51 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 1-16-13”

  1. I was nemed after my dad and maternal grandfather.
    We had a terrible time in my teens because both of us went after “Charlie”.
    Only the context would defirrentiate us.

    It’s Wednesday. Off to the Y.

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  3. Good morning. I am named Ann, my mom’s middle name. My middle name, Elizabeth, was just because they liked it.

    My oldest daughter was home sick yesterday with a touch of a stomach bug. Hoping she feels better today and that no one else gets it.

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  4. My dad had a good friend in the Navy whose last name was Kimbrell. My maternal grandmother’s middle name was Lora. I would have been James Kimbrell or Kimberley Lora–either way I would have been Kim.

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  6. My siblings all have at least one name that was inspired by a relative. I was named purely by the imagination of my parents. My mother chose my first name from something that she liked, and my father chose my second – he was going to make a pun out of it in his own whimsical fashion (he arranged the order of one of my siblings’s names so that the intials would spell a word), but a family friend pointed out that would be a horrible thing to do to a child, so I was spared a punning name. My intials do match my father’s though…

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  8. My Family has a large number of men named James. For some reason my grandmother named both my father and his brother, James. Then other members of the family started naming their sons after the two of them. So, besides a father and an uncle with that name I also have a brother, a nephew, three first cousin and four 2nd cousins with that name, If I had had a daughter I had planned to have the first girl in the club and name her Jamey.

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  10. Middle GD has Eljizabeth for a middle name. Mary Elizabeth, it is.
    Ann is always a middle name.
    DIL is named Linda.
    Great grands have fad names. I personally prefer gender specific names.

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  11. I see in todays Times-News that Cam Newton is enrolling at Auburn for the spring semester. He wants his degree.
    Real smart. George Rogers did that. Came back to USC and got his degree. He said it was a matter of pride; very important. First one in his family.

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  12. My oldest brother has my dad’s name as his middle name, and as the older girl I have my mom’s name (Jean) as my own middle name.

    When I was in sixth or seventh grade, we girls in the class all compared notes on middle names, and nearly all of us (something like two-thirds) had Ann or Jean. Ann was the more common, but Jean was second, and together we had most of the girls.

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  13. QoD: My family sort of treats book characters like family. So I was named after the chick in Peter Pan with my middle name the budding writer from Little Women.

    So what is it? And it is not a Spanish salutaion 😉

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  17. I’ve mentioned before that I share a name (my married name) with a movie actress of an earlier era. I wasn’t named after anyone when I was born, but my midwife who delivered 4th Arrow, recognizing my name as the same as that actress, asked me if my parents were movie buffs and named me after her. My parents didn’t know that their firstborn would one day share a name with an actress. 😉

    My husband’s middle name is the same as his dad’s first name. 1st Arrow’s middle name is the same as hubby’s first name. 2nd Arrow’s middle name is the same as my middle name. 3rd Arrow’s middle name is the same as my FIL’s mother’s first name. 4th Arrow didn’t get any family name, but the idea of her first name came from one of my piano students. She said, “If you have a girl, you should name her _____”. We came up with a middle name to go with it, then couldn’t decide which order of the two names we liked better. 2nd Arrow got to make the final choice for a name after 4th Arrow was born on her birthday 😉

    5th Arrow’s middle name is my husband’s uncle’s first name. 6th Arrow’s first name is the same as the first name of one of the sisters of my maternal grandmother. Also, 6th Arrow is unique in our family as she has two middle names. There was so much input into what to name the baby when I was pregnant with her, having already had five arrows, most of whom were clamoring to “name the baby this if it’s a girl! no, name the baby this!” etc. that we gave her two middle names that had been mentioned that we liked.

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  18. My detested middle names comes from a great-aunt I don’t remember. I denied it completely, to my mother’s dismay (and it was my day’s aunt) until I did the genealogy and discovered it went back 200 years. Of course everyone else had the prettier form used by Adios’s author!

