Sunday, July 28, 2013

The Naming Process

Why is this naming process so difficult for us? With each of our children we have struggled to find the perfect name. With our newest daughter it was a little more difficult. We needed to find a name that is one she will be able to pronounce. We are probably over-thinking.

For some reason my husband has been the one to name most of our kids. How does that happen? Each of our children are named after a close family member. Then to complicate things, because that's how we roll, we also wanted to include a biblical name as well. The only name I get full credit for is Ben's. I loved the name Benjamin and it's biblical/Hebrew meaning....."son of my right hand." The middle name needed to be after a family member. No one had used my grandfather's name for their child so I knew it had to be part our son's name.

All of my grandparents are very special to me. Only one of my grandparent's did not have a namesake. My grandfather's name was Robert Franklin yet, no middle name was chosen until I was in labor and we were on the way to the hospital. I told Jeremy he had a choice. We could either choose Benjamin Robert or Benjamin Franklin. Needless to say we have a Benjamin Robert.

I have little girl's name that I am in love with but for some reason it just did not seem to fit. We started from scratch. Well almost. We returned to the list of names we had considered for Mariah. Still not quite right.

Then I saw the name Selah (Say lah). Selah is mentioned a total of 74 times in the Bible. The first mention of Selah in the Bible is when King Joash conquered a city by that name which is located in Edom. It is mentioned 71 times in the book of Psalms and three times in the book of Habbakuk.

While researching this name it was clear to us that she was indeed Selah. This is what was so neat to us. The word is translated as "valued" which is the same as the Hebrew word for "measured". When this is used in Psalms it simply means to value what was just written. Selah is in the pink top below. Notice the Minnie mouse that is embroidered on her shirt? Mariah saw it right away.
Job 28:15-16   It (wisdom) cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall  silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

She is "valued"! I want to scream that from the mountaintops! She is a child of the King! She is not forgotten! God sent his son to die so that she can have eternal life. We pray that she will learn and understand what this means.

Her middle name was also tough. Our oldest son is named after his 2 grandfathers. Our next son is named after Jeremy. Our Rebecca is named after  a great-grandmother. Ben is named after my grandfather. Jeremy was named after his grandfather. Jeremy's mom has a niece named after her. Then it dawned on us that my mom did not have anyone named after her. So we thought long and hard. 

Jeremy also wanted our daughter to have part of my name. I finally came up with Jannae. Since my mom's first name is Janet and my middle name is Renae we just used the first three letters of my mom's name and the last three letters of my middle name! Finally she is named. 

One day, Selah, I pray you will read this telling of your story and understand how deeply you are loved. If we could get on a plane today to come and get you, we would. We pray that the Lord is protecting your heart and preparing you to meet your forever family! Blood does not make you our daughter. God has made you our daughter. You were created to be our daughter. You were created to help make a more complete family for us here. 

Above all, you are a child of the King. We pray you are adopted into God's family as we are adopting you into ours. We pray that me and Baba (Daddy) are a physical example of just a portion of the love that God will pour out on you if you only accept Him as your Savior. 

Right now we are preparing our house for your arrival. You have five siblings that are ready to make you an instant part of our family. We believe the very fabric of our family was woven to include you! Daddy and I are making a few changes to our house that will help make it more comfortable for you. A bedroom will be created for the older boys in the basement. You and Rebecca will share the largest of the upstairs bedrooms. Your school desk is just waiting to be occupied. Daddy and I cannot wait to give you the love that every child deserves.

You are treasured. You are loved. You are beautiful just the way you are!











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