What's in a name?
Quite honestly all 3 of our children's names have a special meaning to us, not only because they are our children, but because of what they represented in our lives at the time of their arrivals.
Many of you have asked how we arrived at Blake's name.
Blake Andrew. Blake is the name Reece's Rainbow alias provided for him to protect his identity. Well, because it was a name we loved for Autum, we already liked the way it sounded. It represented how Blake came into our lives through Reece's Rainbow. Also, we thought it fit his little face and personality. Plus, we had been calling him Blake for so many months we felt it was already his identity and we couldn't see him as any other name. Andrew came to us after we were in Kiev touring the city. We wanted to preserve some aspect of Blake's heritage but weren't sure how. We learned his real name was Vladislav, and he is called Slovak. What we learned though is, most likely he was named by someone at the hospital because his mother gave him up at birth, so most likely didn't choose his name. In Ukrainian culture, people don't have middle names...they carry their father's surname as their second name. So Blake's middle name was Alexander...again, it was a name the hospital gave him because his father was not mentioned on the birth certificate and its the name given to every child with no father designated. We didn't feel any connections to these names and knew they didn't represent his family in any way...so we went another route. We chose Andrew. St. Andrew is a very prominent Saint in Ukrainian culture and religion. He was believed to have prophesied about Kiev's location and origination beforehand and is thought to have lead people to Christ all through what is now known as Ukraine. He was also a fisherman that Jesus called to join Him as a Fisher of Men and a disciple. He was also described in the book of John as constantly bringing people to Jesus. He was the disciple who brought the boy with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish to Jesus, which was later multiplied to feed 5,000 people and as a result lead to many saved souls. Through our adoption and Blake's life already, we have desired nothing more than God to be glorified and His Kingdom furthered through this journey. Therefore Blake Andrew was to be the name of our 3rd child.
Keep us in your prayers as my mother and I head out next Tuesday to go bring Blake Andrew home to his "Forever Family." We need prayers that the Holy Spirit would instill a spirit of peace upon us, of comfort, of health, of supernatural favor, and of patience as we rely fully on Him to lead and provide.
Thanks!
Quite honestly all 3 of our children's names have a special meaning to us, not only because they are our children, but because of what they represented in our lives at the time of their arrivals.
Many of you have asked how we arrived at Blake's name.
Blake Andrew. Blake is the name Reece's Rainbow alias provided for him to protect his identity. Well, because it was a name we loved for Autum, we already liked the way it sounded. It represented how Blake came into our lives through Reece's Rainbow. Also, we thought it fit his little face and personality. Plus, we had been calling him Blake for so many months we felt it was already his identity and we couldn't see him as any other name. Andrew came to us after we were in Kiev touring the city. We wanted to preserve some aspect of Blake's heritage but weren't sure how. We learned his real name was Vladislav, and he is called Slovak. What we learned though is, most likely he was named by someone at the hospital because his mother gave him up at birth, so most likely didn't choose his name. In Ukrainian culture, people don't have middle names...they carry their father's surname as their second name. So Blake's middle name was Alexander...again, it was a name the hospital gave him because his father was not mentioned on the birth certificate and its the name given to every child with no father designated. We didn't feel any connections to these names and knew they didn't represent his family in any way...so we went another route. We chose Andrew. St. Andrew is a very prominent Saint in Ukrainian culture and religion. He was believed to have prophesied about Kiev's location and origination beforehand and is thought to have lead people to Christ all through what is now known as Ukraine. He was also a fisherman that Jesus called to join Him as a Fisher of Men and a disciple. He was also described in the book of John as constantly bringing people to Jesus. He was the disciple who brought the boy with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish to Jesus, which was later multiplied to feed 5,000 people and as a result lead to many saved souls. Through our adoption and Blake's life already, we have desired nothing more than God to be glorified and His Kingdom furthered through this journey. Therefore Blake Andrew was to be the name of our 3rd child.
Keep us in your prayers as my mother and I head out next Tuesday to go bring Blake Andrew home to his "Forever Family." We need prayers that the Holy Spirit would instill a spirit of peace upon us, of comfort, of health, of supernatural favor, and of patience as we rely fully on Him to lead and provide.
Thanks!
I LOVE that name!!! I also am praying for you and your mom!!
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