THE LATEST AND GREATEST
So . . . our homestudy is in the final stage. There are a couple of miscellaneous documents that I need to mail in and we have one more face to face appointment with our social worker. Our social worker actually emailed me a copy of our "almost completed" homestudy. There are a couple blanks that need filled in, but other than that it's just about ready to go! I can't tell you how exciting that is for us. It seems that, very soon, we will be able to move onto Dossier preparation.
But my primary reason for posting today is to let you all know about, yet another, confirmation from the Lord on the whole adoption process bizness . . .

So we've been brainstorming boy names lately. You know how it is when you're pregnant. You just throw names out there, sometimes just to see how they taste. How do they flow off the tongue? What atrocious nicknames could some neanderthal junior high kid come up with from this name?? Etc. Etc. So one day (about a month ago) for no apparent reason, the name Phineas struck me. I thought to myself, 'Phineas'. 'Phin'. Hmm. I think I really like that. Yea. I think I could kinda love that"! So I mentioned it to James. Now, to be candid, James is usually (let's say) less than thrilled with some of my name choices. But his response to "Phineas" was the same as mine. "Hmmmm" (he said). "I think I could kinda love that too"!

Now for those of you who think our love for Phineas is mostly attributed to the fact that we bleed Nazarene, don't worry. We just liked it in general. Then came the next part . . .

The meaning of names are very important to us. For instance, we chose Elijah for our first stillborn son. Its origin is Hebrew and means "The Lord is my God". Halle is English and means "Praise the Lord" (a shortened form of Hallelujah). In addition it was my great grandmother, and my personal heroine's, name. Judah is Hebrew and means "Praiseworthy" (side note: Judah was chosen over Jonah in the end expressly because Jonah means "He who brings bad luck". Hmm. We decided to go with Praiseworthy). :) Jeremiah, our second stillborn son, is also Hebrew and means "God will Uplift".

So I knew, before we settled officially on Phineas, I needed to look the meaning up online. After all, what if it meant something like, "He who is ignorant". Or "He who smells bad". Anyway, prepare yourself . . . here's what I found:

Phineas
The origin: Hebrew
The meaning: Nubian

So honestly, Nubian meant NOTHING to me. Frankly, it sounded like a star trek breed to me. So, of course, I googled it.

1. What and Where is Nubia?
"Nubia" is the name of a specific ethnic and culture area in Africa. It is part of the Nile Valley, and it lies partly in southern Egypt and partly in northern Sudan.

2. Changing Definitions of Nubia
Popular American usage has carried this a step farther; for many consider the term "Nubian" to be virtually synonymous with "African."

(If this hasn't blown your mind already, this is the part where you should try and not pee your pants):

3.Aithiopia/Ethiopia: was the Greek name for Nubia.
Since the people in Nubia were much darker skinned than the Egyptians, the Greeks called them Aithiopes ("Burnt-Faced Ones"), and their land, they called Aithiopia ("Land of the Burnt Faces"). In modern spelling this has become Ethiopia. The Greeks and Romans used this name primarily to refer to what is now northern Sudan and the Upper (southern) Nile Basin rather than the land of modern Ethiopia, which until recently was called "Abyssinia." In the New Testament, which was written in Greek, Nubia is called "Aithiopia" or "Ethiopia."

WHAT??!!!!!!!

How cool is that?????? James and I were blown away. We felt that was confirmation enough. So, our Ethiopian son now has a name and you can be praying for him specifically, by name: Phineas (most likely he will be called Phin).

I just felt that was too cool a story to keep to myself. What a blessing it has been to think on that confirmation from the Lord during a time I was starting to get discouraged about whether or not this is really ever going to happen! Thank you again for all of your prayers on ours (and Phin's) behalf . . .Love--Love