What's in a name...

He's almost one year. I held him in my arms today and looked in his eyes and found myself in disbelief. I couldn't imagine my life without this rotund, constantly on the crawl, smiling boy and yet a year ago, I couldn't imagine life with him. (For more on that read here
When we were trying to figure out what to name our little boy (after we found out at the ultrasound appointment that he was indeed NOT a she…) we stumbled upon a Hebrew name, “Jayden.” (We picked a variant spelling, but it is still derived from the Hebrew name) It means “God has heard.” I knew that was my little man’s name. Because our lives as husband and wife had been all kinds of examples that God HAD HEARD. He heard when we couldn’t pay our bills, He had heard when we were so hurt we didn’t know how to pick ourselves up off the ground, He had heard when we didn’t know how we were going to pay for groceries that month (By the way, if the person who left those groceries on our doorstep is reading this – thank you. We cried when we got home and knew we could make it another month and that God had taken care of us through you. Thank you. You have no idea how much you encouraged our faith. And those of you who sent us money secretly, thank you. We still share the stories of how God took care of us when we didn’t know how we were going to make it. We’re still in awe.)
We want the world to know that “God has heard.” Life sometimes sucks, quite honestly. We are dealt rough blows, painful moments and everything else, but even when we don't know how to pick ourselves up off the floor, God has heard... My prayer over this little man is that he could share in powerful ways by his words and by how he lives that God has heard and He cares. He is completely and utterly aware. And He is there, no matter what your circumstances, your friends, your past or anything else is telling you.


And just for fun, here's one my favorite pictures of that little man...