Why the Name- BELLA?

So many have asked questions along the way about our choice for the name, Bella.

*is that her "real" name or a name you gave her?
*how did you decide on the name Bella?
*how will she receive the idea of a "new" name with her being an older child?

So, I thought that I'd share the answers to those questions. :-)

After we dove into the paper work process of our adoption full force and we began to wait on our referral for our daughter.... we entered the phase of the adoption process to which most Adoption Agencies call being "paper pregnant". Kind of a fun analogy for us adoptive mama's. So we did what most mama's and daddy's do when you are "pregnant".....You start thinking of baby names!

Immediately, I knew that after a house full of "J" names for all the guys.....that I wanted another "B" name for us girls! With that in mind I started taking a look at our journey with the LORD so far and all that HE had done to bring us to "this" point. One of the many things that God used in speaking to our hearts about adoption was a movie called.....you got it....."BELLA" It's a beautiful film about adoption that really moved us during God's call for us to adopt.

So that was a "B" name for sure. But, because of my love for the study of the Scriptures, I'm all about the biblical meaning behind a name. (That's how I determined our boys names as well.) So I had to check this out first to make sure it was one that described our journey to adopt. Bella means "Devoted to God" in Hebrew....(and of course "beautiful" in Spanish) Yep....I'd say that meaning definitely describes this path we are on. If it weren't for GOD and our following him in devotion and faith....we would have never entered this wonderful journey to Bella to begin with. After all....this is ALL about HIM!

After getting approval from daddy and the two big brothers....we voted a "YES" for the name Bella! As I began to share the name with other family members, my sweet Aunt Robin reminded me that my precious grandmother (who I never met but adored from what I knew about her) was Winnie "Belle".....I knew that it was a done deal after making that connection. Knowing this is the "middle" name of my sweet daddy's mom.... makes it all the more SPECIAL for me. So, Bella it was. No doubts about it.

Of course all of this was decided with the idea that we were adopting an infant at that time. And as you know God changed that scenario quickly. We realize that with Bella now being an older child she may have a preference about her name and we will gladly do what makes her comfortable. However, we do plan to keep her "Indian" name (another post for another time) for sure to be her middle name. And she can have the choice to use either of her names. And until we complete the final adoption papers once she is here in the USA.... nothing is set in stone and can be changed if needed.

After their inquiry...we did tell the orphanage just last week the name we had chosen and their response was...."It's BEAUTIFUL and suits her WELL"! I couldn't agree more....but we'll see how our little Miss feels about it very soon. We realize so many things will be difficult for her and we don't want this to be one more difficult thing. BUT... One way or the other that little girl is getting a NEW last name when she gets HOME and her adoption is final! We can't wait for her to be one of "us"! Until then....more on all this name business.

With JOY!

Psalm 126:3

Caring for TWO!!!

In just about 3 weeks we should be on a plane to India and holding our sweet girl! Can you believe it? It's finally here! For awhile it felt like it might not ever happen. When we FINALLY received our No Objection Certificate we began to see some light at the end of the tunnel. But when we unexpectedly and miraculously got our Court approval in only 2 short weeks, I began to hyperventilate. This is REAL! THIS IS REAL!! I am just so excited and we know that our Bella is too! She has been waiting just as long as we have.... eagerly anticipating our coming for her! Oh the JOY!

When we began this journey almost 4 years ago we had no idea what in the world the LORD had planned or was in store. As I blogged about before....we started out with the intention of adopting a baby girl. BUT GOD had other plans. He changed our hearts in many ways during this LONG journey and changing our hearts from adopting an infant to an older child was definitely something HE communicated very clearly as we listened to His heart as we walked forward with Him in faith. (I'll blog about that sometime soon)

Another thing the LORD changed our hearts on.... was the number of children we wanted to adopt. Not only did we change our home study to reflect a much larger age range in a child, we also opened our hearts to the idea of a sibling group. We were willing to be used anyway the LORD saw fit for our family concerning the orphan. and if that meant two at one time...we would gladly do it!

And then the time came when we finally received our referral (of an older child) for our sweet girl Bella. Our referral consisted of one child. HOWEVER, what some of you may or may not know is....Bella has a brother. YEP. There are TWO children! We inquired about this immediately and were told right away that her brother who is older than she, was un-adoptable. As happy as we were to finally see and know our daughter, our hearts broke as we stared at the picture of this precious boy and wondered why we weren't able to adopt him too.

Though the reasons for him not being cleared for adoption are still unknown to us, we still hoped there was something we could do. We asked if we could keep in contact with this child and care for him from a distance for any needs that he might have and the answer was YES! There are a couple of neat ways (that God has orchestrated) that we can go about doing this....and so we anxiously await what He has in store. Who knows what might come of all this later down the road. But we are happy to be able to take care of this sweet boy on some level.

So with that said.....we will be CARING for TWO! :-) and not to mention this certainly turns into requested prayer for us and for sweet Bella. We will be able to visit with her brother one last time before we bring her home. This will be a sweet visit but also as you can imagine a VERY difficult one for all of us. My heart breaks already just thinking about it and the hurt our daughter will have leaving her brother behind. So, we ask for your prayer support over this matter.
We are sure there will be some difficult days ahead, but OH....the JOY that is set before us is worth it ALL!

With JOY!

Psalm 126:3

COURT

We got word this morning that we passed court!!!! We were all so shocked that we passed COURT so quickly!! Bella's passport is being applied for and we hope to travel in just 2-3 weeks! I will keep you posted. :-)

SDG!!

Brittnie