new names

We actually both had the evening off last night, so we headed to Barnes & Noble to (a) relax (b) use our gift card to get some yummy drinks and (c) page through baby name books until we settled on middle names for the kids. We're discovering that it's really tough to choose names with significance, especially when they have to sound good with first names they already have. We've narrowed options for Joshua down to 3, and we're still not thrilled with the 6 options we have for Patience. However, we did want to announce for those who haven't heard... (imagine drumroll here)... that Garty's new name is Garty Samuel Bowersox. Samuel means "the Lord hears," and we know that God has heard the prayers of so many of you since Garty got sick in October. If you know the Biblical story of Hannah and Samuel, you know that Samuel's life was a miracle. We believe that this is true for Garty as well. We decided recently not to change his first name as originally planned. One reason is simply that since he's been sick, everyone has gotten used to calling him Garty. Plus, it's a common Liberian name, even if it's unusual here. As far as the get made fun of on the playground factor, the worst thing we've discovered is that Garty rhymes with "farty." (A helpful pronunciation tip for those of you who have been wondering how we pronounce his name.) We're sure the fascination with bodily functions will bring this to the surface, but we've heard much worse. Finally, and most importantly, we recently learned that our kids' mother lived for about 24 hours after Garty was born. That means that she was probably the one who named him, and we want to honor her memory by keeping his name. When he gets old enough to understand, we'll let him decide if he's rather go by Samuel or Sam. We're fine with it either way. Stay tuned for the update on the other 2 names as soon as we figure them out.