What's in a name?

I have been doing a lot of photography work, and part of the not as much fun side is the bookkeeping/processing. One of the things I noticed was the last names of the kids, many don't match the parents. I once heard of a couple who when they decided to get married, he took her last name, because it was respected and had a godly local heritage and he felt that it was important to his new family.

What's the value of a name?

• Heritage.
  
• Stability.
  
• Belonging.
  
• Security.
  
• Hope.
  
• Being known
  
• I am loved.

If all goes well, we shall adopt our niece and give her our last name sometime this year! She has found stability in her young life, here under our roof.

Unfocused Eyes

I was holding our new little Gwen, (7 lbs 11.5 oz, 20 inches) She finally opened her eyes so we could see more than a slit. She was searching for my voice, Dad was somewhere out there, just beyond sight. It is an interesting fact that babies can only focus their eyes a few inches out.
Here she was searching for the voice of her father, who loves her and will care for her, more than any other man in her life. I have her matching ID bracelet. Only her parents can access her and take her from the hospital. If anyone tries, the whole floor gets locked down! The elevators stop working!
There's only one relationship that has more love, more safety, and more security that than: God as our heavenly father loves us so much that no one can take us from His hand. His hand never grows tired or weak, and nothing has the power to snatch us away.
As gazed into her eyes of slate blue gray, she wanted to see me, she wanted to know who loved her so much, it hurt. Do I want to see God like that, knowing that He's there and loves me, holds me and cares about everything about my life. I can't focus on Him, because I can't see Him.
Do my spiritual eyes improve as I grow? Yes, but I'm myopic. Myopia which is the noun from which we get the adjective is defined by Miriam-Webster's as 1 : a condition in which the visual images come to a focus in front of the retina of the eye resulting especially in defective vision of distant objects 2 : a lack of foresight or discernment : a narrow view of something.
I'll admit it, I am. God take away my myopia and focus my eyes on You.

Hope for the future

There is hope for the future. As I sat in the hospital holding our little Gwen Adele, I cried. I thought of who she might become. A woman someday who loves God. For now, her little eyes just peeked open, unfocused, trying to understand this new world of light, cold, and swaddling. I got on my spiritual knees and prayed that I would be the father she needs, that I could slay the dragons at the beginning of her life and protect her from evil with God's help.
April been a very difficult month for our family, but God's timing is perfect on everything. He has never let the righteous go hungry (or eat cat food). But holding my new little girl, who barely opens her eyes, there is hope for what God is going to do. April may have been a dark canyon, but May is the golden morning sunshine of a new chapter.
As I drove into the hospital and listened to KLOVE. I heard a listener story, she had lost a baby at 5 months and she gave it all to God. God gave her the peace that what had been taken away would be restored of her future daughter-in-laws, one has the same name of the daughter they lost and one's birthday was the day she was due. I remembered how we lost the first pregnancy very early on, and how many times we nearly lost Moriah during her pregnancy. God has been very good, no real complications, a great OB office, we had an awesome midwife, and got a 2 for 1 deal on doulas. Those two doulas worked hard and stayed with Elaine the whole the time. The early labor was long, but the end was quick and Gwen has a whole head of curly brown hair! Dad finally got to cut the umbilical cord. Elaine got to hold her prize, Gwen, a few seconds after birth.
It seems to me, what the locusts have eaten, God is beginning to restore.

Joel 2:24-26
24 The threshing floors will again be piled high with grain,
and the presses will overflow with new wine and olive oil.
25 The Lord says, “I will give you back what you lost
to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts,
the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts.
It was I who sent this great destroying army against you.
26 Once again you will have all the food you want,
and you will praise the Lord your God,
who does these miracles for you.
Never again will my people be disgraced.

This is what God is doing in our life. He has begun to restore what we have lost. Sometimes this is hard to see, when we're in the midst of turmoil. I had to sit and hold Gwen to slow down long enough to see God working, to hear Him speak in a still small voice. Yes, its been that busy.
Is the road ahead free from trouble and easy? Probably not, but for a moment, I was offered a glimpse beyond the here and now to where my family is going in this adventure called life.