Thursday, March 13, 2008

What's in a name?

The first thing that we learn about ourselves is our name. When we meet someone new, we find out their name. There is a high stress level that goes into naming a child, some people have a name in mind their whole lives, others fight this battle long after the child is born. In naming our little miracles it was completely a team effort, we left no option unused in finding what we think are three perfect names.

BEYLIN RUTH: I (Matt) discovered the name while serving a church mission in Argentina. I was in my fourth area and we ate lunch with the bishop of the ward and his family every Wednesday. The bishop had a little granddaughter about eight years old who wanted to hear the discussions, but her mom was a little leary. Somehow we convinced her that it would be great for her whole family to hear the discussions. At the conclusion of the discussions this little angel, Belen, went into the waters of baptism, because that is what she wanted. Her mother had not yet been baptized when I left the area. The spanish meaning of the word Belen is Bethlehem, the birthplace of our Savior. These two reasons made me want to name my first daughter this, so we did, we altered the spelling for English pronunciation. Beylin's middle name, Ruth, comes from a long line of Ruth's, I will let Tiffany explain. My middle name is Ruth, my mom's middle name is Ruth and both of my grandmother's, my mom's mom and my dad's mom, are named Ruth. As a child I was not a big fan of the name, at times I even swore I would never give that name to my child, but in the end the heritage of the name had to be passed on and so we name our first daughter, Beylin Ruth.

MAYSI KRISTINE: This name came from the genius of my wife. We went back and forth for many months on this name, there were many contestants, but none distanced itself from the other. One day Tiffany presented this name and we both felt that it was the perfect name. It comes from my grandma, her name is Edna May, and has gone by the name May as long as I can remember. Grandma Great has always been a great example to Tiff and me. Maysi is just like her namesake very smart and independant, always caring for those around her. Kristine is my mother's first name. The love of her can be felt by all who have the honor of meeting her. Maysi will be well advised to try to live like these two amazing women.

GEHRIG NOLAN: On our first campout as a married couple many years ago, while discussing baby names I came up with the name, but kept it to myself. Later on when everyone had gone to bed I told Tiff the name. I saw the gears grinding in her head and slowly she came around to it and told me that it was a great idea. My all time favorite baseball player is Lou Gehrig, if you know even a hundreth of his story you know why I respect him as a person and an athlete so much. We went back and forth on what his middle name should be, Matthew or Nolan. When it came down to it I wanted to name him after my father more than I wanted to name him after myself. My father is a quiet confident man who will never leave another person in want, he will always be my ultimate hero. I am proud to have Nolan as my middle name as well.

So there you have it, our little ones and their names. We are so proud of our kids and love them more than anything in this whole world.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

And the winner is...

All of the above! Stay tuned for quality Leishman entertainment. Beylin will show her moves, Maysi sings "magic"ally, and Gehrig is a real Tiger.