Names

Izzy just told me he wants to change his name. It broke my heart, a lot. He won't understand how important his name is until much later in life, but his name was given not picked.

It took us months of prayer to pick Judah's name and finally one day as I was praying, it just popped out of a book and the meaning got me- Praise. We didn't know his diagnosis at the time, but it immediately felt right. I didn't tell anyone even Hubby and one week later, I received a call from my Dad who said, I was praying today and I know the name of the baby. I thought to myself, "no you don't." Then he said it, "Judah."
And tears.
We knew we wanted powerful meanings for their names, so we chose Judah-Praise, Asher-Blessed, Happy.

A few months after Judah had passed, I got a call from my Dad who was weeping. He said he was praying and HAD to call me to share what he was given. He had an urging in his spirit to write a passage down and give it to me and so he did. It is written in his journal somewhere, but I will paraphrase here. "Because of their faithfulness, Michael (Me) will become pregnant with a healthy baby boy. He will be called Israel-Promise of God. He will be a helper to his parents and grow to do amazing work for the Lord." I wasn't supposed to try to get pregnant for 2 more months. I figured this would happen down the road, but just one week later, I found out I was pregnant. It was a healthy boy and we named him Israel. We chose Ranen for his middle name which means Joy which is exactly what he is.

When he told me he didn't like his name, it wasn't because he didn't like his name, but because a boy at school named Allen didn't. He said he wants to have a name everyone will like, so I explained that no matter what your name is, someone will take issue with it. I also explained how special his name is and how Mommy has an unusual name too and I got made fun of when I was little. I told him the next time someone says something about his name, just say, "I like it so that is all that matters." It made my heart hurt for him, having an unusual name myself, I could completely relate.

It seems all of my boys names are becoming more popular, Judah, Israel and Asher are all moving up on the names list. It seems everywhere I turn, I run into people with the same names. I can't tell you how many people I have met, simply due to my name. A girl named Michael is a conversation starter and it is nice as an adult to not have a name that everyone else has. I hope that someday soon Israel enjoys his name and doesn't want to blend like everyone else. I couldn't imagine him with any other name.

This also makes me wonder, if Israel got flack for his name, what is going to happen to all of those poor Hollywood kids? Apple, Seraphina, Bronx Mowgli...