What's in a name??

So here we are. The day of our baby girl's birth has come!  It has been quite a journey to get here.  Over the last week we have put the entire nursery together, purchased or been given all the necessary baby gear and clothes and prepared our hearts and minds as best we can for this amazing change in our lives. 
We began to seriously talk about names for our baby girl last Friday when we knew that this was really going to happen and quickly.  Pretty quickly we had narrowed our favorites down to Gabrielle, Isabella and Eliana.  I researched the names meanings and that had helped us to decide on these three as final "contestants". 
Gabrielle means "God is my Strength"
Isabella means "Consecrated (pledged) to God"
Eliana means "God has answered"
All very appropriate for this little girl!  Derek and I discussed but he didn't really say much other than that he liked them all just fine. 

On Friday, Feb. 17th, M (birth mom) and I went to a doctor's appointment where they told us that they were finally ready to induce her.  We were both so excited!  Sunday morning at 8am they said :)
Of course, that night that is all I could think about and I had dreams all night that night about having the baby, etc. In my dream I was calling her "Gabrielle" and "Gabby".
That morning I spoke to M. who also told me she had a dream about the baby being born.  In her dream she said I also called the baby "Gabby"!  I do not believe in coincidences so that was very much a sign to me that this baby should be named Gabrielle.  I am a slow learner at times though so I continued to toss it around, as Isabelle had been the front runner for me up until this point. 

Later that same day (Saturday) I had a conversation with Derek who admitted that he had always liked Gabrielle the best and thought that should be her name, but he didn't want to influence my decision at all and wanted me to decide based on what I liked.  Then maybe a 1/2 later my girlfriend, Anna, texted me and told me that she too thought it should be Gabrielle (Gabby), but that she hadn't wanted to say anything either! 

Okay, okay, I get it!  Her name is going to be Gabrielle :)  I do believe that this is "His Adoption Journey" and we are just along for the ride - God is in control and has been since the beginning.  Even her name is per His plan. 

As I sit back and think about the journey we have been on it is hard to comprehend still.  Just a little more than a week ago we didn't even know that this little girl would be in our lives and here we are! 
As Derek and I drove to the hospital this morning he reminded me that just last month our small group (bible study group) prayed over us.  The prayer was that our adoption process would go smoothly and that everything that happen be His will and that we would know without a doubt that it was His will. They also prayed for us that the FIRST child that was "referred" to us would be the child that we were meant to have so we didn't have to go through "rejecting" potential referrals of children (I knew that would be beyond difficult).  At the time of that prayer we had finished our paperwork for China and was waiting on it to be translated and sent to the Chinese consulate and to ultimately be put on "The List" to be referred a daughter. We assumed that would take until the end of the summer at the earliest.
No one involved in that prayer that night could have had any idea this was God's plan.  I know that His hand has been on us without ceasing regarding this entire process.  I know that the people he has placed in our lives in these many different ways are like angels covering us in prayer and helping us along this path - praise God!

It is so amazing to me how God works.  God is the creator of this world, He is our father, our provider, our Savior and He knows what our path will be if we chose to step out in faith and follow Him when he calls.  Often times it is scary - down right terrifying!!!! - but faith means trusting in Him and abandoning those fears.  Looking to Him for comfort and guidance even when we can not see or anticipate what might happen next.  Even if the path takes us in a different direction than we thought we was originally leading us. 

Here I sit in a labor and delivery room with the birth mom - the "first mom" of our baby girl - typing out a blog entry so that none of the details of this miraculous experience will be lost or forgotten.
I am trying to cast all my fears and anxieties on God to let him work all of this for good as His word says.  I would be lying if I said I feel like I am successfully executing that plan.  I am giving it all the effort I can. It is hard to imagine any other outcome than the one we have prepared our homes and hearts for.  I have to trust that this is God's plan and that we are all bringing together a plan so much bigger than the sum of all of us.  This is a decision, by ALL of us involved, that will forever change our lives and the course of history.  For this we all need to strength of God....how appropriate that this little girl that brought all of this together be named Gabrielle, "God is my strength"! 

Thank you all for your continued prayers to cover our family, M, and this baby girl, Gabrielle.  We are forever grateful!  Today will be the day I hold my daughter in my hands for the first time and that is the start of the rest of our lives as an amazing family. Not only did God bless us with the precious little girl of our dreams, but with an extended family that we had no idea we would be so blessed to receive.  God gives abundantly, overflowing........

"Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you." Luke 6:38

"A Birthmother puts the needs of her child above the wants of her heart"
Skye Hardwick