A new name

You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow. - Isaiah 62:2

When we first felt called to adopt our new son in addition to our sweet daughter we had no idea what his Chinese name was (the agency wouldn't give us any information on him since we were already in process to adopt our daughter). Thus when we thought about what we would name him if we were miraculously given approval to adopt him we couldn't help but think about the name we had already planned for our next son. Therefore we always thought of him as "Christian" even when there seemed to be no hope of adopting him.

Once we learned his name, "Hua," we couldn't really think of any American names that were similar, and since Hua wasn't really a name that would fit in well here in America we decided to go with our plan of naming him Christian Isaiah.

A couple of weeks ago completely out of the blue it occurred to me that the name Joshua ends in "hua." After realizing that, it only made sense to change our new son's name to Joshua since it ends with his Chinese name.

Although it took several weeks to get used to the idea of a different name for him, we all like the name Joshua. It is a beautiful name with a very powerful meaning, especially given the miraculous story of Joshua's adoption that could only have been orchestrated through God.

The name Joshua means "God is my salvation." Another translation is "God rescues." People rarely adopt older children, and the vast majority of adoptive families choose to adopt girls instead of boys. Even healthy little boys wait simply because they are a boy, so as a teenage boy, especially one with congenital heart defects and pulmonary hypertension (a potentially life threatening condition that can lead to double heart/lung transplants), Joshua had virtually no hope of finding a family. At 13 time was rapidly running out for him given that on his 14th birthday he would no longer be eligible for adoption. We watched the photolistings for months in hopes this child would find a family since we knew our agency would never allow us to adopt him. Once we began the battle to get our agency's approval to adopt him we knew it would take an absolute miracle. Yes, it seems like common sense that we be allowed to adopt him, and yes, people adopt 2 kids all the time through other agencies. However, our agency NEVER, NEVER, NEVER allows this!

It took a huge battle, lots of effort, way too much time, and enormous faith, but ALL things are possible with God! God truly did rescue Joshua as without this miracle Joshua would have been condemned to life as an orphan in China. In a country where males his age greatly outnumber females and extended families are of great importance, without a family (and thus an inheritance) Joshua almost certainly would never have found a wife. Thus he would have lived his entire life as an orphan with no family - no parents, no grandparents, no wife, no children, etc. His life may have been severely shortened due to a lack of medical care for his pulmonary hypertension. He would never have been taught any kind of faith to help carry him through the trials of life, and he would probably have never learned about Jesus Christ. However, through a great miracle God rescued Joshua, and thus I don't think there could possibly be any name more appropriate for him than one that means "God rescues."

We will keep the middle name of Isaiah (which also means "God is my Salvation; the Lord saves me"). Given all the connections to that name (mentioned in this post) I think it too has great meaning, and Joshua Isaiah seems like a perfect fit