What's In A Name?

We have indeed decided on a name.  Humor me whilst I draw the suspense out a tad longer.  It's hard to pick a name, here's why:
-We both have to love it.
-It has to go well with our last name (ps: we figured out that a one syllable first name sounds weird with a one syllable last name.  Really...just try it and say it out loud.  Wierd.)
-It has to go with Ella.  (Think about how many times you'll be telling people what our kids names are, thus saying their names at the same time.  They kind of have to go together.  I'm SO not into the rhyming thing, but you can't name your kids like John and Sheniqua.  Okay, I guess you technically CAN if you want to, but it just doesn't work.)
-It has to go with the middle name (And we've known the middle name with 100% certainty for EVER.) 
-We prefer it not be SUPER popular amongst our immediate friends (because it makes for really confusing playdates if everyone's yelling the same name).
-We really want it to have meaning.

So, without further adu, here is our sweet baby's name:
Josiah Roy York

You don't have to love it.  You don't even have to like it.  In fact, you can hate it for all I care.  We adore it!

Roy was my father's name.  He died in a plane crash when I was a few months shy of 4 years old.  He was, by all accounts (not just remembering the good and glorifying a person because they're gone) a man who first and foremost loved the Lord and had a deep heart for the lost.  He was a wonderful husband, fabulous daddy, providor for his family and no doubt a rockin' son, brother, uncle and friend.  I was over the moon when we learned we were having a boy because I always wanted to be able to keep my father's name alive.

Josiah is a beautiful name that isn't too popular and goes well with Ella dontchathink?  But the real reason we picked it is because of the Biblical person of Josiah.  If you don't know about the life of this man it's worth a read in 2 Kings 21-23 and 2 Chronicles 34-35. 

Josiah was a light amongst the darkness.  His father and grandfather forsook the Lord and built false idols and gave their kingdom over to all kinds of wickedness.  Josiah became king of Judah at 8 years old.  And even though he clearly did not have an upbringing of knowing and loving the Lord, when he heard his Word he knew it to be truth.  He tore his clothes in grief over what the nation had become and went to work restoring it.  He righted all the wrongs done before him.  This boy king turned his whole nation back to God.  He also was fair and kind and giving to even the lay people in his country.  It is written of him:

"Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him."  2 Kings 23:25

A man after God's own heart.  A man who stands up for what's right.  A man who has compassion for poeple.  A man who leaves an unprecidented legacy of loving the Lord.  That is the kind of man we pray OUR Josiah will be as well.  That is what's in a name!