It's all in the Name

I know if I had a dollar for everytime I was asked during this pregnancy what his name was...we would be rich! Seriously, we didn't realize how socially unacceptable it was not to have a name already picked out and distributed throughout all of the universe before he was born. I tell ya! Anyway, having said that...we told everyone he would have a name before he left the hospital and he did!! haha!

A lot of people are asking why we named him what we did. Well, the middle name Francis (except it is the male spelling)is in memory of my Aunt Frannie who just recently passed away. Her name was Mary Frances who was named after my maternal grandmother Mary Frances Wynn. My Aunt Frannie was so very important to me and she passed away before she could meet him. So, he will carry her name forever and will always know about how much she loved him even though they never met. Francis means "Free Spirited" and that my Aunt was. So hopefully he will carry my Aunt and Grandmother's name well.

Isaiah was a name we talked about early on, but I had to hold him to really see if it fit. There are many reasons for Isaiah. The main one is that Markus and I used the verse Isaiah 43: 18-21 as our theme verse during out wedding. This verse just is our life and having a baby is no different. He is doing a new thing in bringing a child into our lives.

It reads:

18 "Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.

19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,

21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.



Also, the name means "Saved by God". We loved that. It comforts us that Isaiah is in God's hands.

The last and final reason that completely let us know that this is in fact what we are supposed to name him is that the last day in the hospital (right before we were going to sign the birth certificate) I was telling Mom about the scripture Isaiah 43: 18-21 and how that verse is kind of our life verse and that's why we wanted to name him Isaiah. Well, she opened her bible to the verse for me to show her, and she had written something next to the verse. I picked it up and read what she had written. No lie-- this is what she wrote. "MK - Vienna 1997". She wrote that right before I moved to Vienna...almost like claiming this for me. She didn't even remember writing that. I felt this peace come over me finally and it was obvious this was his name. It was like things had come full circle. The move to Vienna was the beginning of the journey to meet Markus and have this child called Isaiah. God ordained.

His name is Isaiah Francis Jabek.

He is a free spirit, saved by God! What a blessed child he is!!