The Name

i love Ephraim's name.

As soon as he was born, i knew the name we had picked out suited him.

Yeh - i'm well aware, he'll likely have some issues with it throughout his life... some, "How do you spell that?" or "How is that pronounced?" But, his name has meaning, substance, history & strength. i'm standing by it :) Ephraim means, "very fruitful".

Magnus was Neil's choice - granted, i told him it had to be a latin name (our other 2 sons have latin middle names & i didn't want him to feel left out)- but i poured over my latin name websites and my latin english dictionary. i read all the names to Neil & when we tried them all over, the only one Neil loved was Magnus. He claims that Ephraim's gonna be a big rugby player & that his daddy's gonna call him Maggie - i can see it already... Magnus means, "great".

We decided to pronounce Ephraim's name "Efrem" with a short e sound. Neil picked the pronunciation and spelling - since there were so many different ways to pronounce it & since i didn't care about the spelling. All around, some pretty good compromises...

Neil's friend joked to him that Ephraim's 2 names are a funny juxtaposition - Eprhaim gets thrown in the arena with the lions and Magnus is the one doing the throwing.

i like how his 2 names fit together...

When Ephraim was only 1 day old - i held him close to me and whispered in his tiny ear - "Baby Ephraim Magnus - may you be very fruitful, and do great things for God's kingdom..."

He looked at me with those dark, serious eyes...

Those eyes make him look like he's a hundred years old...

They seem to look right into me - & understand just exactly what i'm saying...

& then he filled his pants.

i guess a little guy's gotta start somewhere...