The Name

So, as I said, I need to fill you in on how Silas got his name!

I first suggested the name Silas months ago. And, as you will recall, Joe was not a fan. Not a fan at all. So, we dropped the name and didn't talk about it much after that.

Well, didn't talk about it much seriously. Occasionally I would bring it up again just to see his reaction. That's when Joe told me that if I named our son Silas he would call him Kevin. :) If you happen to be in women's Bible study with me, you'll recall that (when he joined us for dinner one night) Joe made some other extreme comments about how much he disliked the name Silas. I'll leave it at that.

In my mind, it was totally off the table. I stopped thinking of it as an option at all.

But then, one night, we were telling the "Silas/Kevin" story to some friends and Joe asked them to vote between the names Josiah and Silas. They both chose Silas without a second thought.

Joe got all flustered about that and then started asking people to vote between Elijah and Silas and Silas kept winning out...much more often than he had anticipated.

Fast forward a couple of weeks (we still hadn't been talking about Silas as a name option at this point). Joe comes home from some late appointments and the boys are in bed. Pretty much the first thing he said when he came in the door was "I have a surprise for you".

...and the rest of the conversation went like this:

Me: "....ok..."
Joe: "I've been thinking about it a lot"
Me. "....ok...you're kind of freaking me out...just tell me"
Joe: "I think his name is Silas"
Me: "no you don't! You hate that name!"
Joe: "No, I'm serious. I think that's his name."
Me: "What?? When did that happen?"
Joe: "I don't know. I just keep thinking about it and the more I say it and the more I hear other people say it the more I think that's his name. So we can make it official now."
Me: "Uh, no!"
Joe: "What? Why?"
Me: "Because now I've been trying to convince myself that Silas is not an option. And how do I know you're not going to change your mind again in 3 days??"
Joe: "Okay, we can think about it for a few more days"

A few days later we were all calling him Silas. Roman too.

And Judah saying "Si-yes" is pretty much the cutest thing you've ever heard in your life.

And, in case you aren't familiar...here is the story of the Silas.

To me the name Silas brings images of a man of strength, a man courageous enough to speak the truth regardless of the circumstances or of the consequences. It seems to fit this baby given our situation during this pregnancy.

And I pray that he, my third son, will be that sort of man. A man who walks with the Lord and who boldly brings others to know Him.

We have chosen David as his middle name. My dad's name. The name of a king, who, though sinful, was called a man after God's own heart.

We are so excited to meet you, Silas. We have already been on quite the journey together and we can't wait to share more of life with you!