Our Daughter Has a Name.

If you've been around our blog since Hollyn was born, you may recall that we had a heck of a time naming her, as in I was seriously concerned that I would have to try to name her while all drugged and loopy in the hospital. But when we decided to adopt and come up with a name for our daughter, it was as easy as could be. Yes, to some this may seem hasty, as we only officially announced our adoption last week.

 But God has been stirring our hearts towards adoption for over two years; this news is in no way new to us.

 Now you may be wondering why we would feel the need to name a girl we haven't been matched with yet...and what about her Congolese name? 

 Most orphans in Africa expect to receive a new name. This may or may not be the case with her; we shall have to wait and see. Also naming her now helps us, specifically Libby and Hollyn, bond with her in the absence of a growing belly. It's quite possible that we will be expecting her twice as long (hopefully not longer) as I was pregnant with my girls, and I can only say 'the baby' so many times. And since we are now expecting her, we felt no need to wait to name her, seeing as how we named both of our other daughters before we met them as well. 

And most importantly, we want to pray for her by name. 

We've actually been praying for her by name for months now.

She is not a child with no family; she simply hasn't met us yet. 

And she deserves a name. 

We do plan to keep her African name as either her middle name or first name, depending on what it is, her response, who gave it to her, what it means, her age, etc. 

But we knew from the start, that she will be our....

Why Emily? 

Easy, easy, easy. 

There are several Emily's I love dearly, but this girl here takes the cake. 

She is determined, hard-working, and adventurous. 

Her heart beats to serve others and spread the Gospel to all the nations. 

And she is, hands down, the most Godly girl I know. 

She inspires me to draw nearer to God and lives to serve Him like no one else I've ever seen. 

And I pray my daughter has some of her wisdom, determination, and desire to serve others for Jesus.

And it doesn't hurt that Emily means TO STRIVE or EXCEL. 

I truly pray that my daughter is able to do both of those things one day soon.

No more calling her THE BABY. Or OUR THIRD DAUGHTER. Or OUR KIDDO NUMBER THREE. 

Libby, Hollyn, and Emily? Yes, please. 

Our daughter has a name. 

And I am one happy mama.