A Gift by any Other Name . . .

How did we come to name Makana? Loooong story, but here's the quickie of it.

Dave and I could not agree on an English name; there were too many name-associations (like word-associations). The names I liked for biblical reasons, Dave didn't like because of pop-culture ones. I thought the ones he liked were either TOO common (especially amongst Christian circles) or reminded me of former students (we'll leave it at that).

We were forced to choose a name in April in order for us to be considered in the Marshall Islands. Dave also wanted to name our daughter after me. If you know anything about me and how I feel cheated regarding my name, that idea did not sit well. I had always liked the name Makana, as it means "gift." Dave actually liked it, even without me pointing out that it has the same phonetic consonants as my name.

Having a child has truly been a process we could not really plan nor coerce into happening. Our child is a gift. We could not earn her nor deserve her into being. God has given her to us. (True, we had to fill out all the paperwork, ETC., but it was in God's timing and matching.) Thank you, God! BTW--Dave likes to remind people that a definition of "grace" is that we could never earn it nor deserve it. More on that to come. :)