What's in a name?

I am Ruth Alice. I was named after my maternal grandmother and my Aunt Alice. As a child, I loved having the same name as my beloved grandmother. And as I grew up, I loved that my name represented 2 women whom I love dearly.

Naturally, we decided to choose names for our children with special meanings too.

Christina Gail - Christina was a family name from both sides of our family. (Good Swedish name on my side, good Norwegian name on Kevin's side.) Gail was named in honor of my best friend who was tragically killed a month before Christy's birth.

Jaime Renee - Jaime's name has 2 special meanings. First, in French, her name means 'love reborn'. We almost lost her during my pregnancy and were warned that there might be brain damage. When she was born perfectly healthy, we felt we'd gotten a second chance to love this baby. Also, I had a dear friend, Jim, that we wanted to honor with a namesake. And my late friend Gail's middle name was Renee. We felt it a sweet way to keep her memory alive.

Kylene Larie - Here I confess we fell in love with the name. I saw a little girl performing with a gymnastic team and her name was Kylene. I just really liked it. But we were unable to come up with a middle name that we liked and that had special meaning. We finally chose Larie because a couple in our church in Mesa had adopted us and especially the girls. She had been so good to us that it just felt right naming Kylene after her.

And our girls have continued the tradition.

Russell James - Jaime used Slade's middle name and James for Jaime (and my friend Jim.)

Randall Stoddard - Jaime and Slade honored Slade's dad by using his middle name. And they chose Stoddard in Kevin's honor since he had 3 girls. This was to carry the Stoddard name on.

Joshua Steven - Christy and Kyle named Joshua because Christy knew that was the only boy name we'd ever had but didn't get the chance to use it. So they used it, to honor us. Steven was Kyle's dad's name. He'd died a few years previously but his memory will contine.

Julia Ruth - Kyle chose Julia and Ruth was in my honor. It melts my heart when Julia talks to me about "our" name...

Allyson Larie - Kylene wanted to honor me and Aunt Alice but wanted the name updated so Allyson it is. And Trey really likes Larie so Kylene was honored.

Benjamin Thomas - Trey really enjoys history and has much respect for our founding fathers. This strong name has deep roots.

Then, tonight, one of my former youth group kids came to visit. I was her youth leader when she was in 7th grade and we just adopted her into the family and have stayed close to her, even as she grew up, married and is now having her 2nd child. Her newest baby is a girl and she asked if they could name her after me! They're also naming the baby after her grandmother.

There have been times through the years when I doubted myself as a parent or mentor. I worried that I was too strict, too lenient, too aloof, too smothering. How sweet is our God, to give us a glimpse of things we've done right. Not so that we can gloat, but so that we can be encouraged and feel loved.

And then so that we can say, it was all worth it.