The Care Package and The Name

One of the fun things about being "Pre-Approved" is that we are allowed to send care packages to our little guy. Well, some people consider this to be fun. I actually over-think it (*gasp* really? me? never?!), and it tends to stress me out a little. I mean, in my mind, these were the requirements: 1. Must fit into a gallon zip-loc bag and be soft, squish-able, and very lightweight. 2. Must convey to a 20 month old things that he won't understand anyway: that he has a family who loves him, and we're coming as fast as we can, but we're on the other side of the world 3. Must contain something fun and cuddly, but not too expensive because there's a good chance we'll never see it again, and thus I must buy one to keep here too. 4. Must include something to wear, though I have no idea what size he is. And for reasons I can't get into here, this time around, there was also this requirement: 5. Must be in the mail in less than 24 hours. 

Um... ya... 

But it all worked out in the end. We just spent all day last Tuesday running all over the place to pull it all together. I took new pictures of the other 4 kids to put in an album, along with a family picture and one of Josh and me. I got this cute, but tiny stuffed tiger at Walmart for under $3... so I could feel ok about buying 2 and never getting one back... and tiny meets the "keep the package small" requirement. 

I do hope that it's obvious that a small stuffed animal is no indication of a lack of enthusiasm. I just drove myself crazy last time trying to think of the "perfect" lovie/stuffed animal thing to send to Asher, slept with it for several nights so it would "smell like Mom" ... crazy paper pregnant lady... and then in the end, we never saw it again. Asher had no interest in the duplicate one we bought, and actually, Benjamin now sleeps with it every day. So... I wasn't going to go all-out this time.

I also made another hand print T-shirt, which I'm fairly certain is going to be waaaaaaay too big for him, but again, I was in a time crunch and Walmart only had long-sleeved white plain Tees in two sizes: 12 months (too small) or 3T... which would comfortably fit the LGM. Oh well. We had more hands to fit on the shirt this time anyway. 

The cute thing about it this time was that I put the LGM's handprints together to make a heart, and put the Mandarin characters for his name in the heart. I feel the need to blur it out here because I'm never sure what info is too much, but trust me, it's cute! 

The back of the shirt says "We Love You, ________ Green!" just like Asher's did...

... but this time I get to fill in the blank and tell you his name!

... and this time I will refrain from writing you a 400 page novel on the meaning behind his name. As I was formulating a rough draft of this post in my head, I was wondering why it was that I had so much to say about Asher's name last time, and why this time I just don't feel like writing as much. I came up with a couple reasons, but concluded that it's mostly because when I wrote that book about Asher's name, I had 2 kids in "traditional" school at least 2 days a week, and Benjamin was still so little that he spent a good amount of time napping. Now, they're all with me here 24/7 and naptime is a precious commodity. So... I'll keep it short and sweet! His name is.....
No drumroll, please... just a big Chinese gong!

Zach.

More specifically, Zachariah Luke Jiansong.
Zachariah means "Remembered by the Lord" or "God has remembered."
Luke means "Bringer of light"
Jiansong is a smooshed together version of the Chinese name given to him at the orphanage. Jian means "build" and Song means "pine." When we put the two characters in Asher's name together (Tiancheng) it made a very cool meaning. However, not all Chinese names work that way. So, when I asked my trusty Mandarin-speaking contact at our agency if putting Jian and Song together would simply mean "one who makes log cabins out of Christmas trees," this is what she said:
"It is a lovely name, though I’m not aware of any particular meaning when you put the characters together.  The characters in a person’s name are not necessarily meant to go together (though sometimes they can and do).  When I think of these words, the meaning they have for Chinese is very strong – “jian” is not just to “build” a birdhouse or something; rather it’s to establish or construct something, and can even be used to talk about “building” a nation.  A pine is treasured, like bamboo, as a symbol of strength together with flexibility; [Pine trees often represent] longevity, steadfastness, and self-discipline, endurance..."

So, Jiansong, is representative of some pretty cool traits. Strength, flexibility, and steadfastness... all very honorable, for sure!

So, there you have it. I can stop referring to him as "our new little guy" now! Of course, the LGM still just call him "China baby." We'll get there. And now we will have LGM-A, LGM-B, and LGM-Z. China adoptions... A - Z....