It was there all along

I know I've already written way too much about our new daughter's name, but I couldn't leave out this final detail, because it might be the best part yet!

When we first saw her picture, last October, and saw the name "Rayna" that the agency gave her, I was eager to learn her Chinese name.  Since God had used that American name so clearly to show His hand in this process, I thought He might also give us a clue about her, or other confirmation, in her Chinese name.

So when we were told her name was Jin Rui, presumably pronounced Jin Roo-eee, I was stumped.  None of those syllables jumped out at me as being significant in any way, and we had a tough time coming up with a similar American name.

Then we found out Rui was actually pronounced Rai, (and her nickname is Ray-Ray), and suddenly I felt God was in that naming process after all!  What a fun confirmation that another Ray-Ray was meant to be in our family.

But that wasn't all...

The next time our Chinese tutor pronounced her name for us, I realized she was actually pronouncing it JEAN Ray.  THIS WAS MY GRANDMOTHER'S NAME -- JEAN WRAY!!!  (Of all the family members I have, Jean Wray was the one I was told I most resemble.)

So all along we had been calling her Jin Roo-eee, but actually she is the second Jean Wray in our family!!

 With this new information, we decided to re-think her American name, and have decided that instead of Jinna Rose as we intended to call her, we will name her Jinna Rai Rose Frank.  It seemed like the Jin and the Rai needed to stay together after all.  :)

(We had been debating about how to spell the Ray part.... Ray/Rae/Wray.... but then when Rayna wrote out her name yesterday, she wrote Jinna Rai, and Pete and I both decided we like that spelling the best!)

As we get ready to travel now, I love carrying this with me -- that God knew her name all along and is smiling as He shows us His reassurance that she belongs in our family.