Names

Names....do we have one? Nope. Have we discussed them? Sort of...only enough to say, "I have no idea." Do we have a name book? Not a chance....it got purged when I purged all my baby stuff a while back. Remember? We were "done." Do we have runner up names from Grayson and Hope? Nope....

Oh, what to do. This is the only time I have rethought my decision to NOT find out. One name is hard enough, but now 2? I feel for all of you who have had or are having twins.

Compound the process with a name like Smith. UGH! Wait you say, it's an easy last name to work with. Yes, it is. However, it is COMMON and when you have a name like "Jennifer Smith," you are extremely sensitive to these kinds of issues. A simple task like dry cleaning becomes, "M'aam, there are 4,192,638 Smith's in our system...can we please have an alternate form of identification, address, DNA sample so we can find you in our records." In five years, I have now straightened my credit out twice; in comparison to the one time I had to do it in the 30 years prior to marriage. So...names....we don't want common, but if you do too unique you get questions like, "You named your child what?"

I also love names that are meaningful; at least meaningful to us.

We picked Grayson because we heard the word "grace" in it. After years of not knowing if I could ever have children, we conceived very easily and felt that this child was evidence of God's grace - getting something we certainly did not deserve.

Hope - well, it's obvious, but I had also hit a rough point in my life and the verse that the Lord kept drawing to memory was one that I had clung to in high school. Isaiah 40:31, "but those who HOPE in the Lord shall renew their strength..." This child was a reminder of all the Hope I have in the one who created and formed both me and her. Reminds me of one of the first thing I have taught my children, "who made you?" "God!" (or as Hope says, "Dod.")

Bunny trail here, bunny ears on...catechism is a wonderful thing to do with your kids - you learn so much and you always have an answer for questions they ask.
Things like, "Mommy, why can a crocodile not bite God?"
A: "B/c God is a spirit and does not have a body like a man."

Also great with discipline...."Grayson, why are we here?"
A: "To glorify God."
M: "G, how do we glorify God."
A: "By loving him and loving our neighbor."
M: "G, is hitting Hope a loving thing to do?" etc, etc etc. Yeah - usually at this point I get some reason to why she deserved a solid whack on the head, but we're working on it.

Bunny ears off....So, any suggestions for a name?