What's In A Name?

Well, it has been quite a while since I posted on my blog. But for good reason! We have a new family member! Most of my "fan club", whose quantity sits at about 4, knows that we adopted. Our newborn son was born Friday, July 20 at 4:05 p.m. weighing a whopping 6 pounds 1 ounce and was 20 inches long. His birth mother is one of the most special people to our family. What a brave young woman to make an adoption plan for her son, and selflessly place him into our arms and trust us with his upbringing. This adoption has changed our entire family forever, not just in the obvious way of gaining a son...but witnessing the beauty, joy and anguish that go into a modern-day adoption. I plan to share more in the future about that...but for today I'm keeping in simple. His name. But first, a photo of our little handsome fella.....

World, Jake. Jake, World. Nice to meet you!

 

 Jake Everett Gordon

First off, I will start by saying that my husband has always been drawn to single-syllable boy names. He kept landing on a couple that would make me widen my eyes and think, "Are you SERIOUS?!" For example: (And no offense if these are your names or names of your loved ones)

Bo    (You spell it BO, like body odor. NO!)

Bruce  (no knuckle-dragging neanderthal for me, thanks)

When we saw the meaning of the name Jake, short for Jacob, we knew that was the right name. We are big believers in strong names that have meaning. I know some parents name their children names they just like, and that is great...for them. I remember right after we had decided on his name, I was at La Madeleine for Bible Study and was excited to share what we had chosen. I stated his name, and then asked, with a huge smile if anyone wanted to know what it meant. One woman in particular said, "No." I replied, "Ok...I can see that you are disinterested in knowing the meaning of my son's name, but I will share anyway!" (Insert obvious fake smile here.) But really, names have meanings, and we chose Jake's very carefully.

Jake is short for Jacob, and no we did not name him Jacob. Just Jake.

Jake is a Hebrew name from scriptures that means "Supplanted one; Held by the heel." Supplanted means to replace one thing by something else; to take the place of another. To me, Jake is the gift from God that we would not have gotten if not for our miscarriages. Had we not miscarried, we may not have prayed to pursue adoption, at least not at this time. Also, in scriptures, Jacob is a twin. Our Jake's birth mother is a twin. Cool, huh? But the deepest meaning for me, personally, is that the story of Jacob in the Bible parallels symbolically with our journey. Let me explain:

"Jacob struggled with God his entire life, as many of us do. As he matured in faith, Jacob depended on God more and more. But the turning point for Jacob came after a dramatic, all-night wrestling match with God. In the end the Lord touched Jacob's hip and he was a broken man, but also a new man. From that day forward, Jacob was called Israel. And for the rest of his life he walked with a limp, demonstrating his dependence on the Lord. Jacob finally learned to give up control to God. Jacob's story teaches us how an imperfect person can be greatly blessed by God--not because of who he or she is, but because of who God is."  (Taken from http://christianity.about.com/od/oldtestamentpeople/a/Jacob-In-The-Bible.htm) This is a precise parallel with my spiritual journey through these last 8 years. We have had so many good times, but also some very low times that had left me at my worst. This long road of infertility and loss has been a spiritual wrestling with God for me. I am forever changed. For the better, of course, as God is constantly refining us. But just as Jacob survived with a hurt hip, I have survived with only a broken or changed heart. We have learned to let go of our grip on what we want, expect, or think we want. God has proved himself to us OVER, and OVER, and OVER. Don't we serve a mighty God?

Everett is a much simpler meaning for us. Everett means "brave." Jake's middle name is in honor of his brave birth mother. I don't know a more courageous person in my world.

So, that was a very large nutshell, but there you have his name meanings in a nutshell. Speaking of nutshells, there is a little squirrel that keeps staring at me through my window as I type. Every time I glance up at him, he looks away. He's either shy, or spying, or trying to get a sneak peek at the little guy. I might have to go introduce myself later. ;)

~Peace~