A Sweet Boy Named Elijah

We had picked out our favorite boy and girl names in 2006.

We had a list. We had top favorites. We'd decided.

Then I got pregnant and as baby boy grew, that name no longer felt right. I can't explain it, but I just knew it wasn't his name.

So we readdressed it, somewhere around the 23rd-24th week if I recall correctly. We sat in our room one night and just talked about that list we had (and yes, I'd found it and looked it over). I went back through our top names. What we still liked or didn't like.

I knew I wanted my dad's name in there as the middle name and Tim agreed. As we went through the names and what sounded good together... I remember Tim saying "I just keep coming back to Elijah. That sounds really good." And I wholeheartedly agreed because it was the same thing I was thinking!

We said it out loud: Elijah David. We really liked it. Then we looked up the meaning of Elijah: "The Lord is your God".

YES!!!

We'd found it. Our precious son's name.

I rubbed my belly throughout pregnancy and referred to him as Eli. Tim continued to call him Elijah. We'd shout the name in the hallways, trying it out at different decibels we might have to say it at over the years, and we still loved it. (This was suggested by a friend and was a great idea!)

We fell more and more in love with Elijah, the boy, as he grew, and we knew without a doubt it was the right name for him.

I'd heard too many stories of people announcing the name before the baby was born and family not liking it or trying to dissuade them, or friends making fun of it. But once the baby is born, the name is set and no one debates it. They just stare at the precious baby.

The name is set. We really liked that idea.

Plus since we already knew the gender, the only surprise we had left was to surprise family with baby's name upon birth.

So we decided not to tell anyone (well - I honestly told a couple trusted people, I just couldn't help it!) but we did not tell family. We were SO excited about this surprise!!!

And while the announcement didn't go the way we planned because of his NICU stay, it was still precious to us to keep it secret until he had entered this world.

Elijah David. Our sweet, sweet boy. 

Who will be 2 months old in 2 days. Yipes!

Elijah David, we love you SO much and are so grateful for the way God lead us to your name!!