What's in a name?

Recently I heard a sermon by a professor at Ozark. Damien was a guest speaker at our Wednesday night programming at College Heights. He began his sermon by sharing the significance of the names of his children. I have always been a fan of significant names. Whether it is a significant famous person, Biblical name, or a personal significance. I always tell Tyler that I want to use at least one of the names of three people that changed my life. One being HeeJin who was a foreign exchange student from Korea. She changed my life a lot. She and I became very close without getting to use a whole lot of the same language. I haven't heard from her in so long... I miss her greatly and still think about her all the time.

The two other names are the names of my two little sisters who live in Cambodia. They are so precious to me and have changed my life forever. So today, out of boredom, I decided to look up the meanings of their names. So often I think name meanings really do fit the people so I thought it would be interesting. Well, one name meant "beautiful moon" which I thought was interesting. I have always liked the name Bella, because of the song Bella Luna by Jason Mraz. Bella Luna actually means beautiful moon. So that was the first little interesting thing that came of this search... a name that I have always liked because of a song title is actually the meaning of her name..

The other name was perfect. When I saw it, I decided that I have to use it. It's not the most beautiful sounding name... and turns out, in Cambodia it is typically used for a boy so who knows which way I would want to use it. The meaning is "flawless". It's crazy to me because that's exactly what she is to me. She is so perfect. What hits me even harder is just that I know her past. I know what she has gone through, the things that have been done to her... to the rest of the world, especially Cambodia, she isn't seen as flawless, or perfect. But to me she is. So is so perfect, flawless, and sa-aht (okay, I can't spell any word in the Khmer language, but this means beautiful).

Children are a long ways off for me but I know the influence my two precious girls have had on my life... and months later I am still feeling so strongly about them. Plus, I know that once Tyler meets them he will fall in love with them and have no option but to use their names! The most beautiful little (I say little... yet they are not really that young) girls of Cambodia are so important to me... so I am thinking their names shall be used =)