Since Aliza was born in Germany, we wanted a name that reflected her German heritage. But a lot of them are doozies! I had a short list of names but hadn't settled on anything yet. I really liked the name Anna but really felt Johanna was to be her middle name because of its importance in our family history searching and finding here these past two years. Anna Johanna seemed redundant and weirdly rhymed with Hannah Montana. No thanks! Ryan really liked the name Taylor but it just didn't fit for me, mostly because it wasn't German.
As it happens, there are quite a few Elizas in our Eppelsheimer, Carter and Reid lines. In fact, I found another one this week! The most recent one, however, is Ryan's Prussian maternal great-grandmother, Elise. I can't help but think that she has been invested in our search for her family these past couple years.
The night before Aliza was born, I was watching a live broadcast from Frankfurt of a Europe Sisters meeting for our church. There was a wonderful quote shared about Eliza R. Snow, an important leader in our church from the latter 1800s. The quote was:
"She walked not in the borrowed light of others, but faced the morning unafraid and invincible."
When Aliza was born the next morning, this quote was fresh in my memory. She did indeed arrive in the morning, unafraid and seeming invincible. She was very content and curious about her new world. I felt her sweet little light of a spirit light up my life. This quote is one I plan to make her aware of her entire life to strengthen and inspire her to become all that she can become.
With each of my babies, there's a song that plants itself in my head right away. For Easton it was "Teach me to walk in the Light." For McKay it was "I've been working on the railroad" and Morgan's was "I'm a little teapot." Jake's song was the simple Primary Song, "I love mommy, she loves me; We love daddy, yes-sir-ee. He loves us and so you see, we are a happy family." With Aliza, for whatever reason, the song that stuck in my head the day she was born, before a name was decided, was the children's song "Lil' Liza Jane" - the version about having friends in different cities around the US and world. I can't help but wonder what that portends for her life as it begins abroad.
So that's it then - a name from our families, the beautiful quote, and the silly song helped me choose her name. The other names just didn't fit after a couple days but Aliza seemed to so I stopped fighting it. Ryan had a hard time accepting this name, it didn't roll off his tongue. He couldn't figure out how we'd say it and spell it. Lucky for me, he had so much on his plate with the new contract that he left if up to me and my intuitions.
So that's it then - a name from our families, the beautiful quote, and the silly song helped me choose her name. The other names just didn't fit after a couple days but Aliza seemed to so I stopped fighting it. Ryan had a hard time accepting this name, it didn't roll off his tongue. He couldn't figure out how we'd say it and spell it. Lucky for me, he had so much on his plate with the new contract that he left if up to me and my intuitions.
