Canaan

Lazarus finally has a middle name. After Gigi jokingly suggested Lazarus Nazareth, Joshua came up with Lazarus Canaan. He immediately decided that was his name, but I needed some time to make such a big decision. Lazarus means "God is my help" and has a great story of Lazarus being a good friend of Jesus who got sick and was dead for four days, and then Jesus performed the miracle of bringing him back to life. Canaan seems to mean "land of reeds." In the Bible, Noah's son, Ham's, youngest son was named Canaan. Canaan was the name of the promised land that is a region of what is now Palestine. Canaan was described as a land flowing with milk and honey, and we love milk and honey at our house.
We love these names for our son because we know that we can't accomplish anything truly good without God. I think a baby is a miracle--that God can create a life inside of me, no matter how long that little life lives, and it is amazing to me to feel Lazarus moving around inside of me and to think of seeing his face and holding him in our arms in a couple more months. He is such a gift and undeserved blessing to us.
Joshua's grandpa kept talking about a song called Lazarus that he knew of and liked. Joshua found a video of it:


If you're curious, here's how Evalana Christabelle got her name: http://100babies.blogspot.com/2008/04/she-has-name.html.