What's in a name?

As I've mentioned in previous posts, this past year has been a trying one as God has allowed us to go through circumstances that are less than "comfortable". Of course, we cherish the lessons learned, but there have been many times we have sat with hands clasped together, praying for God to help strengthen our weak faith. He has NEVER come short. One way (of many) that He has proven His love to us is in the way He has provided for Adrian. We have wanted for NOTHING when it comes to this baby. We have experienced overwhelming humility as God has come through in the way of insurance, health care, prenatal care guidance, material needs for both Adrian and I, and many other ways. If Adrian's existence in itself wasn't enough, God has reminded us over and over again through his provision for Adrian that He loves this baby already and He has used him to remind us that He will be glorified in our weakness!I am in no way ignorant of the fact that Nick and I have been really really blessed during this pregnancy in the way of having a healthy baby. I have been broken-hearted over hearing stories of my friends and friends of friends who have had to walk through extremely painful miscarriages, pregnancy complications, and other unexpected trials during their pregnancy. I have cried with them, and found peace in the fact that God knows what He is doing and even in the pain of these parent's, He is sovereign. It has been sobering, and it makes me realize how extremely blessed we really are.

For us, finding a name to fit our child...OUR...child, was really difficult. I tend to like names that are less-popular, not trendy, rare-but-not-weird names. Nick, on the other hand, likes names that are simple, normal, has-worked-for-hundreds-of-years type names. Ironically, we have had a girl's name in mind since we were dating, but finding a name for a boy had us quite stumped.

 I was really surprised that Nick agreed to Adrian for a possible boy's name. It seemed that every name I threw out, he would look at me like horns were growing out of my head and shoot it down. Honestly, I would do that to most of the names he offered as well (John....really?), so you can imagine the many conversations we had trying to come up with something. To add to the drama, I really wanted to have a name picked out by the gender ultrasound so we could start calling him/her by their name and bond with our baby on another level. Having that deadline helped. The night before the ultrasound, we decided on Adrian Paul. Paul is Nick's middle name and there is no other person I would rather my son be named after than my precious husband.

So, that brings me back to the reason behind this post.  As I've reflected over the Lord's goodness and sweetness towards Nick and I, I've fallen in love with this verse: 1 Samuel 1:27-28 " I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.  So now I give him to the Lord.  For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord".

I love this verse because I identify with praying to the Lord on my child's behalf.  I've (we've) prayed for Adrian's health during this pregnancy, his heart for the Lord, his future walk with the Lord, his relationships, his life, everything.  Of course, Adrian will make his own decisions that will affect how these situations are concluded, but we pray.  It is truly my heart that my son will have a raw, genuine, life-long love for his Lord.  I want God to take him and do with him whatever He wants with him.

That got me thinking further.  I wanted to give Adrian something that would represent what the Lord has done for him already before he even entered the world, and what our prayers are for him for his future.  This sparked the conversation, "babe, I'm thinking of changing Adrian's middle name".  Nick was wary at first before I told him the name, but when I suggested "Samuel" and explained why I was thinking about changing it from Paul to Samuel, Nick agreed.  I knew he really did agree with what I was thinking, because I know he most certainly would have told me if he didn't like it.  Samuel means: 

 

So. Adrian Paul is now Adrian Samuel. He will still have his daddy's last name, but now he will have the stamp of who he belongs to, and who loves him more than we ever could...his heavenly Father.