What's in a Name...

I hope my friend Liberty does not mind, but I saw this on her blog and I absolutely loved the idea. And since my girls are always asking me to tell them something about themselves, I thought this would be a great time to put in writing, why we named them what we named them . So here it goes. Thanks for such a great idea Liberty!

Ariel Payton Odom

When Mike took me on our first date, for dinner, we went to Applebee's and during the meal, he told me that when he was on his mission he read Isiah Ch. 29 and came across the name Ariel (which if you look in the Bible Dictionary is an alter to God, and a name for Jerusalem) . Mike said that he just loved the name and from that point he told himself that whenever he had his first daughter, her name would be Ariel. Well, my reaction was that's nice and in my head I was saying, "I'm not going to be your wife, so you can name your children whatever you like." Well, as we all know, I did end up being Mike's wife, and when we found out we were going to have a baby girl, Mike reminded me that her name would be Ariel. I was totally against it, because at the time Disney was releasing "The Little Mermaid" on VHS (before DVD and blue ray was even heard of). However, Mike won out and I have to say that as time went on the name Ariel grew on me. When I thought about the scriptural significance to it, I began to realize what a strong name it was and I loved that it was also another name for Jerusalem. I also loved that it was a name that had scriptural relevance. I wanted a name that was strong, yet also feminine and I believe the name is both. As for Payton, I picked that. I have always loved the name and I thought it went along great with Ariel, and that it would be a unique name for our unique angel. I know now that Mike was right all along, that the name he found so long ago, while on his mission, was absolutely the right name for her. She is strong and beautiful and the name suits her perfectly. I can not imagine, nor would I attempt, to think of her as anything else. The first time I held this perfect baby, I knew that the Lord had big plans for this Ariel and what a great responsibility I had being her mother.

Cecily Elisabeth Odom

When we got pregnant with Cecily, we did not have a name picked out yet, because we for sure knew that she was going to be a boy--so we had our boy name and nothing else. However, about 14 weeks later and the second ultrasound (they always do an ultrasound at one of my first checkups because of the fact that Mike and I are twins, they check for multiples) it was confirmed that we would be having another girl. We were at a lost for names and could not find one that Mike and I could agree on. It was funny, because Ariel wanted to name her Kelly, which no offense to anyone named Kelly, but Mike and I did not like it. I started praying, I know this sounds silly to some, but names are such a big deal, and I knew that the Lord could help me out on this. And He did. I prayed for a long time and then one day, I came across Cecily in a book and I fell in love with it. Mike and I wanted her to have a 3 syllable name like Ariel (I know crazy, but that's us) and this fit the bill. Plus, Mike's favorite uncle's name is Cecil (although, we pronounce Cecily with a short e not a long e like in Cecil). We had a first name, now for a middle. I loved that Ariel had a name that came out of the scriptures, and I wanted Cecily to have a scriptural reference too. So I started looking at names. The obvious choice was Elisabeth, cousin of Mary, mother to John the Baptist. I think it is such a beautiful name and I love that it is spelled with an "s" and not a "z". I had the perfect name for our second baby girl. It was a delicate name, but at the same time strong--for those of you who know Cecily isn't that just like her? However, Mike did not like Elisabeth, but I just knew that that was suppose to be her name. Many of you know that Cecily was almost born in the car ,on the way to the hospital, and that I had her with absolutely NO DRUGS---not even a Tylenol. So when the nurse came in and asked what her name would be I said, "I had this baby totally natural, I get to pick her name." Everyone agreed and her name became: Cecily Elisabeth Odom. Again, I can not, and would not, imagine her name being anything but that. It's perfect.