What's in a name?

After we found out that our baby was a girl, one of our next items of business was giving her a name.  When we were expecting Liam, we didn't know if he was a boy or a girl, so we had both a boy and girl name picked out.  We only briefly considered giving that "leftover" name to our first daughter, but decided that we would rather save that name to use if we were ever blessed with another daughter in the future.  Some people might disagree with that decision, but it felt right to us.  I think that if we had known before the diagnosis that she was a girl and had already given her that name, it would have been different.  But we felt that our special girl deserved a special name.

Honestly, I don't remember exactly how we came up with the name Joy. We're pretty sure that it was my idea, because Eric remembers that he didn't like it at first! When I suggested the name Joy, I was thinking of a kind of generic definition that had to deep with a type of deep satisfaction that went beyond circumstances.  Joy's middle name is Marie, which is derived from the word "bitter."  It also happens to be my mom's middle name.  I loved the combination - a sad happiness. Bittersweet, if you will, which is one of my favorite words.  After a few days of debate, it was settled. The little one growing inside of me was Joy Marie.

While I think her name suited her from the beginning, it was cemented in my mind as perfect during her memorial service.  During the eulogy, our pastor used this definition of joy, one that I have heard him repeat several times since: "Joy is the sense of peaceful and exuberant well-being that comes from the knowledge that God's purposes are being worked out in one's life."  Isn't that beautiful?  Because I happen to think that that's exactly how her life was - joyful! I hope that you'll agree as I continue to tell her story...