What's in a Name?

Do you know what your name means?  

In Nathan's family, much significance was placed on the meaning of one's name and as such, names were thoughtfully chosen accordingly.

I appreciated this tradition that I married into and so I remember when we were first matched with Ellie in the process of adoption, one of the first things we did was look up the meaning of her given name.  Would we keep it or would we mark this new beginning in her life with a new first name, too?

In case you don't know this part of her story, we chose to keep her given name, Elisona, which means "[her] parents worship Jehoveh".

In Reni's story, as we were considering his file given us by our adoption agency, we learned that the name this baby was given at his baptism when he was taken into the Sisters' of Charity home happened to be the same name his soon-to-be grandfathers shared.  

It also belonged to a young boy in the Old Testament who was nearly overlooked because of his lack of height, but chosen by God for what man couldn't see.  You know him as David.

In both cases, our children's names were powerful signs to us of God's involvement in their lives and confirmations that they were ours.  They were faith builders in journeys where human frailty can often find us walking in doubt and fear.

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Last Saturday marked the return of our family's visits to the Hope Center.  The first few visits are always a bit of a challenge because it involves meeting to new friends and starting a new relationship from scratch with the new kids who've just moved in.

This year we knew that there would be six new ones to meet.  In contemplating our first activity together, I chose to borrow from a devotional message my friend Anne, along with her daughter Lydia, prepared and shared with the girls from our village this past summer.

Nathan introduced our family, then told the kids we were going to lead them in an activity which would not only help us to know their names, but share with them, perhaps for the first time, the meaning of their names.

We wanted to remind them that God knows their names, and has known them personally by name, since before the creation of the world.

We then handed each youth a card with their name, meaning, and personal Scripture verse to read out loud.

Then, so they wouldn't lose track of the card, we showed them how to make journals and affix their cards on the cover or just inside.

Jenna -- we had just the right number of left over journals from this summer for this activity!

Then, once they got started, Nathan pulled out the blender and whipped up some good ol' American milkshakes.  Milkshakes are just starting to hit the scene in select places in Tirana, so needless to say, they are a novelty...

...but were a big hit with the kids.

As we were about to leave, one of the students handed us his notebook.  He was a bit confused when we told him it was his to keep!

All in all, it was our best beginning-of-the-year visit to the Hope Center yet!  But more importantly, we hope that what might just have been a fun activity to some would be a powerful reminder that they are known, loved and treasured by the God who made them.