When someone discovers you are adopting or pregnant, one of the first questions is, "What is her name?" For us, when we tell them "Maura", they usually ask what we are calling her...to which I reply, "Maura." Then they say, "Well, what is her American name?" I say, "Maura" followed by XXXX is her Ethiopian name, so we will use that as her middle name. Usually, they look puzzled but don't ask any more questions.
Personally, I don't think "Maura" is that uncommon but apparently some people do. Ashton, our now 5 year old son, actually picked-out the name. Jason wasn't too sure about it, but now he loves it and this is why: We wanted a name that meant something special. We discovered that "Maura" means both bitterness and gift of God. These are both perfect for our family. You see, when Julianna Ashure died, we had a choice - we could be bitter or we could relinquish our doubts, pain, and fear to God. When we first learned that our family had been matched with a child so soon after Ashure's death when we first saw her photo we didn't know how we were going to feel, but we knew it was going to be one of two emotions - bitterness or happiness. When we received Ashure's referral, we were so elated but after her death, our hearts were literally broken into pieces and frankly, we experienced pain like we had never felt. Many people didn't understand (and rudely stated their opinions) how we could hurt when we never held her in our arms. We loved Julianna Ashure before she was ever conceived and our hearts hurt just the same as a mother who gave birth and then lost her child. With Maura's referral, we knew she was severely malnourished and most of all, we knew how fragile life is...we were scared and our faith was wavering.
We opened the e-mail and this is what we saw:
Our hearts melted immediately. There was absolutely no bitterness but sorrow mixed with joy. We knew that God was blessing us doubly. Instead of bitterness, our hearts were filled with thanksgiving. We knew that this baby was a gift from God. Her Ethiopian name means "gift of mercy"...how perfect is that!?! All around, we knew that this child came into our family at the perfect time. We will never fully understand why Julianna Ashure died but we do know that God used her little life to touch the lives of others (as well as our own) around the world. What a testimony she has even in death! Now, the world is watching and cheering as we bring Maura home. Our God is so good and even more so, is always faithful. Maura is a gift and whenever we look at her, we will always remember her sister and our God who is holding her now.
