Wednesday, September 24, 2008

his name...

Photobucket

Many have asked how we came up with Asher's name. Was it something we were able to choose ourselves? Did the birth mom name him? Well, to answer your questions...I guess a little of both.
We've liked the name Asher for awhile now. I like it because it's biblical (I've always liked bible names for boys), but not a super common/overused bible name. To be truthful though, we hadn't really considered using this particular name for this baby. We began throwing names around a couple of months before he was born. We scoured the Internet, name books, etc... but nothing seemed right. Nothing jumped out at us. We even asked our birth mom if there were any names in particular that she really loved. (At that point, we felt like we needed all the help we could get.) She gave us a few ideas to think about, and John and I continued bouncing ideas off of each other. It wasn't until we looked up the origin and meaning of the name, that we were finally convinced that this unborn baby was most definitely...an Asher.
The name Asher \a-sher\ is pronounced ASH-er. It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "happy" and "blessed". Biblical: Asher, the eighth son of Jacob, was promised a life blessed with abundance.
I also found it interesting as I read the account of Jacob, in the book of Genesis, that Asher's birth mother was actually Zilpah, Leah's handmaiden; yet Leah loved Asher and Gad like her own biological children.
In the short time that we've had our little Asher, we have loved him and cared for him no less than we have our precious Ruby, who is our own biological daughter. To us, the important thing is not how he got to us, but that he's here...with us. He's ours. And oh how "blessed" we are to have him...and oh how "happy" he makes us feel. I know that his birth mother made the decision to place him for adoption with only his "happiness" in mind; and our promise to her is that we will do everything in our power to ensure his "happiness" and teach him the way to live so that his life, like that of the biblical Asher, will be "blessed with abundance".

Jordan was one of the names that Asher's birth mom told us she really liked. When we looked up it's origin and meaning, once again, we just felt that this name would be so appropriate for his middle name.
The name Jordan \j(o)-rdan, jor-dan\ is pronounced JOR-dan. It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "down-flowing". Name of the major river in Palestine, used as a given name since the Crusades.
I liked that there's some consistency between the two names, both being of Hebrew origin. I also love that the name Jordan means "down-flowing", referring obviously, to the river Jordan. We know that Moses was born to a Hebrew mother, but as Pharaoh ordered the execution of all Hebrew baby boys, Moses' birth mom (for his protection and well being) sent him "down a river", and we know that he was found by Pharaoh's daughter, and then "adopted" into the royal Egyptian family. To me, using the name Jordan is just a subtle way of linking Asher's heritage to Moses' (both being adopted) rather than directly naming him Moses.
Plus, I just think it's so neat that Asher's birth mom was able to contribute in choosing his very special name.

I hope that when he's older, he'll love and appreciate his name for the very same reasons that inspired us to choose it.

8 comments:

Celeste said...

I'm so glad I was able to talk to you today Nicole. I feel for you with what you're going through with Asher's acid reflux. Let's just hope his dr puts him on Prevacid on Friday!

I'm so glad you posted this and shared the story with me today on the phone. You guys are all so amazing. I'll see you tomorrow night. I hope Ruby gets feeling better and she doesn't get sick. That's all you need on top of everything! Love you guys. And as always, you are always in our prayers and thoughts.

Amy Eagleston said...

He is such a special boy. I love the picture.

Karissa Kay said...

Wow, that's so neat, Nicole. I love it!

Unknown said...

Wow, I thought his name was great before and now knowing what it means to your family specifically makes it so much better! Chris and I do this with our kids names too, they have to really mean something special to us as well.

Blackner Family said...

Love his name and the meaning behind it. Very cool.
From reading the first comment it sounds like Asher has acid reflux. Baylee was colic and had acid reflux (never threw up but just extremely fussy) and when she was put on prevacid (or zantac can't remember) it made a huge difference! Good luck with that!! That can be exhausting!

diana said...

i've always loved the amount of thought that went into picking his name. the meanings of his names are almost heaven sent with how perfect they are.

you know i love you and that i'm right around the corner if you need anything.

Kelly said...

wow, that is a great story!! I love it. I hope you are all doing well. You deserve it. I really want to meet this special boy in person!


PS I love that you and Celeste are such good friends now! Im glad I kept pushing you both to talk to eachother.. ;)forever ago. Haha.
She is such a sweet girl and you are too. I just love you both SO much.

Ethel Carola Aredes said...

amiga que nombre más correcto para tu hijo vino a una familia que le llenaran de felicidad y que le enseñaran el camino a la felicidad eterna y que mayor bendicion al tener unos padres que se esfuerzan por vivir los convenios que realizaron en la casa del señor y como un rio fluira amor y felicidad su vida y la vida de los que los rodea
te quiero mucho amiga