Named

Good Early Morning from Eads, TN, 

I've been asked a lot about the kids' names, so I thought I would post about that briefly since I can't sleep. (Stupid jet lag.) Godson and Shekina are names given to the kids by their biological parents, and we don't think it's fair to change their names. They have suffered so much trauma, losing every single thing they had in their past life, from their parents, friends, and nannies to their country and language. They should at least get to keep their names, the one thing their bio parents gave them, right? I have really struggled with this, because I am not a fan of either name, but I don't want to traumatize either child any further. So, here are the names, and here is the plan. 

Shekina Rebecca Bengibabuya Bolton

We have added Rebecca in there because my mom and I both share that middle name. We thought Shekina would find it special to share it with us. We will be calling her Shekina, with the nickname Kina. Bengibabuya is another name her parents gave her. We don't know anything about it, but again, it was a gift from her birth parents to her, so why not keep it? It seems the respectful thing to do. 

Benjamin Godson Mwisha Bolton

Godson came to us with the name Godson Mwisha Hombo. (Shekina also has the name Hombo.) We are dropping the Hombo, and will keep the rest of the name, adding Benjamin. I'd like to call him Benjamin since I'm not the biggest fan of the name Godson, but we've been calling him Godson so long that I'm not sure we can start calling him something else. We may start making a concerted effort to first call him Benjamin Godson (yes, the full name!), and, after he gets used to that, switch to just Benjamin. We'll see if we ever follow through on that... Right now, he is just Goddy. His nickname in the orphanage was God, and Shekina still calls him that sometimes! Mwisha is a name his birth parents gave him, and from what I can faster online, it means "place of plenty". My mom wanted me to call him this, but I think it sounds like Moesha, the 90s sitcom starring American recording artist Brandy. No thanks.