Saturday, July 6, 2013

Tales of a Homeschool Nothing ~ What's in a Name?

Before you had kids, did you already have names picked out? Did you pictured what they would look like & how they would behave?

When you were expecting your children were you able to pick out their names then or did you struggle to find the perfect one? Were you one of those that never questioned the name you chose or did you wait to meet your miracle in the hopes that their personality would help determine a moniker?

What about pets, do you find yourself going with the same ole boring names? Or do you try to have a one of a kind pooch?

I named my oldest when I was still in high school before I ever met my husband. I knew I wanted a little boy named Austin Tyler and we would call him Ty. Well, I got my Austin but his middle name is Dale after his daddy & grandpa.

When I was expecting Austin, Justin & I settled on Makenzie Leah if we ever had a girl. Her middle name is a tribute to my grandmother Cora Lee & Justin's grandmother Grace Leigh.

We struggled for 7 months to name Logan. Nothing sounded right & we just couldn't agree on anything. Finally, Logan Reece just seems to roll right off the tongue.

Looking at my kids today, they "look" like their names. I couldn't imagine calling them anything else. I'm sure you feel the same way about your kids.

Does it REALLY matter in the long run?

Romeo & Juliet knew that a name wasn't nearly as important as their families thought. But a name & circumstances were what tore them apart.

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet;"

In the state of NC, it is a requirement to name our homeschool. I had a hard time with this. I wanted to find the perfect name for our family. Something that would tell our story, something that would express our beliefs, somewhere that our kids could be proud of graduating from. 

I kept returning to Isaiah 40:31 "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

This is one of my favorite Bible verses, but it just didn't seem right for us. Then something came to me. I told Justin to pray & tell me his thoughts because I wanted God to show both of us. 

Music is a big part of who I am & how I express myself. It always has been. Its nothing new for me to get a song stuck in my head for days or to listen to the lyrics & dive much deeper than your average person would with its meaning.

When I realized that I had a song stuck in my head that I haven't even heard in years, it stopped me in my tracks. I asked Justin if he had given any more thought about our homeschool name. He didn't have an ideas, but he just couldn't get away from Grace.

ding ding ding - We have a winner!

I had clung to 1st Corinthians 15:10 sometime back, "But by the grace of God I am what I am", so this became the verse that represented our school.

So Grace of God Christian Academy was born.

Oh, by the way, that song that was stuck in my head..... 



And just for the fun of it....HERE is a post I wrote on names a few years ago.

5 comments:

Michelle Liew said...

A name is so important. Naming a child wrongly could end in him being ridiculed..and even a negative shift in his own perspective. Thanks for sharing, Tracie! http://petsawarenews.com/?p=337?mstac=0:

Janet Powers said...

beautiful story - and love the name!

AmyG said...

I love this story. Names mean a great deal at our house, too. I love the name of your home school, too! Ours is "Excelsior! Academy." Excelsior! is Latin for Ever Higher!

hsmominmo said...

Well, we did not name any of our children the names I had dreamed up as a girl.
But we have named our homeschool, even though our state law does not require it. It has come in hand for promotions and ordering supplies, and for convincing skeptics that we truly do educate our children.
Our name is 'geographical'. It's fun to read how others come to name their homeschool. Thanks for sharing!

Carolyn Moore said...

I agree - names are difficult and so hard to decide on. I like the way in the Bible that people's names changed based on their experiences and how God gained a new name based on His character. I could work with this system :-) Thank God, I did not have to name my homeschool! (PA)

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