Lawrence and I have whispered her name to each other at night, after the girls were in bed. We were careful to never mention the baby's name around either one of the girls, not wanting them to hear and then announce the name to impatient family and friends eager to know such top-secret information.
Even when we did utter our baby's name, we didn't know what exactly to say. Were we talking to a boy or a girl? We didn't know. And that made picking a name a little more difficult than with Coralyn and Kellah. Both girls are named after family members. Coralyn Ruth gets her name from Lawrence's mom Sherry Lynne, his sister Stephanie Lynne, and our niece Katlynne. Ruth was my grandma (dad's mom) and is my middle name as well. Kellah Grace is named after my mom Cleta Estella (we used the "ella" part). We kind of exhausted all the familial girl names -- unless we wanted to use Velma, since we both have a grandma with that name. Somehow that just didn't tickle our ears (though we love our grandmas). And so we were left on our own to come up with an original name should we have a third baby girl.
Poor Kyiah, her named changed so many times throughout the pregnancy! She's been called so many different things in the womb, I hope she's not too confused now that she's out in the real world!!! :)
We started with Kessler Shalom should our baby be girl #3. We've liked the name Kessler since I was pregnant with Coralyn. We saw the street sign every week when we would drive to our childbirth class and thought it would be a unique name for a child. We never got around to using the name though, because we wanted to name our children after family members. Since we had used up all the girl family names, we came back to Kessler for this pregnancy. I can't even remember what Kessler means, which is one of the reasons we ended up not staying with it. Meaning is extremely important to us! Shalom, though, was significant as we felt God has brought us out of a dark, hard time and into a time of peace. When I was pregnant with Kellah, our finances were tight to say the least. We didn't know where the money would be to pay our bills or buy food or put gas in the vehicles. We went on WIC. I would go to a monthly Harvesters food give-away at a nearby church. We got anonymous gifts from people at our church and checks in the mail from generous strangers. Somehow, God always provided, but it was a rough time to say the least. Since then, we have moved into a beautiful home, are active in the ministry God has laid on our hearts, and have the opportunity to bless others with the extra money He has put in our bank account each month. We feel God's peace in countless ways and are just so thankful for His faithful goodness and abundant love that he showers on us day after day. Despite all that, we didn't feel like Kessler Shalom was the name for our baby should she be a little girl. Kessler wasn't quite feminine enough for our liking, I guess.
And so we switched to Kessa and thought about Kessy as a nickname. We thought it was pretty. Only problem, we didn't have a middle name. Shalom was beautiful too, but for some reason, it just wasn't the right name. On a trip to Whitewater to visit my parents, we talked and talked about a middle name to go with Kessa. As soon as I had found out I was pregnant, God had given me two words to pray over the child, be it a boy or girl. Loyal. Steadfast. And so I prayed our baby would grow up to be a loyal and steadfast friend, that he/she would stand up for what is right and be steadfast in doing good even when it wasn't popular or easy, that he/she would remain loyal to God and live out his/her faith no matter the cost. I shared these words and my prayer for our child with Lawrence, and as I did I remembered that there is a Hebrew word that means "loyal and steadfast." We looked it up on the phone and found Hesed (Chesed). We really wanted the middle name at least to be either Hebrew or Greek for something God was speaking to us and doing in our lives, so Hesed stuck out to us both. BUT, Kessa Hesed didn't really flow as nicely as we would have liked. We kept brainstorming and thought, "what if we used a middle name that started with D to make Kessa D kind of sound like Hesed." I put "girls' that start with D" in my phone and we scrolled through countless D names. Nothing really stood out, except maybe Dawn. Kessa Dawn. It flowed. It was pretty. We felt like we were on the "dawn" of something new, as God brought us out of darkness into light, working through us in some really neat and unexpected ways. Well, we had a new name for our baby girl. I started rubbing my belly and whispering, "I love you, Kessa Dawn." (I would also say our boy name, which is staying a secret for now - though it also changed multiple times throughout the pregnancy.)
We were good to go on our girl name, or so we thought. Seeing as how we were always discussing baby names and changing them on road trips, I jokingly asked Lawrence before we left for Branson to celebrate his parents' 40th wedding anniversary (the last weekend in October!) if we were going to be coming up with yet another name for our child. We both agreed we were good to go for both our girl and boy name.
Then, we started driving!
