You're Naming The Baby WHAT?

My mom asked me yesterday if we'd gotten any flack for the names we'd chosen for this baby.  Nobody has vocalized any so far, and we wouldn't really care if people had, but apparently some people think we're just naming our kids after comic books. (hardy har har.)  So I thought I'd explain a teeny bit behind why we chose the four names we did.

Let me preface this by saying, Michael and I have a system in how we name our kids.  1) The name has to be unique.  2) It has to be filled with rich meaning about what we want for our child's life.  3) The middle name has to point to Christ.  

Examples: Million means "We want everything big for you in life."  One of his middle names is "Kumelachew" which means "He stands for you; or Advocate."

Creedence means "To establish a firm belief."  His middle name is Shepherd 

I'll start with our female option... "ladies first."   

Jubilee Shalom

Five or six years ago, I found the name Jubilee on a blog relating to Ethiopian adoption.  Ever since, I've wanted a daughter named Jubilee.  Unknown to us (since we don't have television), another popular family chose the exact same name combination for their daughter who died.  That doesn't have much bearing on our name choice, since we've never even seen an episode of their show.  In Luke 4:18, Jesus is talking and He says "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed."  Liberty to the captives....just like in the year of Jubilee.  The year of Jubilee in the Bible is a year set aside every 49th or 50th year where all the slaves are released, and all the land returned to proper ownership the way that God designed it to be. 

Shalom is a Hebrew word usually translated peace, or wholeness; it's a word with the biggest connotation of "how things were meant to be, how things were originally set in place by God."  Jesus spoke often of Shalom peace, and He is our Peace.  

And for our manly option: Marvel Cornerstone

Seven months ago, we sat in the middle of church, and were expecting a different baby.  As we sang a song (How Marvelous), the thought of a  name for a son came to my head. I ran it by Michael.  He loved it.  Repeatedly in the Bible, God is called marvelous, and we are instructed to praise his marvelous works.  He has called us into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2).  

And John 5:20 tells us that we should be marveling... "For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel." 

And we are marvels.  A verse that has been one of my favorites since 2001.  Psalm 71:7 "I have become a marvel to many, For You are my strong refuge." 

Cornerstone is easiest to explain, since it is a name of Christ in the Bible.  

1 Peter 2:6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

So those are our unconventional and meaning-filled name options for this baby.  Of course we don't mind the comic book correlation, since Michael likes Marvel Comics better than D.C. comics, but no....that's not why we chose the name for our possible son.  And we're not naming our possible daughter after a paper towel brand either.