A New Name

As some of you know, we have been trying to "Americanize" Dema's name.  A move to help facilitate this new step in his life and ours...

When we end our first trip to Ukraine, one of the final steps will be us receiving new birth certificate for him--the old one will be destroyed, as if it never existed.  So in an attempt for us to begin to help him retain his heritage while embracing his new family, country, and culture, we decided that giving him a new name would be a great place to start.  Cindy and I weren't in total agreement with our name choices, but last night we were with friends and family--all of whom are engaged in the adoption process.  The conversation was focused on how we would spend our time at the orphanage and what we would do while in country, but the conversation quickly moved to names.  Each of our families have decided to keep some form of the children's given name.  Cindy and I knew we wanted to use Dema, which he has always known as his name instead of his given name Dmytro.  We just wanted to add an American middle name since Ukrainians don't have middle names.  Cheri (Cindy's daughter) suggested Ericson, and we automatically agreed that it was perfect! 

Before we met Dema, we knew that we were to adopt him, and within minutes of him meeting me, without me knowing it, he told his translator that I was going to be his papa.   (I didn't know this until the children had been here for many days.)   It was amazing that he was being prepared for us at the same time that we were being prepared for him.  So, not only will Dema share a name with his papa, but his name will always be a reminder of how God has orchestrated this entire process before we had ever met.

His new name will be:  Dema Ericson Noel