A Rose By Any Other Name....

First, let me say that I never intended to drop a teaser on you like I did last Wednesday and then take so long to come back to ya'll.... That's like telling you I've got home-made chocolate chip cookies for you and then leaving all the ingredients on the counter to be assembled into gooey dough 5 days later. Mean. Just plain mean.  I know. I'm sorry.

Suffice it to say that 2 boxes of tissues, a bag of cough drops, and lots of acetaminophen, decongestants, and V!cks V@porub were consumed. LOTS. 

All of this makes the progress update on our adoption journey to mei-mei just a teensy anti-climactic. But there's a story to it and since this blog functions as my kids' scrapbooks and life-books too, I'm determined to tell it. You are welcome to stay for the story. Pull up a chair.

As some of you might know, choosing a name for this little one that God is choosing for our Gang has been a big weight on my mind for much of the last year or year and a half. Really, it has. I know it's likely just me and my slight OCD, first-born, preparation/order/tying up loose ends issues, but the fact that we've been paper-chasing to this child for over a year now and had no name rising to the surface as THE ONE has been a stressor for me.

I know full well that I likely made it much bigger than it needed to be, especially for The Boss and the gang. It's my special gift. Snort.

But I really wanted the kids to have some buy-in, some sense of ownership this time around, ya know?  When we were adopting Li'l E, I had her name picked from back before I was expecting Baby BlueEyes. In fact, when Baby BlueEyes was an infant, I felt the Lord clearly reassure me that He had my little "Aidan" waiting for me, that He knew who she was and that she would come to us someday. It was such a comfort and encouragement to me in that moment and for many, many moments to come. Both when I was wondering if we were done building our family AND when we were paper-chasing for her.

Plus, that meant her name was ready. No debate or discussion. That part of the "To Do" list was checked off. Yay. I love when things can get checked off my lists.

This time, however, the kids are all significantly older and at varying stages of understanding both about adoption and about building our family. Plus, they almost all have pretty strong opinions about what "flows" well with the other names and what names mean, either by definition or by experiences with other kids' names they know. And, ahem, about everything else.

Heh. That's what I get for trying to raise strong, confident kids who can articulate for themselves what they are thinking and feeling.

Yeah. That's come back to bite me in the hiney. On several levels. Almost every day. Heh.

So for about a year now, we've had a running list of names popping up on the fridge. Occasionally, LadyBug or I would rally the troops to think them over and cast a vote. Sometimes, one or two of them would get all smarty pants on me and add crazy names like "Beulah" or "Eunice" and commit voter fraud, to the delight of the other sibs. But over the year, none of the names really rang true. In fact, the name we've finally come to love and all agree upon has never once appeared in the list. Until this Christmas season.

The Boss and I were visiting his sister and family for an early Christmas celebration. We were looking through her baby book, talking over names. They were in a similar predicament, knowing that Baby Boy was coming soon after the New Year but not having a clear sense of what name felt right for their crew. And there it was. Or, should I say, there it was - a derivation of a name that The Boss kept coming back to over and over during the weekend. He liked the shorter version of the name, but to LadyBug and me, it sounded a bit too abrupt. It didn't flow well with the femininity of the other girls' names.

So we talked it out. And tried it out. We used it in sentences. We listed it at the end of all the Gang's names. We talked about her using the name. And finally. FI.NUH.LEEEE. We took one more vote.

And we finally have a name.

Ooooh, I still get a little giddy when I say that.  WE. HAVE. A. NAME!!!!!!

Brynna Rose.

"Rose" is after my mom's mother, who will celebrate her 93rd birthday next week. And for The Boss's grandmother who went to party with Jesus back when Baby BlueEyes was a really little guy. It works well, together, doesn't it?

Oh, great. I just realized. I gotta come up with a blog-name for her now. Oh. Sheesh. So much for the relief of the stress.

Heh.

Maybe soon I'll tell you about some of the names that we posted on our fridge for the last year or so. And all my weird little criteria for picking a name. Believe you me, there were quite a few. Looking back on it now, I am so grateful The Boss hangs in with me for all my weirdness. Really. Wait till you see my "check list." You'll be happy for The Boss that the insanity is over. Or, at least this particular little insanity. I'm quite confident I'll have some other new eccentricity for him to tolerate. That's love, baby. Real love.