The Name

and the winner is...... Laikyn Hope Mingzhu

Okay, I know that she will have to spell and pronounce her name for her entire life, but it had to be unique and still have the same ending as the other 3. I really had a hard time with this one. We decided very early on a boy's name as the agency told us we could get a boy or a girl. If it was a boy, his name was to be Holden Tanner with the Chinese name. Thought she might want to know this since my other kids have enjoyed knowing what their other gender name was to be.

Last summer, I was looking at pictures of Owensboro Dance Team and saw a little girl with the name Laikyn. I thought it was pretty so I wrote it down. Later, I looked it up in a name book and found the meaning was "from the still waters." I loved that since I had been quoting Psalm 23 to myself many times through the process. When we got our referral, I found that Mingzhu means bright pearl. I think that when you put it together, it should be bright pearl from the still waters! I love it! Hope she does. I put off the decision for a long time and a couple of weeks ago, I was Christmas shopping. As I was in the children's clothing at Macy's a mom and a grandmom were right next to me. The grandmother held up to dresses and said, "This one is for Rayghan and this one is for Laikyn." Those were the two names I had been considering! I laughed and thought to myself that God was telling me to just pick one and get on with it!

We announced her name on our Christmas cards and the day that we sent them out, we got an update from the orphanage. They have moved her to foster care since summer with parents and 2 foster brothers. She has gotten so big! She has gained 7 pounds since being with them. Her feeding schedule shows that they now are feeding her 7 times per day, so that may explain it! Haha! They also had her wrapped in many layers of clothing as is traditional for the Chinese. She can now run and climb up and down stairs. She is still on her seizure meds and has not had any more. It also said that she is quiet, introverted and likes to play by herself. I am praying that she was able to get our care package that we sent. It should have arrived this week.