Now I'm getting bigger! This picture is two months after the last one. Just wait, I'll post the nine month one next. : )
During the second trimester we finally decided on a name, and I must say it's rather an adorable story, so I think you should know about it!
For ten years, seriously, I had been set on the name Victoria-who knows why-so when we found out we were having a girl, that just seemed automatic. But, the more I thought about it, the more it just seemed like such a huge decision-to give someone a name she would be known by forever. So we throw some more names in the mix and started talking about other options. Very soon we had 8 or 9 names! Madeleine, Katrina, Amelia, Evelyn, and so on and so forth. By December we had narrowed it down to five and decided that when we went down to California after Christmas to visit family, that we would shoot for one or two.
I had looked up the meanings of all the names and liked them and we like the way they all sounded as well as their nicknames. After walking on the beach in Cali, we decided on either Evelyn or Victoria. I knew the meaning for Victoria off the top of my head, but when I had looked up Evelyn, all I could remember was that it was related to a word in Hebrew or Celtic that meant light or life, I hadn't found if it was a proper name that had a meaning as well. So I decided I would look again. So when we got home I googled Evelyn and the first site that popped up was a Wikipedia one that said the meaning for the french name Evelyn. I literally stopped and stared at the computer screen. And as you are probably well aware, it takes a lot to stop me in my tracks and make me speechless. The meaning of the french name Evelyn was, "Little Bird." Now, to backtrack. The day after we found out we were pregnant, Bard gave me a card. It had birds on the front and there were two little love birds on the inside. Bard had drawn a third little bird and had it saying hi to the mommy and daddy bird. So since then we had called the baby, you guessed it, little birdie. To know that Evelyn actually meant not just bird, but little bird, kind of freaked me out! I emailed Bard and that was that. We figured God could use even Wikipedia to help us decide on a name!
Ahh. I love long posts! : ) The middle name Joy is because Joy for the last five years has become a theme of my life. I say the last five because before then I don't think I really knew what Joy was. In going through a horrible divorce and extremely stressful and depressing time I realized that God was all I had and God was all I needed. That gave me such joy. And as soon as I started turning to God, (even before really, I just diddn't see it) not only was He there for me, but He surrounded me with the most amazing support network (all of you!) and blessed me time after time in the most amazing ways. In the Bible, the book of John, chapter 15, talks about how much God loves us and that He will always be there for us. Jesus asks us to abide in His love, which to me is a beautiful image of resting on the assurance of who God is and always will be. And that if we follow Him, we can never be separate from that Love. John 15:11 says: "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." That is God's promise to us, that we live a life of joy. So Evelyn's middle name is Joy because my deepest hope and prayer for her is that she grow up surrounded by and thankful for the joy that comes from her Father.
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