His Name

I am typically the person who has to have my baby's name picked out way before he/she is born. With the first few babies, we didn't have a problem with that.  With the last two...it's been a different story. I am not exactly sure why, but it's just been more difficult to decide.  The night before this little one was born, we were basically down to two names.  With both, the middle name was Joseph.  He's a saint I have always greatly admired for his selflessness and humility.  So, I knew I would like that as a middle name.  The first name was the hard part.  This baby had been Henry Joseph in my mind for so long, since that was the name for Genevieve if she had been a boy.  So, when we found out this little guy was a boy, it just seemed that this name would be his.

Then, the name discussion was opened back up, and we re-thought names we had loved in the past. We looked over the list of family names we had compiled.  We tried to find saints who we might have overlooked.  There wasn't anything we were just set on.

And, poor Jeremy could not really talk to me about it, because it stressed me out.  For some reason, I just thought I would really "mess up" and miss a great name.  Sometimes my pregnant mind is one of great worry and anxiety as well.  The night before his birth, Jeremy made a comment about a name he liked (one that maybe we had kind of agreed on) and said, "I can get behind that name."  He did not say, "This is it!" or "I've just loved this name for a long time."  Instead, "I can get behind it."  In my crazy state, I started crying and saying I couldn't name our child something he wasn't in love with...something he had to just get used to.

See why it's hard to live with me sometimes?

So, that conversation quickly ended.  And, it wasn't brought up again, until Jeremy walked into the delivery room to find the baby had already been born.  He took one look at him and said, "He looks like Henry Joseph to me."

And, that was that.

Henry was the name of my great-grandfather - one I never knew but whom my daddy loved dearly. Henry is also the name of a saint or two whose stories we love.  Joseph, of course, was Jesus' earthly father.  I love the strength of the name.  I love the timelessness of it.  I love the examples he has to look to as he grows into a man.

May these saints who have gone before us always guide you, little one!