names

I don't think I ever shared the story of how Benjamin got his name -- probably because I assumed that everyone already knew or no one cared. That could still be the case, but such is the power of being the blog-writer. Feel free to pass :-)

When our little guy was still Rhubarb, we had our name list narrowed down to 3 boys and 3 girls (yes, THREE. Because my husband doesn't like to make decisions, and I'm non-committal). When we went into the hospital, those were narrowed down to 2 boy and 2 girl names, with a strong preference for one of each (the second was a back-up in case the baby didn't look anything like the chosen name... although kids totally grow into whatever name you give them. As long as you give them reasonable names. Again, it goes back to be indecisive and non-committal.) Wow, that was an impressive aside.

Anyway, our top choice for a girl was Hannah Laura, after Corey's grandma (who has 4 different names, being German, but the first of those is Hannalore, pronounced as Hannah Laura would be). We're big on using family names, probably because we're big on using traditional names, and most of the previous generations weren't into the name-butchery of today. (They just gave really ridiculous nicknames, instead.)
Our top choice for a boy was (duh) Benjamin Isaac, Benjamin being a big family name on my mom's side (great-grandfather, great-uncle, second cousin once removed, second cousin, etc...) and Isaac being completely out of the blue. And now we get to the reason for sharing all of this!

When I was barely pregnant with Benjamin and still only suspected his existence, I was reading through Genesis and came upon the story of Abraham and Sarah. For those unfamiliar with the story and not in the mood to read it for themselves (see Genesis, 16-21), I'll sum: God promises Abraham that he will be the father to many generations, but his wife (Sarah) is infertile. In fact, she's allowed her husband to have a child with her maid since she can't get pregnant, but that's another story altogether. God comes to Abraham when he's 100 and says that his wife is going to have a baby, and that through this baby the generations will come. Sarah, being infertile and also 90 years old, pretty much falls over laughing. The story keeps going, and she does get pregnant and have a son (Isaac) but you get the idea. WELL, I found out I was pregnant a few days after going through this section, and it just kept playing in my mind. Obviously, I'm not too old to have a baby, and obviously, Corey and I didn't have to try too hard to get pregnant, but what stuck with me was the miracle of life working at all. Whether you're 20 or 40, using infertility treatments or too lazy for condoms, when you realize that life is growing inside of you, forming from nothingness into a new person, this joy just comes bursting out of nowhere. At least that's my bias :-) Sarah's reaction resonated with me because I felt giddy and giggly every time I thought of our little one, and I couldn't have hidden my astonishment either.

Fast forward to April, we're liking the name Benjamin but stuck on a middle name. There are several possibilities, but none of them feel right to me... and then I remember how I felt back in August. "How about Isaac?" I say to Corey, just in passing. He takes his usual, thinking about it for awhile position, but once the thought had come, it wouldn't go away for me. Thus, nothing worked for me except Benjamin Isaac (and naturally, I win). Of course, I didn't have to try hard to convince Corey... something along the lines of, "With a name like that, he's sure to get into heaven!" (Yes, we're twisted.)

In case you're wondering why God told them to name the baby Isaac (I didn't mention that, did I? Well he did.) it's because Isaac means "laughter." I kinda think that fits our little guy too :-)

And in case you're wondering what our second choices were... too bad! I don't want to have to commit to considering them again this time around ;-) (We will not be reconsidering Hannah Laura, however, because the aforementioned second-cousin Benjamin has a sister named Hannah, and we're too close with them to not have that seem weird. It is a nice name though!)

AND in case you're wondering what names we're thinking about this time around... I can honestly say I haven't got a clue. (God should feel free to hit me with some sort of insight any day now. I only think Rutabaga is endeering when the baby doesn't appear in technicolor, so we should really look into that.)

This ended up being a lot longer than I expected! Congrats to anyone who made it through. Brownies are on their way.