QUINN
counsel, wisdom
OLIVIA
derived from the word olive. The dove brought Noah
an olive branch after the flood to prove to him that there was life after
destruction. A sign of life.
Words and their meanings have always been very important to
me. Though some may use words such as like and love, pretty and beautiful as
synonyms, to me, they are worlds apart when it comes to what they actually
mean. I love the depth of vocabulary.
When choosing our children’s names, it was important to me
to have deep meanings behind those combinations of letters that they would
carry for the rest of their lives. I wanted the characteristics of those names
to reflect what we would pray they would grow into.
Some parents pray for their daughters to be beautiful, to be
kind, to be a lady. Though I believe she was all of those things and more, I
desired Quinn to be a baby, a girl, a woman, of wisdom.
A woman who made sound choices and thought with purpose, who
had a deep understanding of the world around her.
A girl whom others would look to for advice and counsel.
A lady who was wise.
To us as parents, this is the trait we would be most proud to
see our girl live out.
On the morning of September 13th, we dedicated
our little girl before we said goodbye forever. We entrusted her back to God,
to the place from which she came, and let go of the gift that we had been so
briefly blessed with. We could not dedicate her life to him, as she already
danced in the place where she was created to be, so we dedicated our lives
instead. We dedicated ourselves to being parents that Quinn would be proud of.
We dedicated ourselves to trusting God, though we wanted to lash at him with
raw anger at the betrayal we felt. We dedicated ourselves to being changed
because of our little girl.
And so now, I am not the woman I once was. She has altered
me forever and my baby is still teaching this mommy many things. She is teaching
me wisdom. Quinn is teaching me to search for knowledge and thirst for truth.
Her spirit has made me desire to be what I prayed for her. In her perfection,
she reflects the one who made her. I can only hope that because of her, I am
able to portray a small glimmer of Christ’s spirit.
I pray that each of my children, and the names we choose for
them will do the same.
Simply beautiful, I had goosebumps while I read this. I cherish the approach you and Daniel have boldly chosen to take in this journey, we are all blessed because of it.
ReplyDeleteThis also makes me realize I really should have reconsidered the name we gave Landon - Long Hill, Jacob - wrestles with God, great, have we invited a lot of struggle?! ;)