what's in a name

I think one of the hardest thing about being a parent...before you even become a parent is picking out a name for your kid. Names hold so much meaning. Names are what your child will be called, known as, etc for the rest of their lives. No pressure right? 

Greg and I decided before we even had kids that we really didn't want our kids to have names that could be shortened. Of course they'll have a little nickname that we give them but that's always to be determined after they're around for a little while. We also decided that we wanted them to have Biblical names. So our criteria for our children's names is that they have a Biblical first name that can't be shortened and a family middle name. So, with our first three they have Biblical first names that can't be shortened and then the family middle name. Naomi Lynn - Lynn is my and my sisters middle name. Micah Ruben - Ruben is Greg's middle name and also his grandfather's first name. Hannah Joy - Joy is the middle name of both of Greg's sisters. 

So how did we come about Abi Grace?...

We would sit down and talk about Biblical names that can't be shortened and the list was pretty short of acceptable names this time around. Rachel, Lydia, Sarah and Leah were all on the short list but Abi just seemed to stand out the most. Abi is the daughter of Zechariah and the mother of Hezekiah. You can find the reference to her in 2Kings 18:2. So, no Abi is not short for Abigail. It's just Abi. We were trying to think of names that went with Abi that were family names...Ann, Louise, Emily, Sarah, they were all weighed but we kept coming back to Abi Grace. And then I remembered that Grace is a family name!! Grace is the middle name of my niece Lily!! So Abi (Biblical name that can't be shortened) Grace (family middle name) is our sweet little girls name that she will love to hear...and I'm sure she'll hate to hear them together when she gets a little bigger too ;)

Abi Grace was welcomed into God's family on Reformation Sunday. Her big sisters were also baptized on Reformation Sunday (just different dates). I am so excited for these sisters to have this common theme, to have birthdays so close and to have been baptized on Reformation Day. I know they may not like having their birthdays so close for a while when they're young, but I can just imagine when they're in college or young mothers that maybe in October they'd take a weekend to get together and celebrate their birthdays together. I'm excited for them to be good friends who share a birthday month!!