From Sparkles to Belle!

When we began this journey with a girl in mind-all of the kids had fun dreaming up names for her. We were all over the place on names and knew we had time to really think it. The nickname that really stuck for all of us is what Anna Caroline came up with-"Sparkles." So-Sparkles it was for about 6 months. For those of you who don't know AC well-she is 4 and all girl. She dresses in glittery things and wears sparkly shoes. It was very appropriate for her baby sister. Then-the "official" paperwork at the end started to roll in and it was time for us to make a decision on a name so that we could fill all of the documentation out correctly. Tim and I had a small list of half family and half non-family names that we had come up with over the year. We did not have an easy Chinese name to work wtih either-Xiaofang Qing. We began to write and say various combinations of names with Pereira (not an easy one either-my good friends still ask me how to spell it!) I spend loads of time repeating P-E-R-E-I-R-A to people who need it on the other end of the phone! So-you can imagine our dilemma on the name! Not easy! Then-one night it all became very clear to both of us. We began scratching names from the list. Belle continued to be at the top. Belle was a beautiful Southern name and it sounded good with Pereira...but it was much much more than that!!! It was family too!
For those of you who don't know her-Belle Johnson is family to us and you need to know her. She was one of my first friends when I moved to Nashville 14 years ago. She is not only one of my closest friends but also one of Tim's favorite poeple too. She is a mentor, teacher, cheerleader, confidante, and encouragement to us. She embodies the qualities we long for our daughter to have...kindness, humility, peacefulness, laughter, joy, confidence in the Lord. We are thankful for our daughter to have Belle as her namesake. The coolest part is that our Belle will get to go with us the first week in China and meet our baby Belle for the first time with us! It was quite easy to fill in Belle Qing(Ching) Pereira on the paperwork after all!