What's in a Name?
Juliet, the femme fatal of Shakespearean literature, poses this question to her forbidden Romeo, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell just as sweet."
A name. We all have one. Some folks get a name that makes them cringe. Like Eugene or Mildred. Others get names that stems from their parents inate drive to be cool. Like Jadon or McKenna. Others of us get our names from places and seasons. Like Scott or April.
In the Bible, names had meaning. Naming a child was also making a statement. When God named someone it corresponded with their character or purpose in life. For example, Abraham means "father of many". To study the Hebrew meanings of all the names in the Bible is always fun for me.
I woke up one morning with anxiety. I had a dream that my friend Kristin had given me the wrong name for the speaking-picture. I told Scott about my dream and my fear and he quoted Juliet. "What's in a name? After all, we fell in love with the boy in the picture first." My fears resided.
The night finally came for Debbie (which means bee) from New Hope Haiti Mission to come to our house for dinner. I was so excited to finally put a face with the voice on the phone. I had talked to her about David and how much confirmation we had gotten about adopting him. Before she could give us a "yes", she wanted to meet us and get to know us. She came in and clicked right away. There is a mysterious bond between those who have served in missions. We were in the kitchen chatting away as I cooked our meal. Debbie looked at my framed picture of David and said, "Who's this guy?" I said, "That's not David, is it?" "No," she looked closer, "oh, that's Jeff." I fought back my tears and desparately searched for the humor of the moment. Scott walked in from grilling our meat and knew right away something was wrong. I told him about the mix up. Immediately we were perplexed.
What's in a name? Well, for us it was confirmation of an adoption. But we had been staring at Jeff. Falling in love with his sweet little face. All the information that Debbie had given me had been about David, a four year old. Jeff was six. (Which made sense to us since we thought he was big for a four year old- ha!) Debbie encouraged us to consider both boys and have an open heart when we came down for a visit. And that was what we decided to do. Debbie gave me a dvd of the mission and in it was the real David (which means "Beloved"). This was my first time seeing him and I loved him, too....
A name. We all have one. Some folks get a name that makes them cringe. Like Eugene or Mildred. Others get names that stems from their parents inate drive to be cool. Like Jadon or McKenna. Others of us get our names from places and seasons. Like Scott or April.
In the Bible, names had meaning. Naming a child was also making a statement. When God named someone it corresponded with their character or purpose in life. For example, Abraham means "father of many". To study the Hebrew meanings of all the names in the Bible is always fun for me.
I woke up one morning with anxiety. I had a dream that my friend Kristin had given me the wrong name for the speaking-picture. I told Scott about my dream and my fear and he quoted Juliet. "What's in a name? After all, we fell in love with the boy in the picture first." My fears resided.
The night finally came for Debbie (which means bee) from New Hope Haiti Mission to come to our house for dinner. I was so excited to finally put a face with the voice on the phone. I had talked to her about David and how much confirmation we had gotten about adopting him. Before she could give us a "yes", she wanted to meet us and get to know us. She came in and clicked right away. There is a mysterious bond between those who have served in missions. We were in the kitchen chatting away as I cooked our meal. Debbie looked at my framed picture of David and said, "Who's this guy?" I said, "That's not David, is it?" "No," she looked closer, "oh, that's Jeff." I fought back my tears and desparately searched for the humor of the moment. Scott walked in from grilling our meat and knew right away something was wrong. I told him about the mix up. Immediately we were perplexed.
What's in a name? Well, for us it was confirmation of an adoption. But we had been staring at Jeff. Falling in love with his sweet little face. All the information that Debbie had given me had been about David, a four year old. Jeff was six. (Which made sense to us since we thought he was big for a four year old- ha!) Debbie encouraged us to consider both boys and have an open heart when we came down for a visit. And that was what we decided to do. Debbie gave me a dvd of the mission and in it was the real David (which means "Beloved"). This was my first time seeing him and I loved him, too....
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