What's In A Name?

With much excitement we officially announce the name of our son!


In case you can't read the piece of paper it says,
Mekonen- our son's given Ethiopian name. It is part of his life story and how he came to be ours. We have found two meanings of Mekonen.
1. noble, dignitary
2. the angel
Jack- named for my dad and Jon's grandpa.

It means so much to me to name our first born son after my dad. I would like to take the opportunity to share a bit about my amazing daddy! For those of you who know my dad, he is one of the most incredible men I have known, and will ever know, in my entire life. He loves Jesus more than life itself and forever I will remember him always singing, "I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold, I'd rather have him than have riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus than anything, I'd rather be held by his nail pierced hands." My dad has an incredible story. I love hearing how Jesus saved my mom and dad. Their story is amazing, if you haven't heard it, you should ask them! My dad has experienced a lot in his life, our family, our spiritual lives, the life of the church, etc. Through it all, he has been faithful to Jesus, faithful to the Bible, faithful to his family. He works harder than anyone I know and has a peace deep in his heart. I commend my dad. In my 26 years he has shown me by his life who Jesus is. When God saw our destitute state, our depravity, our rebellion, he didn't sit far off, alone, distant, unengaged. No, he CAME. He came as the man Jesus and DIED for us. He fought for our hearts, pursued us, forgave our sins, rescued us. Amazing. Simply amazing. That is the picture I see of my dad. He sees his role as husband, dad, and spiritual leader as one who is like Jesus. Protector, defender, rescuer, healer, encourager, strong, and the list goes on and goes. When trouble has come into our lives, he never retreated, but rather pursued most vigorously.... our hearts and the hearts of those he was given to minister to. No matter what the outcome, my dad can stand and say "He has led well. He has been protector and defender." I honor my daddy because he loves like Jesus and through that, I have grown to understand how Jesus loves me. I pray and trust that my son, our first born son, will continue the godly heritage my dad has begun in our family. When he gets to a ripe old age, I pray my dad is encouraged by the legacy he himself started. He chose a different path. He chose to love Jesus. I hope that in that old age many years away, he can sit back, and watch from the corner of the room, the children he raised to love Jesus, and the grandchildren who followed, and the great grand children who followed. So Mekonen my dear son, you have a great heritage, a great legacy. Carry it well.

(This little post about my daddy wasn't intended to leave out Jon's grandpa. I just wanted to take the opportunity to publicly acknowledge my dad. Jon's grandpa and grandma tragically died in a plane crash before he was born. In just the recent years we have begun to hear the stories and life of his grandpa. They are incredible. This past summer at the Oren family reunion, I was blessed to hear so many stories about the man who is my husband's grandpa. The man who started a legacy on the Oren side of our son's family. So, I will have to let Jon tell you a little about him).

So...back to the naming process! Before we received our referral, we were undecided about a name. We had a list of names we liked, two or three we really liked, but nothing set in stone. We wanted to wait until we saw his face and heard his Ethiopian name. Without a doubt we said we would keep his Ethiopian name in some fashion, whether it be his first or middle. We decided to wait till we knew his name to see if we liked it, if it was easily pronounced, etc., for a first name. I can still remember when Merrily said, "His name is Mekonen." I just smiled. I loved it! This might sound strange to some people, but we sat on it, prayed about, and then decided! After all, God is concerned about all the affairs of our lives and the lives of our children, so why not the naming process? It was kind of stressful at first, deciding his name. I mean, this boy will have this name for life! It will be so much of who he is. Jon is very much a believer in a child's name having some kind of meaning and/or significance. We decided our baby's name on just those things! His heritage and his family! (And for all of you who don't like it, please don't tell me all the horrible things it reminds you of). haha.

Here's a fun little story from my four year old nephew Manny that my sister told me.
"mom... listen, mmmmmmmm, mekonen!, That starts with M like Manny! and we're both adopted! we rhyme!" "also mom, I think I will teach him to play baseball, but when we play baseball, I will only call him Jack." me: "why, manny?" "UGH, MOOOOMMM, b/c that's his baseball name." This was BEFORE we decided on Mekonen's name and before we announced it! Hehe.