What's in a name?

Nathaniel's name was not an easy name for us to settle on. I struggled a lot (Joe was SO patient with me) with boy names. I feel like boy names are such a big deal-a girl's name will most likely change eventually, but a boy's name is forever! Here is how and why Nathaniel got his name.

Nathaniel: Joe and I have loved the name Nathaniel for a very long time. When we talked about baby names one day while on a walk near our home in California, it was a name that we both said simultaneously that we liked. (I thought that was pretty cool) This isn't the reason we named him Nathaniel though. Nathaniel means "Gift of God." Nathaniel is that to us. A gift from God. We prayed and worried over this baby from the day I found out I was pregnant. That God can make a human being from just two single cells, is just crazy to me. The feeling that I felt every time I felt him kick while I was pregnant, when Joe told me his head was out, the first time I heard him cry, the first time I saw his face-each of these moments is a gift from God. Nathaniel is our gift from God.

Isaac: This is the part of the name that I struggled with the most. I absolutely LOVE this name. I was so scared when I found out I was pregnant with Nathaniel. I will never forget going to work that day. Katie Hardee and Ann Gilman came into my classroom to visit that morning. I told them that I had a positive pregnancy test and I almost cried! I had just had a miscarriage 2 months prior and we were supposed to wait 3 months to try to get pregnant again. I had read in several different places that that the risk of miscarriage was even higher if we didn't wait the full 3 months. Anyway, The week after I found out I was pregnant with Nathaniel, I couldn't sleep and so I picked up my Bible and just prayed for God to give me a verse to give me peace. I opened to Hebrews 6. The verse I opened to talked about how Abraham was promised by God that he would have a son (Background-Abraham was married to Sarah. Sarah couldn't have children and Abraham really wanted a son. They were getting older, so to give Abraham a son, Sarah "gave" Abraham her servant Hagaar, and they had a son together Ishmael (sp?). Later, God promised Abraham the nations through a legitmate son with his wife Sarah, Isaac.) After reading Hebrews 6, I had such a peace. I would remind myself constantly that God is BIG and that his child wasn't mine, but His. Eventually, I looked up what Isaac meant and the meaning made me fall in love even more with the name. It means "he will laugh/laughter." I knew that the baby would bring us more joy than anything else in this world (I didn't know to what exent until now though. It is so important to us that our kids have a happy life.

A lot of people have asked if we are going to call him Nathaniel, Nathan, or Nate. We plan on calling him Nathan for the most part.