American Mothers Inc. recognizes Henderson resident as Nevada Young Mother of the Year

Stephanie Waite, 36 and the mother of seven, has been named the 2011 Nevada Young Mother of the Year by American Mothers Inc., headquartered in Washington, D.C.

The Henderson resident attended Brigham Young University, studying public relations, political science and Spanish. After graduation, she attended Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., and worked as a journalist to put herself through law school.

She married Jonathan Waite in March 1999 and graduated law school in 2000. Upon graduation, she began working as a criminal defense attorney in Long Beach, Calif .

Their first child arrived in 2001, and she decided to become a full-time mother.

She gave birth to another child every other year since and just gave birth to her sixth child in March.

“As a young mother who has been either pregnant or nursing a baby for the last 10 years, I have felt my fulfillment in my family life comes in millions of magical moments,” she said.

Her journalism background resurfaced after a period in her life when she knew something was missing. So, in April 2008, Stephanie started a blog, A Daily Scoop.

Just when things seemed to be back on track, two months later her youngest daughter drowned. The blog became Stephanie ’s lifeline. Sharing her grief touched others, and the blog became highly popular. It currently has more than 1.75 million hits.

A Daily Scoop also testifies to the difficulties Stephanie has had with each pregnancy.

“It is a physical sacrifice to create a new soul,” she said.

But she said she looked forward to the moment when she got to see her child for the first time. She said it makes the nine months worth it.

Franklin Gibson, bishop of the McCullough Hills Ward, said Stephanie ’s willingness to set aside her career in favor of staying home to raise children was an “outstanding example of choosing the higher path ... consistent with Stephanie’s beliefs and values. She was willing to make a personal sacrifice for the better choice of her growing family and her children. She lives and practices the values in which she believes on a daily basis.”

Kimberly Wright, president of American Mothers, Nevada Association, knows Stephanie .

“Stephanie’s resume of service to her community and church is endless, ” she said. “She has involved her children in some of these activities to teach them the same compassion and kindness she, herself, demonstrates.”

Stephanie said one of her favorite family activities is working, whether it’s cooking, cleaning, weeding, washing the car or decorating the house for a holiday, as long as it’s done as a family.

Sundays at the Waite house are reserved for church and family, the evenings spent in prayer and song, followed by a lesson and an activity of some sort. Everything is kept short, in light of the attention span of their young children.

“My mother had taught me my whole life that mothering was the most important job on earth,” she said.

So was imparting the word of God. On a daily basis, she tries “to exude the love God has for my children ... so they can see how special and important they are simply because they are children of God.”

Contact Summerlin and Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.