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  22. Michelle:
    Wow! What a powerful article! It makes my stomach hurt to read it, but it is so true. As a former social worker, I can tell you first hand the effects of denying there is a God, and it’s not pretty. People can get themselves into the most horrible places, some with more responsibility than others. The generational dysfunction is heartbreaking. Mom at 14 with an 8th grade education, her mom had her when she was 16. Dad is in a gang. There is very little hope in many homes like this. But in many of these homes, they do not want to look at behavior as having consequences. They “live for today” rather than submit to a holy God’s standards. I’m not saying that If you obey God, then your life is easy. I know Christians who suffer through terrible things. The saddest thing is that it is becoming increasingly difficult in our society to even have this conversation.

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  23. Good Morning, Y’all!

    First name was supposed to be Travis after my Mom’s family but they changed their minds. Now my first name has no family connection…ironically, however, it is a Welsh name meaning “small or weak”…I am 6’3” and about 290. They missed that boat…

    Middle name is Franklyn. My Grandfather and my Dad both share that as a first name and it is also my oldest son’s middle name…

    Mrs. Inbutnotof pointed out once that all three of my children have middle names from my family…not sure how we left her family out…all of their first names are biblical.

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  25. Michelle:
    I worry because my kids are in public schools, who have totally taken God out of the equation. My oldest attended elementary in a sweet, grace-based school. My youngest has been in public since kindergarten. We attend a wonderful church, but I wonder if it is enough. I would like them to be somewhere that supports our worldview. But, my husband doesn’t think it’s important enough to spend the money on, as we live in a “good” district. Yes, academically it’s “good” (compared to the “failing” schools oh-so-nearby), but it’s ruled by humanistic theology. The state has replaced God. We have some wonderful teachers, but the bureaucrats have tied their hands.

    My best friend is a special education teacher in the fifth ward of HISD. She works with emotionally-disturbed kids in an elementary school. They talk about what gang they are going to join next summer. These kids are 10 years old and they can’t read (not due to IQ), have severe behavior problems, and disrupt classrooms. Their home life is consistently abysmal. Related? Of course! I’d be angry, too, if I was alone all the time or surrounded by chaos. Mom’s on drugs. Dad’s not in the picture. Foster care placements. Things are bad in the inner city. And getting worse.

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  27. This is where the family life–and prayer–makes all the difference. We live on the outskirts of Soddom and Gomorrah. We, and our children, cannot be “casual” about our faith–we’re confronted every day with things that challenge who we are as believers.

    That means we have to know what we believe and we have to keep talking with them about how to apply our faith. It also means we had several years of “keeping our fingers crossed,” praying and watching for God at work in our children’s lives. Some of the older members of this blog will probably remember what a wreck I was during my daughter’s years 13-14.

    But we got through it with God’s grace, a loving church that helped when I couldn’t, and lots of prayer. When my daughter rejected a large scholarship to Azusa Pacific University, she explained it was because she felt the Christianity among the people she met was too easy, too casual.

    I swallowed hard and she went to UC Santa Barbara–one of the larger party schools on the west coast–where her faith has grown exponentially and she is a leader with Campus Crusade.

    It also meant when she went back to our local Christian camp as a counselor (shocking all the other counselors who all went to Christian colleges), she was, in the director’s eyes, the most potent influence as a counselor on the older teens. Her faith was real, forged in the trenches and she had a much more effective way of getting through to the ones walking the tightrope between faith and heathenism.

    I would not have forseen that, but am grateful the Lord could use the agonies of the past to His glory in the present.

    This has been our experience. Many here will rightly argue we should not use our children as missionaries to the public schools. There’s truth in that. But we also need to be careful that in our desire to keep our children “safe” we don’t stunt their opportunities to grow and be lead into places that God has specifically ordained for them.

    Every year we thought and prayed about our children’s education–home school, public school, find money for private school? For us it was almost always public school–with a very involved mother. The witness may have been our children, but usually was not.

