why we named our son John

Since Ron and I have been married, we have called our “hoped for” children by our middle names – our hoped for daughter, we called Jane and our hoped for son, we called John.  We promised each other when we really were adopting our children that we would decide then whether or not to keep these names. 

                During Advent (preparing for Christmas) in 2009, we had been waiting for a match for a domestic adoption for almost a year.  I had recently been reminded by a friend that being older is a huge disadvantage in domestic adoption – birth mom’s are usually very young and they choose who they want to parent their child.   At our age, we seemed like their grandparents. 

Now, for me, age is a sensitive subject since it is not something that can be changed.  I was sad and losing hope as I sat down for a time of prayer and reflection.  Due to the season, I was drawn to read the birth narrative in the gospel of Luke.  Being re-introduced to the parents of John the Baptist, the descriptors that Luke used jumped off the page, “But they (Zechariah and Elizabeth) had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years (Luke 1: 7 – emphasis mine).   What occurred to me is that several times in scripture, including here, that God gave very special children to older parents. 

  

Later in the passage, Zechariah names his special son, John.

Fast-forward…in December 2009, Ron and I received a referral of Shi Jie Dang (now our John).   We looked through the information we received about him, sought medical advice, and prayed.  Before long, God confirmed in our hearts that this little boy – just over a year old – was to be our son.   Now that we had a real son, we needed to decide on his name.  We talked briefly about it and decided to think and pray separately.  A few days later, I asked Ron what his thoughts were regarding a name for our son.  He had just turned on the TV and seen a scene from the Jesus Film, based on the gospel of Luke.    The scene was when Zechariah named his son, John.   

After sharing our thoughts with our parents, we were reminded that on the Menefee side, our son’s great grandfather Menefee was named John.  And on the Besonen side, both of our son’s great grandfather’s were named John.  

Finally, the name John means “beloved”.  And Jie, John’s Chinese middle name, which we are keeping, means “outstanding person”.  It is our deepest hope that John will know he is loved and that through that foundation, he will also be an “outstanding person”.