About the name

I feel the need to elaborate on our choice of a name for our new son. Especially since everyone who hears it says "Oh, Jamie Oliver, like the Food Network Star?" I had no idea there was a Food Network Star named Jamie Oliver. *sigh* Luck of the draw, I guess.

Those of you who've read my blog for a while will possible remember the posts about Sofi's name and Judah's name, and if you've known me IRL for any length of time, I'm sure to have bent your ear about how Judah's name came to me in a dream and that J and I decided on our honeymoon to name our first daughter "Sofia". All this to say, our kids names are really important to us and we agonize over meanings and cadence and nicknames and character traits for MONTHS before we finalize a name. Here's the story of how James Oliver Forshey got his name:

From the very beginning of this pregnancy our family has been surrounded by a swirl of sorrow, uncertainty and distress. Two weeks after the unexpected discovery of those two pink lines, we found out that J's job was ending in a few short months. Our dear friends were on their way to Philly with an uncertain future for their family ahead. It's been a roller-coaster ride, these last few months.

And yet, we felt the Lord speaking Peace to us. And in particular, I felt the Lord telling me that this baby's name would be Peace, just as He had told me that Judah's name would be Praise. So I began the search for a name meaning Peace. Oliver means peace. I loved it! Unfortunately, J reacted very strongly against it when I first brought it up. I let it go, hoping the Lord would bring another name to mind.

On the way to our gender ultrasound (our first ever!) we tossed around a few ideas, ultimately settling on a girl's name and the possibility of "James" for a boy. BUT. Once we knew "boy", I had to go and ruin everything by discovering the meaning of the name James. Bleh. I told J there was no way I could stand to name our second son "supplanter" (basically that means "one who takes over the position of another"). I'm sure you can see my point. So did he, but still loving the name, he brought it up every time I tried to re-introduce "Oliver" into the discussion.

After a couple weeks of "discussions" back and forth over these two names, it suddenly occurred to one of us (me, I think) hey, why not put them together! James Oliver. And lookee there, what a cool meaning we come up with! What an interesting picture of a man who walks in, takes control of a situation or a place and establishes peace.

So that's my prayer for our Jamie, that he would be a strong man who rules his kingdom (whatever that may look like-- home, work, whatever) with peace.