Baby Contest, Round 1

** Round 1 Over **

** Comments Closed **

** New Clues in Round 2 **

I was blessed with the opportunity to see my daughter again today. Cast in varied shades of grey we watched as she balled her tiny fist to rub her eyes and tucked her lower lip into her mouth to suck on it. So young at 22 weeks yet already developing mannerisms, habits, and a personality. The joy and anticipation of awaiting the birth of a child is a phase of life marked by extremes. The hope of new life is coupled with the temptation of anxiety at the fragility of that life; the excitement of sharing experiences with a new member of the family dances with the realization of responsibility. One thing is becoming increasingly clear as we look towards the future, and that is the necessity of God and the community of His church for the upbringing of a child. Shanna and I must depend upon God and upon those He has placed around us to make up for our individual weaknesses.

It is with the realization of the role of community in our lives both now and in the life we are bringing into this world that we invite the myriad members of the various communities that intersect our lives to have some fun with us as we eagerly await being introduced to our daughter. To that end, we are going to have a contest here on my blog to see if anybody can guess the name we have chosen for our daughter.

Here’s how it works. In the comments to this blog posting you can place your guess for the first and middle name. As time progresses I will post updated blog entries with new clues to help you hone your guesses. Allow me to enumerate the key rules:

1) Each round will last about 2 weeks, at which time I will put up a new Baby Contest post with a new set of clues.
2) Each guess must include an attempt at both the first and middle name.
3) All guesses must be as a comment to the most recent Baby Contest post here in my blog.
4) Only 5 guesses per contestant per round.
5) Each guess must be made in such a way that we know who you are and how to contact you. Blogger will give you the option of affiliating your comment with your google account or simply a name and email address. You can use whichever method you want so long as we know how to contact you should you win.
6) To win, you must guess both the first and middle name and spell them correctly.

Wait! You mentioned a prize, right?!? Yes, yes, I did indeed. My wife will be making a quilted item (a lap quilt or a wall hanging... she is still combing through quilting magazines for ideas) as the prize for the winner. You can check her blog ssparrowinflight.blogspot.com where she will occasionally post about the prize quilt as she makes it.

So, without further introduction, here is the first set of clues:

Clue 1-1:

Both the first and middle name are girls' names (meaning they are distinguishable as feminine names).

Clue 1-2:

Not a name we’ve named before, 

    but part of life both old and new.

Someday soon or someday far, 

    our daughter’s name will still ring true. 

Prayer for the Children (from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer):

ALMIGHTY God, heavenly Father, who hast blessed us with the joy and care of children; Give us light and strength so to train them, that they may love whatsoever things are true and pure and lovely and of good report, following the example of their Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.