Meaning of Samuel Jose

As Rob and I thought of names of our little boy- we considered many angles.
We wanted it to capture some of his cultural heritage.
We desired the name to have a meaning that was, well, "meaningful"
We hoped the name would sound good with Gillgrist
And we wanted to like the name!!

Everytime we kept coming back to Samuel for his first name.
I have always loved the name Sam for a little boy.

Samuel pronounced in Spanish sounds more like "Sam-well".
And we liked that it wasn't completly foreign to those in Guatemala.

Samuel means "heard of God" or "asked of God".
And it's Hebrew in origin- which I'm sure is cool for his Hebrew professor dad.

And of course I have loved the story in the Bible of Hannah who pleas to God for a child. In her anguish and sorrow she pleas with such abandon that the priest Eli thinks she is drunk.
And when God answers her prayer, she names her son Samuel.
As a child he first hears God still voice in the middle of the night.
And he grows into a wise man who hears, listens to and responds to God.

I just reread this story to remind myself of Samuel- of my hopes and prayers for him.
And this time I was struck by her words regarding naming him Samuel because "I asked the Lord for him".

And I started thinking does the Hebrew word mean "I asked God for ...." or "God heard me"
Or does it mean God hears or I hear of God.
In other words- in naming our baby Samuel- are we saying- we asked God for him.....or God heard us ask for him.....or he will be one who hears God.
I loved realizing they are the same.
For me to ask God means that God heard me.
And to be one that God hears, means that I hear him.
How interesting that there is one word in Hebrew that means both.
(Now I haven't run this by the before mentioned Hebrew scholar of a husband- but this is my own hermenuetical lens)

When I think of asking God for something- my mind doesn't automatically think "God is hearing me". There are days or seasons when he seems noticeably quiet- and I wonder if I'm talking to a wall. And there are seasons where he responds loudly.

Either way, I take comfort in knowing I am heard- even when I don't think I'm hearing back.

And on to Jose.
While we were waiting on the referral of our son, we had decided we would keep his birthname as part of his name. And so when we go the phone call on 2/20, we learned his name was Jose.

When I looked up the meaning of Jose- I thought, how fitting of God to combine these names.
Jose comes from Joseph- which is also Hebrew.
(Don't worry- our next child will not be Melchizedek)
In the Hebrew, the word means- "God adds" or "God will enlarge or increase".
Usually in the context of land or family or influence. (Think of Joseph's brothers selling him into slavery and then him becoming a ruler in Egypt.....Or Joseph, husband of Mary, raising the son of God.)

So our son's name means: "over seven years we have asked God for you and he has heard our plea and now he adds to our family and increases our capacity for love and to bring glory"

For our son, my prayer is that his name will come to mean for him "I am one who is heard by God, I have the audience of the King and I will listen for his voice in the night and I will follow it in order for him to add to his kingdom."

How good it is for my heart, after such a blah day yesterday, to remember my son. I'll go through anything to bring him hom.

Feeling Down

Today has been a blah day.

After work, I met Joy at the newly opened Panera Bread- and we both recognized that we were quieter than what is typical. (This is the woman I shared an office with at work- we were not short on things to talk about.) And while I know there were lots of reasons why I felt quiet.....

I kept feeling there was something bugging me that I couldn't put my finger on. After I left I was talking with God, trying to figure out exactly why I felt so blah. And I think a big part of it was an email we received from our social worker. At the time I read it, I didn't think too much- but when I let myself really feel, it brought such disappointment and some fear.

The title simply said "Gillgrist- still in PGN"

And the text only said "Gillgrist family is still in PGN since July 5th. Cases currently coming out of PGN were submitted early June."

From that it would seem that we are a month away from being out.

And I had thought we could possibly be out last week- and was thinking definitely by the end of next week.

There are no guarantees and no one that knows when we will be OUT for sure. I have read on my adoption discussion boards of people's cases getting out that were submitted mid June to early July. So either could be true- we are out this week or we have another month to go.

I have known that the adoption journey is not for the faint of heart (nor as I recently read the "sound of mind")

But with the email, as it expanded my time frame, it also brought an acknowledgement that this is beyond my control and that at times I need to just let out a big sigh and turn it all over again.

I also know that in reality the email itself is not "good or bad" news. But it does bring up seven years of stories and loss for me. Seven years of being so close- of living in the "not yet".
I have to fight to keep my mind from believing things that are not true. Of things that are not true about myself as a mother and things that are not true of God's character.

Will you pray for my discouragement.....

Will you pray that our file is reviewed this week- and boldly that we will have a call saying we are OUT?

And that there is nothing that unneccessarily delays or distorts or deceives in this process.


thank you

love

melanie

Hurricane Dean

We had an email from our sw saying that reports from Guatemala City are that there are heavy rains, but nothing too severe from Hurricane Dean.

Would you pray for Samuel's and the foster family's (and everyone for that matter) safety in the midst of the storm?

Thanks
melanie

Six Month Medical Report and Pictures

We received today Samuel's 6 Month report:

• Weighs 15.5 lbs
• Length 25.5 inches long

We also got some cute cute photos of him- if you haven't gotten them in an email yet, please let me know (melanie.gillgrist@gmail.com) and I will send them on to you.

They cut his hair- and I'm looking for votes on what you think!! So far I've been told he is cute either way (the appropriate answer), but that the curls are missed.

Happy 6 Month Birthday!!

Today is Samuel's 6th Month Birthday.....Happy Birthday little boy. I wonder what you will do today? I'm sure the four women in your life will pay lots of attention to you and hold you and play with you and sing to you.

Happy Birthday Sammy (as the foster mom's daughter calls him- with a long "a")!

If you'd like- please send a birthday wish to him via commenting on this post. I'd love to collect them for the baby book I'm putting together. (A friend sent me a great adoption baby book- I am so excited because many of the standard baby books comments don't quite apply)

Oh and one more thing!!

We received Samuel's 5 month medical and I don't think I ever posted that:

• Doctors visit on 7/2/07 (4 months 25 days)
• Weight 14 lbs
• Height 62 cm or 24.4 inches
• Head Circum 42 cm or 16.5 inches
• "sits with support and holds head up"
• "verbalizes syllables"
• "throws his hands up requesting to be picked up"

I can't wait until we are bringing him to his doctors appointments. Just the other day I was thinking I would start researching peditricians...Many of you know what a process that can be for me!! I love researching, just not making the final decision. (Remember one of Rob's favorite stories of this is when I announced during our wedding planning that I had narrowed our wedding invitations down to my 9 favorites! He asked "How many did you start with?")

For now I am so grateful that he is being taken such good care of- with monthly doctors visits and being loved by the four women in the house!!

Updates

Yes it is true that I did not post once the whole month of July.
Partially because I was gone from 7/11 to 7/31 and partially because I didn't have much new news, but always have thoughts of things to post.

(I'll have to post later about the Riley Family reunion- my mom is one of 13 children and they are always so much fun. We also attended the second annual golf tournament in memory of my dad. This year the funds went to Ukraine missions.)

Ok- onto the updates!!

We found out that our case was resubmitted to PGN with our PA on 7/5!! That is good news. We hadn't heard anything so we were concerned and thinking that we were still waiting for our case to be resubmitted- so it was wonderful to hear we were already in for four weeks!

We are praying to hear that we are out of PGN by the end of the month (or sooner would be just fine with us!)