What's in a Name?

We have wonderful news!  We got the long-awaited email from the US Embassy today that we are complete in the investigative process.  Our embassy appointment is next week.  I can not express to you how much we have longed to hear this news.  Things are finally moving and we are so excited. 

I have another blog post from last week that will have to wait because I promised the Fish Sticks months ago - long before the investigative process existed - that we would tell people the names we have chosen for our boys when we got our embassy appointment.  Little did we know it would be such a long time.

Here is the post that I wrote months ago and am so happy to publish now.  Thank you so much for your prayers.  Keep them up!

All of our children have a Bible name for their first name and a family name for their middle name.  With each child, we waited to find out the gender and reveal the name at the time of their birth.  Going through an adoption, we decided that we would wait until we were told of their embassy appointment before we would share their names.  Unlike any other time, My Man and I allowed the Fish Sticks to help us in finding names for our boys.  We will keep both of their African names as a 2^nd middle name, which I will have to share AFTER their adoption is complete, for safety sake.

What’s in a Name?

First I made a list of possible Bible boy names that we have loved and considered in the past.  After I made the list, I did additional research on each Bible character and the meaning of that name.  Two names stuck out so much when I read what they meant in addition to the character itself that it brought tears to my eyes.  These happened to be the 2 names that the family voted on unanimously for our boys.

Their names will be:

Jeshua Levi  and Jedidiah Lloyd

Jeshua is found in both Nehemiah and Ezra.  He was part of the tribe of Levi, a worker in the temple.  He oversaw all the workers in rebuilding the temple (kind of like the occupation of My Man).  He explained the Torah to the people and led the Israelites in worship when the temple was complete.  His name is from the same root as the name Joshua and the name Jesus.  It means “Saved By the Lord.”

Jedidiah was the name given to King Solomon by Nathan the prophet as his “blessing name.”  Solomon was known as the wisest man who ever lived and the man who pleased the Lord with his request for wisdom.  Jedidiah means “Loved By the Lord.”

Levi is a name that we wanted to use for a long time.  Our brother-in-law is named Levi but goes by his middle name.  He is a third and we always knew that if the Lord blessed him with a son, then it was probable that he would name his son as the fourth.  After having 4 daughters, the Lord did bless our BIL with a son, but he felt guided by the Lord to name him something other than the fourth.  We are so glad to be able to not only name our son Levi, based on who Levi stands for in the Bible as the tribe of priests set apart for the work of the Lord, but also as a family name.  Uncle Ross has devoted his life to serving the Lord overseas.  He is a godly man who seeks the Lord in everything he does.  He is very wise, clever, talented – a great father and husband.

Lloyd is my husband’s middle name, but he has claimed that we are not naming Jedidiah after his daddy but rather his great grandfather, Lloyd Edward.  Lloyd Edward was grandaddy’s father who went to be with Jesus when My Man was 4 years old.  He was a man of God who was an author, a professor, a teacher and a pastor.  He loved his family and he loved his Lord.  His memory lives on through the stories that Granddaddy tells us.  I can’t wait to meet him in heaven!

After we unanimously voted, we realized that the boys will have identical initials (because their African names begin with the same letter also).  J.L.N.F.  As we near the end of this process of adoption, we pray for our little guys that they will never doubt that they are “loved by the Lord” and “saved by the Lord.”  Jeshua and Jedidiah, we can’t wait to have you home forever!