Drum Roll Please...Our Names!

Jamie and I talked and decided we would share our baby names now instead of waiting for the birth. We’re still planning to keep them a secret from our parents as long as possible, but to be honest, we’ve been telling anyone who asks even when we were “keeping it a secret.” Our motives for sharing now are a little...um...ulterior. A friend and co-worker is expecting a baby boy in July, and we thought there was a chance she had also picked our boy’s name. Her older two children have unique first names that start with “M,” so Jamie suggested that we just get our name out there if asked, and that way if Mary and I end up choosing the same name, at least people won’t think we copied her. So silly I know.

Which brings us to our boy name: Micah James. We really wanted biblical names for our child, and Jamie picked Micah. He was an Old Testament prophet, and the name is unique without being too out there. I’ll admit that Micah took awhile to grow on me – I originally wanted to name him Canaan (after the promised land) - but now I love it! I chose James for the middle name because our little boy needs to be named after his daddy (and it has a nice ring to it). Our plan was to call him Micah, but our neighbor Adam suggested that we call him Micah James, and I really like that. We will see…

Our girl name is Rachel Lynne. I’ve been reading through the Old Testament during my quiet times for awhile, and I just love the story of Jacob and Rachel. Like most girls, I’m a romantic. I grew up watching soap operas with my grandma and have always been a sucker for a good, dramatic love story. Genesis 29:20 says, “So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.” I love it! I already have lots of nicknames for her – Chachel, Chachi-girl – that Jamie just thinks are weird. Lynne is my middle name, my mom's name and my dad's middle name. Our first runner up and a name that we still really like is Kamryn. I got it from a character on my favorite show, House. We ended up deciding against it for two reasons: Kamryn means crooked nose, and we really wanted to steer clear of trendy. We still really like it, though, and may very well use it next time.

So will it be Micah or Rachel? (And no, we're not Jewish.) We’ll find out next Friday – can’t wait!