Apparently, neither one of us were truly satisfied with Kessa Dawn. It just wasn't right. And so we began once again to talk about what our child should be called if she was a girl. We went back to Hesed. God had definitely given us the words "loyal" and "steadfast" for this child. He had certainly made His loyal, steadfast love apparent to us in so many ways. He wants us to extend that loyal, steadfast love to those around us. We pray our child will grow up knowing and experiencing God's loyal, steadfast love and in turn live that out on a daily basis, sharing Jesus with anyone and everyone she meets. It was decided - Hesed would be our little girl's middle name. Now, for a first name. Of course, it had to start with a C or K. By now you have to have figured out that pattern for our family :) Again, we were interested in something Hebrew or Greek, something God had been working in our hearts. Several unique names came to mind as I remembered some girls from grade school and college. Ironically enough, I knew a Hesed at Moody and was a Resident Assistant with her (great girl!). Her dad was a pastor and had chosen biblical names for his children; Hesed's sister was Charis which is Greek for "God's grace." So I threw out Charis or Karis (since I knew a girl from elementary school with that name). Wonderful meaning, but not the right name for our baby girl. I recalled another girl from Moody named Chaia and looked her up on facebook to make sure I was saying and spelling her name correctly. Yep. So then I put Chaia in the phone to see what it meant in Hebrew or Greek (not a Bible language scholar so I wasn't sure). Chaia too is Hebrew and means "life." We both loved the name and the meaning. God indeed was ALIVE in us and making His power and presence known to us in a variety of ways. He had blessed us with this LIFE in my womb. We wanted Him to use this child's LIFE for His honor and glory. We prayed this baby would bring LIFE to many in that she would make Jesus known to those around her. Lawrence, however, did not like the spelling of Chaia - looked and sounded like Chai tea or the Chia pet. Couldn't have that for our little girl, now could we?! :)
So we scribbled out other ways to spell Chaia and came up with Kyiah. We both loved it, though Lawrence wasn't quite for sure about the i in there -- too many vowels. He wanted it short and simple Kyah. I liked the i and thought it was prettier with it. We didn't for sure settle on the spelling until Tuesday when she was born! When we went to tell Amber how to spell the name for the birth certificate, we had to stop and look at each other for a second. I went ahead with the i. I said, "After her birth, we need that i in there. I mean Ai! Ai! Ai! she came so fast and everything was so crazy!"
And so we proudly welcomed Kyiah Hesed to our family. We can finally call her by name!
Now you know the story behind our precious baby girl's name. We pray she lives up to its meaning.
Crazy how God has answered our prayers - extremely specific ones - for both Coralyn and Kellah, even as young as they are. For Coralyn, we prayed she would be observant, curious, inquisitive, and a go-getter. She is all that AND MORE - pointing out things as we drive along, asking questions, remembering how to get places, and going non-stop until she finally falls asleep at night while reading book after book after book! Her name means "maiden" and Ruth means "loyal friend." She is all about being a maiden, or princess, right now and is definitely loyal, especially when it comes to standing up for her little sister.
Speaking of Kellah. Her name means "gracious warrior" and well her middle name Grace kind of speaks for itself - as we definitely experienced God's grace during her pregnancy! She was also a gracious gift to us, coming 364 days after we had miscarried. We prayed for her in the womb that she would be sensitive to the needs of those around her, taking note of them and standing up to help others, fighting for them if need be. A silent leader, a gracious warrior. She certainly is just that already at her young age. When the daycare kiddos' moms come, Kellah runs to get each child's shoes and diaper bag. She then tries to carry or drag the bag to the mom. She will make sure the daycare babies have toys to play with, sometimes being a little too forceful and shoving them in their faces. BUT, she certainly notices what others need and is quick to help. So sweet. And a direct answer to our prayers.
So, when we pray for little Kyiah to bring life to those around her, we know God will do that. We know He has some special plans for her. We know He has a divine purpose for her (Eph 2:10) and that He will use her in mighty ways to make Himself known. We pray she will be loyal and steadfast, bold and confident in her faith, living passionately for Jesus no matter the cost. We pray she will reveal to everyone around her the steadfast and loyal love of our amazing and gracious God.
We feel like she's already done just that! I mean how else can you explain her incredible birth?! God's fingerprints are all over that -- no other way to explain how everything happened as it did, with no complications or hiccups. We give Him all the honor and glory!
And we just marvel at our tiny Kyiah Hesed. She may be small (just 6 pounds, 12 ounces), but like David she is strong and mighty, proclaiming aloud the goodness of God from the moment of her arrival here on earth. We can't wait to see what God has in store for our precious baby girl!
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