What is in a name??

Often times we get asked about our kid's names. Our daughter has an unusual name, it is Katya. It is Russian for Katie. The thing is, when we were newly married and dreaming of children, we wanted a daughter named Katie. When we got her referral, and saw it was already her name, we figured it was meant to be. We gave her the middle name of Elizabeth, just like all the oldest girls in my family. My mother is Ann Elizabeth and my grandmother was Leora Elizabeth. As far as Jack goes, he is named after his great grandfather. His name had been John, but he was called Jack, and our Jack is the same. His middle name is David. My father-in-law was David too. He died when my husband was just 19 of a big heart attack. He missed him so much when we adopted Jack and it meant a lot to us to give him this name. The funny thing is, God intervened with him too...his Russian name was Ivan, this is the Russian form of John. Go figure.

Zachary was trickier. By that time we had worked in growing our faith. His adoption was one of the most Godly experiences of our lives. We wanted to call him Christian. In the end, Jack was struggling a bit with not being the baby, so the way we involved him was to allow him to name his new brother. He was ten and thought it would be cool if their names rhymed. Therefore he could say,"I'm Jack, this is my brother Zack!" When it came to Alex, of course, the boys came to our rescue. They wanted a short nickname like theirs. I wanted a nod to the love of my life and he will be Alexander Timothy, nickname Alex.

On to Grace. I feel as though I dreamt her into being. In July I dreamt of a beautiful black girl who would be mine. In my dream, she was named Grace. I just seemed this was to be her name. Since learning of her existence, I have been able to see God's unfailing grace to us. The gift of children to us imperfect parents. The blessings of being able to do these adoptions and the joy of being a family. I think yesterday I really got it though. I was flipping through the mountain of email I get in a parking lot on my way to run the bazillions of Christmas errands. I was rushed and a bit stressed. The first thing I saw was my home screen, a picture of Grace smiling. Simultaneously, I heard on the radio a song I love, but took on all new meaning. "Remember your people, remember your children, remember your promise O God....". Then the chorus,"Your Grace is enough, your Grace is enough, your Grace is enough for me."

I felt like in that moment, I got it. Grace is enough. Not the craziness of Christmas, or anything else, just God's Grace. I also became a bit overwhelmed when I began to think about all the things Grace and Alex will teach us. I have a feeling, our education from our children has only just begun.