What's in a name?

Well, many people have asked how we decided on the name Anna. Let me tell you, it was probably one of the hardest decisions we had to make during the whole pregnancy. After all, she is stuck with it for the rest of her life. Hopefully she'll love it! Hopefully she'll come to realize that we did not take this task lightly. There were many nights when we would just list of name after name.... probably several thousand.... and none just seemed to suit us.

One of the toughest problems was that we had decided we wanted to give her the middle name Kimberly. (For those of you who do not know, or who are not aware, Kimberly is the name of my twin sister. She is a big part of my life. She has helped shape who I am. So, we wanted to give her the honor of being named after her Aunt Kimmee.) Well, that brought on a whole new set of problems. Kimberly is a longer name... so I wanted a shorter name. I didn't like names that ended in an "e" sound either. And... the criteria could go on, an on. I also wanted a strong name, that would last through the ages... when she was a baby and on through adulthood. I wanted a name with meaning... or significance. We looked at plenty of Biblical names, but I just couldn't imagine naming my child something like Jezebel, or the like.

Well, about a month and a half ago, we were at our Bradley class, and our teacher had brought in a few baby name books. Since we hadn't settled on a name yet, I quickly snatched one up. Boy was it a doozy. (haha) It was titled "Baby Names from Around the World." Basically it had names categorized by nationality. There were Chinese names, Jewish names, Arabic names...etc. Well, I was looking at this book during our snack time, when Jeremy came over to me, and being funny... he said "the one one pages 74." So, being curious, I flipped to page 74. And wouldn't you know, it was the first page that started off "female, biblical names." I laugh, scanned the page and then saw "Anna"... it gave a brief description and where "Anna" could be found in the Bible.

In light of Christmas, I thought this post would be appropriate. Many people probably read the Christmas story in Luke 2 on or around Christmas (that's the tradition in our family). But, most people stop at "and Mary treasured these things in her heart." But, if you continue on down through the story, starting in verse 33 (Luke 2: 33) you will see that is where Jesus' parents take him to the temple. (Read for yourself)

^33-35Jesus' father and mother were speechless with surprise at these words. Simeon went on to bless them, and said to Mary his mother,

This child marks both the failure and
the recovery of many in Israel,
A figure misunderstood and contradicted—
the pain of a sword-thrust through you—
But the rejection will force honesty,
as God reveals who they really are.

^36-38Anna the prophetess was also there, a daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was by now a very old woman. She had been married seven years and a widow for eighty-four. She never left the Temple area, worshiping night and day with her fastings and prayers. At the very time Simeon was praying, she showed up, broke into an anthem of praise to God, and talked about the child to all who were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem.

So our sweet baby girl's name can be found in the Bible. She was the prophetess who after years of worshiping at the temple waiting for the Messiah, saw Him face to face. That is our prayer for our Anna. That one day she would in fact declare Jesus the Messiah, and make Him Lord of her life. Her name also means "grace, and favor." So, it had all that we wanted... good, strong... classic, and great meaning.

So... That folks is how the Lord blessed us with the name He wanted for our beautiful baby girl!

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!!