Paisley Spring made her grand appearance Thursday morning, January 6th, at 8:26am. 7 pounds, 5.5 oz, 20 3/4" long. Tall and skinny, just like her dad!
Sorry this will be brief, but right now my time is better spent cuddling our prescious little one than making a perfect blog entry! : )
Below are quick little comments on the meaning of her name... Several people have asked, so... Here you go!
Paisley – (written mostly by Scott) We had a hard time at first deciding if we would go with this name, because there's no meaning for it, per say. You won't find it in any name book or in all the millions of lists of baby names on the internet. Admittedly, we were a little torn because within "Christian circles" there seems to be a notion that your child's name must have some deep, profound meaning because names were often given to people in the Bible with particular meanings behind them due to circumstances surrounding their life or the lives of their parents, and we didn't want to just shrug off the possibility of the importance of picking out a name that had such meaning behind it. (Who decides what all the millions of names out there mean, anyways? I can just picture some guy holed up in his apartment that decides he's going to make his millions by creating a book with meanings of names. So... he starts with the A's, opens up the Thesaurus at a random page, closes his eyes, and wherever his finger lands is the meaning that goes with that name....) Anyways... but, in the end, we decided to stick with the name, in part for the very reason that it doesn't have a meaning. We saw it as a blank slate for God to write His story for her life and give her life the meaning He desires for her; the meaning of her life will be what she and God make it to be. One thing it does "mean" (like if you look Paisley up on the internet, or just by common knowledge) is that it’s a type of fabric pattern. So I guess in way she’s going to be a continuing "pattern" of Liz and I, and her story will be beautiful! We love the freedom it gives her to become the unique person God has for her to become... So, I guess her name does have a meaning now... in a way. : )
Spring – (written by Liz while still very prego... : ) ) So... I was lying in bed this morning at some ungodly hour, unable to sleep, and started thinking about names... I was starting to like Spring for a middle name... I was trying to think about our summers, our adventures, all that we love about Alaska, and what it was about that time of year and the feelings that accompany it that I love. And it all begins with spring - the anticipation, the newness of life, the excitement of planting gardens and watching things bloom, the hard but fun work of cleaning up around our place as we eagerly wait for the last remnants of snow to melt away, the warmth that is sooo welcome after a long, cold winter, the anticipation of coming adventures... Also, I was thinking about how each morning is like springtime in that His mercies are new every day, each new day is a new opportunity to begin again or make the most of opportunities, to wake with anticipation of what God has in store for you and how you get to partner with Him in what He's doing in and through your life that day, that kind of thing... I was also trying to put into one word - a middle name - that favorite feeling we have of being atop a mountain peak, looking on at the miles and miles of endless mountain peaks - the awe and beauty of those moments, and - as odd as it may be, try to understand if you can! - "Spring" seemed to kinda fit because it holds that same excitement and awe and sense of anticipation of adventure and beauty... Forgive the somewhat jumbled thoughts here, but it all makes sense in my head!
(I have to add here that now that it is spring, I love that we chose this name for her even more... What a great time of year. The warmth returns, wildlife returns and awakens, people come out of hibernating, kids giggle while splashing in puddles, neighbors help shovel the leftover snow out into the street to finish melting, bike rides, BBQ's, planning of summer weekends... So much good, all accompanied by that excitement and sense of anticipation that summer is just around the corner, and adventure after adventure await us!)