    The true witnes was ME at school, going on field trips, engaging the teachers, showing Christian love to the hostile librarian and living my beliefs in a challenging world.

    I have no idea what God has planned for annms’ family. You may not either. 🙂 But if you’re praying, talking with your husband and children and following your God, he will not lead you astray.

    And when things look bleak with the kids–may this never be true for ANY of you–cling to the God who gave them to you for his purposes not only in their lives but also in yours!

    I’m a better person because my daughter drove me to tears time and again.

    I never want to do that again.

    But the Lord is good, forever, and he loves us all.

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  28. Personally, we homeschool, and are unlikely to ever use public schools. I’ve taught in them, and know firsthand the damage they do to worldview. But, as a former public school teacher, I also understand that not everyone can afford private school nor can everyone choose to homeschool. BUT, here’s the important part, and I’m going to quote Michelle:

    “We live on the outskirts of Soddom and Gomorrah. We, and our children, cannot be “casual” about our faith–we’re confronted every day with things that challenge who we are as believers. That means we have to know what we believe and we have to keep talking with them about how to apply our faith.”

    Whether your kids go to public school, or private school, or are homeschooled; whether they attend church weekly, bi-weekly, or everyday, it is OUR JOB AS PARENTS to be systematic, mindful, intentional, and specific about teaching our faith.

    Parents often think that kids will just “magically” pick Christianity up. Unfortunately — more often than we’d hope — parents depend on others to instruct their children in their faith. In fact, those who send their kids to private schools or who attend church a lot can be even more likely to depend way too much on the school or the church to teach their kids. So, if not on a firm foundation, sending one’s kids to a “good Christian school” or making sure they’re in Sunday School every week can actually backfire!

    Regardless of where the child attends school, the primary responsibility for passing on the faith lies squarely on the shoulders of the parents. Family devotions, discussions (lots of those, all the time), and Bible studies where you *intentionally* teach apologetics and pass on the “tools” of your faith and your worldview are SO important.

    We can no longer expect cultural support, where — if we do nothing — our kids will at least turn out as nominal, cultural Christians. If we are not intentionally passing on our faith, then our kids will end up filling that “hole” in their soul with something else.

    Statistically, this is being proved over and over again. We (Christians) are not keeping our children. We’re losing the vast majority the moment they leave home after high school graduation and they are not coming back. We lament over the statistics. We puzzle over them. But, we never admit that we have not done our jobs!

    We wouldn’t expect a child to just “pick up” driving because he or she has often ridden in a car … would we? No. We specifically, carefully, and intentionally teach our kids how to drive.

    How much more so should we expect to specifically, carefully, and intentionally teach our children about their faith.

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  32. The point, I guess, is that these are all *deeper* than the average “devotional.” They intentionally teach apologetics, history, and WHY Christianity is Truth.

    If I rear wonderful, well-rounded children, who get into the best colleges and have highly successful careers and families, but I have failed to teach them about God, then I have failed completely.

    God can, of course, rescue from those ashes. But, still, in obedience, I must do my best to teach my children to follow Him.

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  33. Believe me, people, I’m not nearly as confident as I sound. I truly feel a burden for teaching my children well. I feel as if we are preparing for war. When I send them out further into the World, I think they will be engaging in spiritual battle. And so I’m talking to myself as much as any of you!!

    Onward Christian Soldiers! 🙂

    So, my desire is to send my kids out into the world spiritually and intellectually armed and prepared.

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  34. (Tammy, I added a little snippet to our conversation of the other day, concerning your friend. Don’t know if you are still following that.)

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  37. Tammy, I love The Truth Project! I highly recommend it all the time.

    Both my original first and middle names came from paternal ancestors. I especially disliked my old middle name, Louise. So, growing up, I had a simple first name that had an odd pronunciation, an “old-fashioned” middle name, and a mouthful of an ethnic last name from Finland.

