And Her Name Is (drumroll) ...

We our wrapping up our week in Bulgaria. It has been amazing, exhausting, exciting, and emotionally draining all at once. Today we are back in Sofia to finish up our paperwork. Part of that includes renaming our girl. With our little one last year, we planned on keeping her name. It fit well in America, and we liked both the name and what it meant. However, for various reasons, which I'm not going to explain in depth other than to say due to some of the origins and history, we decided to completely change our little girl's name.

Name meanings are very important to me. Not in a superstitious sort of way, but in the bible God always called people names that had big meanings. He called them what He intended them to be. More than a couple times throughout the bible, even well into adulthood, people's names were changed. So along those lines we decided to give her a name with a strong meaning. It was not easy to pick a name. It took a lot of back and forth, praying, and a little arguing to come up with her name, but we finally got it. Her first name will mean "Gracious; God has shown favor" and her middle name (my middle name also) means "her father's joy". So now that I've strung you along forever, her name will be ...

Anna Gayle 

We leave early, early tomorrow to fly home. Our connections are tight (short notice on flights will do that) so please pray we have no issues and catch all our flights. Also, please pray for continued good health and safety as we travel. Thank you for all your prayers!