Not Quite There . . .

We have changed our mind three times today.  The name thing is not quite there . . .

We have decided he is not a Canaan, though we love the name and adore the meaning.

Here is the struggle:

Whatever we name him, his middle name will be “Ian.”  It is his given name, it means “God is gracious” or “God is forgiving.”  We love including it and grafting in a piece of his birthmother into his name.

If we name him Malakai we will call him Kai.  We love the name Kai.

Malakai means “God’s messenger”  if we name him Malakai Ian, his name will mean “God’s messenger that God is gracious.”

If we name him Jaxon we will call him Jax or Jack.  Jax is a little crazy and Jack a little common, trying to figure that out.

Jaxon and Ian are both derivatives of John.  His name would mean something to the effect of “God is gracious, God is forgiving”

If we name him Colton, we will call him Cole.  We think he might look like a Cole.  We like the name Cole.

The meaning of Colton is “From the dark town”  this can be a downer of a meaning, but there is truth in it, this baby went through it in the womb.  He survived a lot and came out so healthy and happy.  Colton Ian would mean “From the dark town into God’s grace.”  Pretty good.

Any further comments?

We never thought we would be these parents.

But here we are, naming him in community.  And we are finding that we love that.

Baby Name Poll

Sharpteam is trying to choose just the right name. We have been praying and trying different names out and looking for just the right fit.

We would love to see which name you all like best. Please leave comments as to why you like a particular name, but please don’t try and talk us out of any of them : )

Still hoping for a name by Monday.

Sharpteam Gains a New Player

Everything went smoothly this morning.  We made it into Roxbury through traffic early, found a parking spot right next to the building, the rain the cleared and baby (yet-to-be-named) was placed in our arms.

He is home with us, happy, eating, laughing.

Life is good.

Taking Names . . .

We are looking for just the right name for baby boy . . . hoping to find a name that is unique and not one of the top ten boy names . . . hoping to have him named by Monday.  Please offer any and all suggestions.  

National Adoption Day

National Adoption Day is Friday, November 20.

It is also the day that the Sharpteam is planning on bringing home a baby boy.

We met little happy, hefty, baby last Friday, and the plan is to bring him home as our Foster Child while we walk through the next months as pre-adoptive parents (no adoption is official on day one).

He is almost five months old, has been living with a foster mom in Dorchester.  We will be meeting her and picking him up on Friday morning.  And then we will be entering the great unknown (that so many of our friends and family have walked through).

So we are soliciting advice.

Please, let us know what we should be doing – we are figuring out what a five month old does, eats, likes, dislikes . . . and we need to name him.

If you would like to see our first couple of pics from last week’s meeting, we are publishing those privately, let us know and we will send you a password so  you can see the private posts on here (as a foster child we cannot post here).

So appreciating our friends and family.  We will keep all updated here.

Liza & Andrew

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The Miraculous Unknown

The phone call came during our walk through of our new house.  It was a message from the Department of Children and Families in Roxbury.  We listened together as we drove on Cabot Street toward Salem.  “Baby Ian,” the little boy we had planned to adopt this summer, will be having his goal changed to “adoption.”  His lawyer wanted DCF to call us.

We were both in disbelief.  This door had closed firmly the last Friday in July.  We were told clearly, we would not be able to ever adopt this little boy.  We had tried working with DCF, we had tried working with our agency, but “Baby Ian” was already placed in Foster Care and the goal was reunification with his mother.  We opened our hands and let go.

We have walked through months since his birth, quietly noting his age.  We had prayed for him each time we saw day-lilies, the orange flower that had been so prevalent the week he was born.  The day-lilies began to fade, and I told myself the ache would as well. In October we were packing up everything to move into our new home.  We started with the nursery, a room we had saved, but one that we were not sure that we would ever need.  We were both surprised at how real the ache was so many months later.  Packing away little clothes he would not wear, a crib we bought for him, it was heart-wrenching.  We were not even able to know if he was ok, healthy, where he was . . .

And then this call, because a lawyer remembered our names!

We called back to speak with Laurie.  We sat at the ocean in Salem, just before our closings.  She was ready to move, to place the little boy in our home, but first we would need to be approved as pre-adoptive parents with the Department of Children and Families, could she come and do a homestudy on Monday?  In disbelief and trusting, we said yes.

We have been in a haze of disbelief.  Unpacking, painting, preparing.  Not understanding, not trusting that by Thanksgiving we would have “Ian” with us.  Our heads are telling our hearts to be ready, to prepare and open to all that is ahead.  Our shell-shocked hearts are tentative, but stepping forward together . . . into the amazing, miraculous, unknown.