Three Names

Shortly after I sent out our Christmas picture I realized that I've never blogged about the names we have given the three kids we are adopting. This was not intentional, it has just been one of those things (along with many other things) that I haven't gotten around to blogging about.

So, here is what we are naming our kids: Zahra, Zoe & Isaiah. We will keep their African names (which I can't put on the blog until they get home) as their middle names. The jury is still out as to whether they will have a second American/family middle name (like Abram does).

Zahra (pronounced Zar-a, rhymes with car-a): Means "beautiful or shining flower"
This name has been on my "names I like" list since before we started this adoption process. I have no idea where I found it. I think it is actually an Arabic name. When we first started learning about the plight of orphans in C-country, the picture I had of the kids there was very grey and drab, with no color. I pictured a lot of concrete and dirt. When I saw that Zahra means beautiful or shining flower, I LOVED it. To me it was a picture of God taking a nearly lifeless orphan, bringing her into a FAMILY and then seeing her life bloom with the color and beauty of a flower. That is my hope for Zahra, our oldest daughter.

Zoe (prounounded Zo-E): Means "Life"
This meaning does not need much explanation. What better gift to give an orphan than LIFE - both physical and spiritual. We choose Zoe for our six year old girl because I can tell from the few pictures we received that she has some lively spunk in her. The name just fits her.

Isaiah: Means "God is salvation"
Jason and I have both loved this name for a long time and it was near the top of the list for Abram's name. The main reason we love the name Isaiah for our boy we are adopting is that we were studying the book of Isaiah at Cornerstone when we started this adoption process. God used many of the truths and themes of Isaiah to move in our hearts to care for orphans and to lead and guide us to adopt three kids from Africa.

This passage from Isaiah 58, in particular, was very defining for us:

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

It is not only the call to spend ourselves for the hungry, but also the promise that God will satisfy our needs in a sun-scorched land and strengthen us that we are clinging to.