.  When her little friend Handen heard that Elaine had gone, he said, "I'm happy."  When asked why, he said, "because Elaine's all better now."

We know that Elaine has been called home to her Heavenly Father.  We know we will see her again.  Elaine was sealed to her family, and they are an eternal family.  We know these things and yet sometimes it doesn't make it any easier to let go because we are thinking in terms of our own understanding of time and not God's time.  There is a poem entitled "Time" that I thought fit.  It says, Time is:
Too slow for those who wait,
Too swift for those who fear,
Too long for those who grieve,
Too short for those who rejoice;
But for those who love,
Time is Eternity.
And I know that we all loved Elaine very, very much.  We just have a short separation now, but have an eternity to look forward to.

I know that Elaine is having her own family reunion right now, and she is being greeted by her great-grandma Olsen, her uncle Kim, her uncle David and many other relatives that were there waiting to greet her.

I just wanted to close with this last thought.  As we were talking the other day, Elaine's grandma, Joanne, made the comment that Elaine just woke up in a different place.  That made me start thinking about what a wonderful place that would be to wake up to.  This last poem, titled Heaven, seemed to give me that perfect picture of what it may have been like for Elaine waking there.

Think of  (Elaine) Stepping on shore, and finding it Heaven!
Of taking hold of a hand, and finding it God's hand.
Of breathing a new air, and finding it celestial air.
Of feeling invigorated, and finding it immortality.
Of passing from storm to tempest to an unbroken calm.
Of waking up, and finding it Home.

I say these things in the name of our brother and Savior, the one who made it possible through his Atonement for us to see Elaine again someday, even Jesus Christ, Amen.