The Name Game

We found out today that Lin is called "Chu Chu" in the orphanage. How cute is that?! I've been singing "Chattanooga Choo Choo" all morning! Maybe Chattanooga will become her nickname. Ruby has already told me NOT to call Lin "Sweet Pea" because that's my nickname for Ruby. I have made a solemn promise that Ruby is my one and only Sweet Pea. I actually think that's pretty smart of my 3-year-old daughter, to have that much sense of identity and that much awareness of herself and her role in our family.

Ruby, by the way is named after my maternal grandmother. My grandma's name was Ruby May and Ruby's given Chinese name was Jun, so we've got Ruby May and Ruby Jun in our family. Amazing how God makes those connections.

But get this...

We have planned right from the start to call our new daughter Lin, rather than giving her a totally new name. She's not called Lin right now, but it's part of her name, so we're hoping it's not too weird for her. We went with Lin because it's easy to pronounce for us Americans and also because both Dave's and his sister's middle name is Lynn. So she's got a family name, which is important to me.

But the even bigger connection is in the meaning of Lin's name. In English, Lin translates to woods or forest. My paternal grandfather, who passed away when my dad was just 9 years old, was named Forrest. And I always thought, if I ever had a son I would name him Forrest.

Years and years before I knew my daughter or could even imagine her, God knew her. And named her for her great-grandfather.