More about his name...

Christian Isaiah is a name I have long liked and picked out way before we found our new son. My first interest in the name came when I worked at a YMCA summer camp as a canoeing instructor while I was in college. There was a little boy named Christian who captured my heart. He was of African descent, and since we have talked about adopting from Africa I always figured we would have a little African boy named Christian. However, since we are bringing home our Chinese son first if God blesses us with an African son he will get to have one of my other favorite names!

Christian is a common name but not overly popular that will fit in nicely here in the heart of the Bible belt. It goes well with our other childrens' names, particularly with Christina who he will probably be closest to since they will be the closest in age and have similar backgrounds having grown up in an orphanage and been adopted at similar ages. On a funny side note, during the long and difficult battle to get our agency's approval to adopt Christian along with Micaelyn we had to have more interviews with our local agency. They asked what we planned to name him, and when I said we were thinking about naming him Christian they told us they didn't think we should do that because it was too similar to Christina's name and she might not like that. However, just as we figured, Christina loves the name! Besides, many people give their biological children similar names, why should it be any different for our adopted children?

Isaiah was a very important Biblical prophet, and the book of Isaiah is one of my most favorite books in the Bible. I have many favorite passages from the book of Isaiah, one of which is is extremely relevant to our adoptions, especially Christian's. It reads as follows:

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, "Give them up!" and to the south, 'Do not hold them back." Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. - Isaiah 43:5-6

I will bring your children from the east... - China, India, and Siberia are all in the eastern hemisphere.
...and gather you from the west. - The United States is in the western hemisphere.
I will say to the north, "Give them up!" - Our agency, the one that never allows the adoption of two unrelated children at the same time, is in the northern part of the US.
...and to the south, 'Do not hold them back." - We live in the southern part of the US. We were concerned that pushing our agency for approval to adopt our new son along with our new daughter could cause problems with her adoption, but we felt called to push for their approval no matter how difficult the battle - we didn't hold back!
Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. - Our sons Christian and Malachi both come from afar (China and India). There are at least 2 ways in which "the ends of the earth" can be tied to China where Micaelyn is, and there are connections to Christina as well. There is a location on Hainan Island in southern China called "The End of the Earth." Though Micaelyn does not live on the island, she does live in southern China. This spot also happens to be very close to Vietnam, and Christina's birth father was from/lives in Vietnam. China also has another very interesting connection to the phrase "the ends of the earth." There is a spot in northwestern China in the Gurbantunggut Desert that can be associated with the phrase "the ends of the earth" because it is the remotest point of land on earth - it is further from any sea than any other place on earth. It just so happens that this spot is near the border of Russia and close to where Christina is from. Thus our Chinese daughter is waiting in a country that has 2 different connections to the phrase "the ends of the earth, and our daughter from Siberia came from a part of the world that can easily be considered "the ends of the earth," with her birth father living near a spot called "The End of the Earth." "

As if those words aren't powerful enough on their own, here is another amazing connection to those words from Isaiah. For the online photolisting our son was given an American name, Harry. The founder of our adoption agency, the man who pioneered the way for international adoption 55 years ago, was also named Harry. The verse from Isaiah I just mentioned was one that guided him in his efforts to help orphaned children around the world come home to the loving arms of their families.

Here's another interesting thing about the name Isaiah which I had chosen long before we were matched with our new son. If you reverse the last 3 letters of Isaiah you have Hai, part of his Chinese name (HaiHua). Also, both Isaiah and Hiahua end in the "ah" sound.

Because of his age, we will give him some choice in what he wants to be called. The vast majority of the Asian students here take American names, so most likely he will want to do the same.