    I was very happy to marry TJ with a nice, common last name from Wales, and to take my mother’s maiden name as my current middle name (to keep a part of my Scottish heritage going. We also gave our daughter Cameron as her middle name as well.

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  38. I have the same middle name as my mother, who got it from her aunt (my great-aunt). My sister and brother both have variations of my dad’s middle name for their middle names. My kids were not named after relatives EXCEPT for my daughter. She has two middle names, and one of them is after my grandmother.

    My husband and I added her second middle name right after she was born, because her name originally gave her the initials of G.G. and family members on his side were threatening to call her “GiGi.” I don’t like that name, and neither does my husband. Plus, my grandmother was well-liked by his parents, and adored by me, and she had an interesting and rather unusual name.

    Now, my daughter has two middle names, and her initials are G.C.G. and our last name. 🙂 No more “GiGi.” ;-p

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  39. Thanks, Mumsee. I really am reading everything and praying about it.

    I’m feeling very much as if I may have become an “enabler” by taking it, covering it, and smoothing it for so long. That allowed this situation to happen again (and again and again).

    I do think it is time for me to lovingly, but firmly, say that wrong is wrong, and stop trying to walk on eggshells to preserve a friendship that really doesn’t exist, and to keep everything calm for fear of “how it will look.”

    In fact, whoever said “enabler” to me really made an impression. Isn’t that exactly what abused wives, and spouses of drunks do? They try to “smooth” everything and placate the individual, and keep others from knowing how volatile the individual can be, and present an image to the world of a happy family. They take all the abuse and try to hide it in order to try to “keep the boat from rocking.” And, isn’t that all the definition of an enabler?

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  41. California Fish & Game has changed its name — to Fish & Wildlife. “Game” had too much of a hunting connotation.

    I also so a dog blog post today from Sandpoint, ID.

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  46. Tammy! I am considering GiGi as my grandmother name. I am on the countdown. I will be in Annapolis and have to decide within 48 hours.
    College Boyfriend’s grandmother was Grandma G thus she was GiGi. She was a crotchety old thing that talked to the TV but I spent a lot of time with her and have some of her jewelry. I adored her.
    My stepmother is Regina so it was easy to make her Baby Girl’s GiGi.

    I am thinking I like it enough to be that. There are those on FB voting for KiKi. (keykey)

    And as my LA Make up artist friend said—Grammy is an award! (he was in favor of it)

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  47. Donna,

    The Guest Post is written by a proponent of such communities, as well as prepping for the worst. They even set up bartering groups and put you in touch with like minded individuals. I used to think “preppers” were fringe, but the worse things get, the more mainstream their appeal becomes. I’m starting to think they may be on to something, and there is a certain appeal and common sense to it all.

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  48. Tammy, sounds like you are on the road to recovery. It is difficult, but you need to do it in order to continue in your positions as wife, mother, teacher, and all of the rest.

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  49. GG!

    AJ, I’ll check the guest post out, didn’t have time to read through it, I’m in between waiting for callbacks/emails trying to set up a couple important interviews.

    My general sense is it’s still a bit fringe for my tastes (and could attract the kinds of folks who could just make things worse for themselves). I’m not panicking yet about the state of the nation, though the outlook is dismal and the situation seems to be changing now quite rapidly. 😦

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  50. I am not named after any family member. But way back when my great grandfather lived in the Ukraine (Russia) the czar took away his last name when somebody hung a picture of the czar in my great grandfather’s outhouse. That somebody then reported it to the village mayor (or whatever they called the guy in charge).

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  51. Christmas tree is nigh-nigh for another year, put away in a brand new green Rubbermaid tub 1st Arrow just purchased today, as the previous tub it had been stored in was discovered to have cracked sometime between now and taking the tree out of it last November. Decorations are put away, living room furniture that had been moved to different rooms are back where they were, with a little variation in placement, and right now there isn’t any clutter on the living room floor or couch and loveseat cushions. We’ll see how long that lasts… 😉

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