I never imagined that it would be so hard to name our baby girl! When we looked at the list of girl names we made before we knew Mason was a boy, none of those names were right for this baby. So we started over. At first, I really wanted to find an "M" name. There are so many sweet "M" names for girls, but Seth didn't exactly agree with that. So no "M" name. And then I really wanted a double name, but Seth doesn't like double names. He says they are too long. I started making a list. We finally managed to narrow it down to 12 combinations of first and middle names. And then we narrowed it down to three. From there it took nearly two months to make the final decision.
And I can say that her name is not what I really thought it would be. There was one name in particular that we both really liked and held a lot of meaning for us, but I never could come to the place where I felt like that was THE NAME. Seth kept telling me she's just going to be whatever we name her, but I kept telling him that she already has a name, and I need to know exactly what that name is! I began to realize that everytime I thought about her, everytime I woke up in the middle of the night (which is very often!), everytime I prayed for her . . . I was calling her by name, just not the one that I thought it would be. So after a month of this, I finally told Seth what I knew her name to be. And, surprisingly, he was okay with it!
Mason loves her name, too, and he calls her by name all the time now . . .
Her name is Hannah Katherine, and we are going to call her Hannah Kate (can you believe Seth agreed to a double name?!?). Mason doesn't quite have the "H" sound down yet so it sounds more like Annah Kate when he says it. The only thing is . . . now that she has a name, and we talk about her and call her by name all the time, Mason wonders why she isn't here yet! When I loaded him up to go grocery shopping the other day, he asked if we were going to get "Annah Kate." I keep telling him she'll be here really soon, probably sooner than he wishes! While he refuses to share his beloved blanket with her, I think he's going to be such a good big brother.
Mason keeps telling me he wants to take Hannah Kate to the park. I've tried to explain to him that Hannah Kate is going to arrive as a little baby and won't be able to play in the park for awhile. At first, I thought he was getting her mixed up with Eliza Kate. We play at the park often with her. But the more he talks about Hannah Kate, the more I think he thinks she's going arrive as a "big girl" like Eliza Kate or Anna or Abbie; you know, someone he can play with.
So, why Hannah? 1 Samuel 1-2 is a passage of Scripture that has meant a lot to me during the past five years. When I'm discouraged about where I am or what I'm doing, I read Hannah's story. Although she spent years longing and praying for a child, she didn't give up. She "kept on praying to the Lord" (1 Samuel 1:12). Her prayer came straight from her heart, and she "poured out her soul to the Lord" (1 Samuel 1:13, 15). She finally came to the place where she "went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast" (1 Samuel 1:18). Hannah was a woman of prayer, and she had a very intimate relationship with the Lord. She knew that God was taking care of her and that His plan was a good plan - the best plan for her life. She trusted God wholeheartedly and was finally able to completely surrender herself to God's plan, regardless of how it turned out. In surrendering to God the son she so desperately wanted, Hannah gained a fresh appreciation for the Lord, a deep sense of joy and a truly satisfying life. And she gained the sure knowledge that in surrendering Samuel to the Lord, she had set him on course to become one of the Old Testament's great men of faith.
Hannah means "grace." Simply stated, grace is God's unmerited favor. There's so much to be said about God's grace . . . His abundant supply of grace towards me day in and day out.
Katherine is a name I've always liked. It means "pure." Another of my favorite passages of Scripture is Psalm 51. Lord, wash me, and I will be whiter than snow! I mean, can it get any better than that?!?
Hannah Kate's birth day is scheduled for Tuesday, December 4.